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Japanese Isolationism

By: Avery Leveston

What is Isolationism?

Isolationism is the policy or doctrine of isolating one's country from the affairs of other nations by declining to enter into alliances, foreign economic commitments, foreign trade, or international agreements.

  • Quoted by an anonymous writer, "This thing with one blow can smash a mountain of silver and a wall of iron. If one sought to do mischief in another man's domain and he was touched by it, he would lose his life."
  • Supports the daimyo and samurai way of controlling power, with force and brutality.
  • Europeans had first arrived in 1543 when shipwrecked portuguese sailors came ashore.
  • Drew Merchants --> Immersed in trade
  • They brought clocks, tobacco, and firearms
  • Daimyo gained there respect due to the weapons brought over (muskets cannons)
  • Felt they would obtain an edge over there enemies

Works Cited

  • Watts, Sara. "The Seclusion of Japan." The Seclusion of Japan. Wake Forest University, n.d. Web. 04 Nov. 2012. <http://www.wfu.edu/~watts/w03_Japancl.html>
  • Beck, Roger B. World History: Patterns of Interaction. Vol. 1. Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell, 2005. Print.
  • Shishido, Loren I., and Masako Sakihara. Japanese Now: Teacher's Manual. Vol. 1. Honolulu: University of Hawaii, 1982. Print.

Japan under Seclusion

  • Japanese isolation was initially a success, but would come with a heavy price during the mid 19th and 20th centuries.
  • The Japanese enjoyed an extremely peaceful, but strict rule under the Tokugawa family.
  • All political, social, and even personal activities were controlled by the government.
  • Japanese citizens were not allowed to leave the country, and even Japanese citizens traveling outside of the country were not allowed to return. Japan's security and peace were dealt with firmly
  • The Japanese finally obtained a sense of national identity, but a nebulous cloud hovered over the country for the next 200 years.
  • There were very few technological advances within the country during the next two hundred years, while the Western countries were flourishing and became more advanced.

Fear of Christian Power

  • The most famous edict at all, implemented by Iematsu, was directed at the commissioners of Nagasaki.
  • Nagasaki was a town where Christianity had flourished and the conversion within was drastic.
  • Guns vs. Samurai
  • The japanese saw other countries in similar situations who had fallen captive to the spread of Christianity.
  • There were already Daimyo officers who were converting to Christianity, and if necessary action was not taken, Japan could fall captive to Christianity through exterior pressure.
  • Other Daimyo officers saw influenced officers, and felt that they could eventually honor Christian beliefs instead of their own.
  • Japan's isolation policy was fully implemented by Iemitsu, the grandson of Ievasu.
  • He issued multiple edicts that closed Japan to all foreigners and prevented the Japanese from leaving.

Christian Missionaries

  • Hideyoshi culiminated his exclusion of foreigners with the anitforegin and anti-christian policy.
  • Missionaries were quickly accepted in Japan because they were associated with the wide variety of new items that were introduced
  • The Japanese quickly realized this was not true and they had in fact, come to convert the Japanese to Christianity
  • By the year 1600, 300k Japanese had been converted
  • This had extremely upset Tokugawa Ieyasu.
  • Oda Nobunaga had allowed the missionaries to walk right into the country.
  • The lenience that Nobunaga provided was the main reason hundred of thousands of Japanese converted over.
  • In 1597, Hideyoshi saw the true potential that the foreigners contained, and ordered the killing of seventeen Japanese converst and nine Catholic Missionaries.
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