Edo Vocab

浮世絵

うきよえ Ukiyo-e (浮世絵, Ukiyo-e?), "pictures of the floating world", is a genre of Japanese woodblock prints produced between the 17th and the 20th century, featuring motifs of landscapes, the theater and pleasure quarters. Ukiyo-e were affordable because they could be mass-produced. They were meant for mainly townsmen, who were generally not wealthy enough to afford an original painting. The original subject of ukiyo-e was city life, in particular activities

江戸

えど Edo (Japanese: 江戸, literally: bay-door, "estuary", pronounced /edo/), once also spelled Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of the Japanese capital Tokyo. While there had been early settlements on the hills at Tokyo Bay for several centuries, the first major event in the history of Edo was the building of the Edo Castle in 1457 by Ōta Dōkan. The Tokugawa shogunate was established in 1603 with Edo as its seat of government (de facto capital). The emperor's residence, and formal capital, remained in Kyoto; that city had been the actual capital of Japan until that time. Edo was devastated repeatedly by fires, the Meireki no Taika of 1657 perhaps having been the most serious one: an estimated 100,000 people perished in the flames. During the Edo period, there were about one hundred fires, typically caused by accidents when the mostly wooden townhouses (Machiya) were heated with charcoal fires in winter. In 1868, when the shogunate came to an end, the city was renamed "Tokyo" which means "Eastern Capital"; during the restoration, the emperor moved to Tokyo, making the city the formal as well as de facto capital of Japan. During the Edo period, the Shogunate appointed administrators (machi bugyo) to oversee the government of Edo. They oversaw the police and (from the time of Yoshimune onward) the commoner fire department (machibikeshi), heard criminal and civil suits, and performed other administrative functions necessary in a city of a million inhabitants.

江戸時代

えどじだい The Edo period (Japanese: 江戸時代, Edo-jidai), also called Tokugawa period, is a division of Japanese history running from 1603 to 1867. The period marks the governance of the Edo or Tokugawa Shogunate which was officially established in 1603 by the first Edo shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu. The period ended with the Meiji Restoration, the restoration of imperial rule by the 15th and last shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu. The Edo period is also known as the beginning of the early modern period of Japan An evolution had taken place in the centuries from the time of the Kamakura bakufu, which existed in equilibrium with the imperial court, to the Tokugawa, when the bushi became the unchallenged rulers in what historian Edwin O. Reischauer called a "centralized feudal" form of government. Instrumental in the rise of the new bakufu was Tokugawa Ieyasu, the main beneficiary of the achievements of Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Already powerful, Ieyasu profited by his transfer to the rich Kanto area. He maintained 2.5 million koku of land, had a new headquarters at Edo, a strategically situated castle town (the future Tokyo), and had an additional 2 million koku of land and thirty eight vassals under his control. After Hideyoshi's death, Ieyasu moved quickly to seize control from the Toyotomi family. Ieyasu's victory over the western daimyo at the Battle of Sekigahara (1600) gave him virtual control of all Japan. He rapidly abolished numerous enemy daimyo houses, reduced others, such as that of the Toyotomi, and redistributed the spoils of war to his family and allies. Ieyasu still failed to achieve complete control of the western daimyo, but his assumption of the title of shogun helped consolidate the alliance system. After further strengthening his power base, Ieyasu was confident enough to install his son Hidetada (1579-1632) as shogun and himself as retired shogun in 1605. The Toyotomi were still a significant threat, and Ieyasu devoted the next decade to their eradication. In 1615 the Toyotomi stronghold at Osaka was destroyed by the Tokugawa army. The Tokugawa (or Edo) period brought 200 years of stability to Japan. The political system evolved into what historians call bakuhan, a combination of the terms bakufu and han (domains) to describe the government and society of the period. In the bakuhan, the shogun had national authority and the daimyo had regional authority, a new unity in the feudal structure, which had an increasingly large bureaucracy to administer the mixture of centralized and decentralized authorities. The Tokugawa became more powerful during their first century of rule: land redistribution gave them nearly 7 million koku, control of the most important cities, and a land assessment system reaping great revenues.

歌舞伎

かぶき Kabuki (歌舞伎, kabuki?) is a form of traditional Japanese theater. Kabuki theater is known for the stylization of its drama and for the elaborate make-up worn by its performers.

五街道

ごかいどう A kaidō (Japanese 街道 "road") is an ancient road in Japan dating from the Edo period. Major examples include the five routes starting from Edo: Nakasendo, Tokaido, Oshu Kaido, Koshu Kaido and Nikko Kaido. Also Hokuriku Kaido and Nagasaki Kaido were 'kaido'. Many other lesser examples and branch roads are given on the Japanese wikipedia.

鎖国

さこく Sakoku (Japanese: 鎖国, literally "country in chains" or "lock up of country") was the foreign relations policy of Japan, whereby nobody, whether foreign or Japanese, could enter or leave the country on penalty of death. The policy was enacted by the shogunate under Tokugawa Iemitsu in 1641 and remained in effect until 1853, though the term was not coined until the 19th century. It was still illegal to leave Japan until the Meiji restoration.

参勤交代

さんきんこうたい Sankin kōtai (参勤交代) was a policy of the shogunate during most of the Edo period of Japanese history. The purpose was to control the daimyo. In adopting the policy, the shogunate was continuing and refining similar policies of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. In 1635, a law required sankin kotai, which was already an established custom. The law remained in force until 1862.

士農工商

しのうこうしょう The four divisions of society refers to the model of Japanese society during the Edo period. The four castes, samurai, farmers, artisans and merchants The four divisions Samurai With the creation of the Domains (han) under the rule of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, all land was confiscated and reissued as fiefdoms to the daimyo. The small lords, the samurai, were ordered to either give up their swords and rights and remain on their lands as peasants, or move to the castle cities to become paid retainers of the daimyo. Only a few samurai were allowed to remain in the countryside; the landed samurai (郷士, gōshi?). Some 5% of the population were samurai. Artisans The artisans were likewise ordered to move to the cities. Thus, the towns below the castles were divided into four parts, the samurai quarter, the merchant quarter, the artisans quarter, and the hanamachi, where theaters, brothels and gambling dens were located. In the towns, different ways of life developed, with the chōnindō of the artisans and merchants and the bushidō of the samurai. The peasants, around 80% to 90% of the population, had to carry the burden of the economy. Taxes were paid in rice, 40% to 50% of the harvest, collected from the village as a community. The villages were given self-rule under village headman. The ranking of the divisions was influenced by confucianist thinking: The wise ruler was at the top, followed by the farmer who produces the wealth of the society. The artisan only reuses the wealth created, while the merchant only distributes the goods. Interestingly, there is a parallel to the physiocratic school of François Quesnay and his contemporaries, who influenced the French Ancien Régime. Merchants Yet, the picture did not fit reality: the merchants were the wealthiest group, and many samurai had to take debts to keep up. Farmers The farmers were above the merchants on the caste system. Others Parts of the population did not belong to any of the four castes at all. On top were the kuge, the Court Nobles in Kyoto. They did not possess political influence, but still had a ceremonial function. They were dependent on the shogun, who gave them enough financial support to regain some of the old splendour of the Heian period. With only about 5000 people, they were a rather small group. Below the system were the eta, who did the "dirty work", because their occupations were taboo under Buddhism and Shinto. They were the undertakers, the slaughterers and the tanners. The hinin, literally "Non-people" were the second group: travelling minstrels and convicted criminals

島原の乱

しまばらのらん The Shimabara Rebellion (島原の乱, Shimabara no ran?) was an uprising of Japanese peasants, many of them Christians, during the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1637-1638. Rebellion broke out on December 17, 1637 when peasants rose against their daimyo Matsukura Shigeharu. Most rebels were Japanese converted to Christianity, but the other prominent reason for the revolt was the very heavy tax burden; many rebels took the mantle of Christianity later. The rebellion included up to 23,000 peasants and ronin, including many women, in Shimabara and nearby Amakusa Islands under the leadership of Amakusa Shiro (also named Masuda Tokisada) who used a Christian name Jerome. Both areas had been under heavy Jesuit missionary activity during the previous Christian daimyo Konishi Yukinaga.

関が原の戦い

せきがはらのたたかい The Battle of Sekigahara (Modern Japanese: 関ヶ原の戦い; historical Japanese: 關ヶ原の戰ひ, Sekigahara no Tatakai?), popularly known as the Realm Divide (天下分け目の戦い; Tenka Wakeme no Tatakai), was a decisive battle on September 15, 1600 (on the ancient Chinese calendar, October 21 on the modern calendar) that cleared the path to the Shogunate for Tokugawa Ieyasu. Though it would take three more years for Tokugawa to consolidate his position of power over the Toyotomi clan and the daimyo, Sekigahara is widely considered to be the unofficial beginning of the Tokugawa bakufu, the last shogunate to control Japan. At what is now Sekigahara, Gifu Prefecture, Tokugawa Ieyasu's forces battled those led by Ishida Mitsunari, who was loyal to Toyotomi Hideyoshi's son and designated heir, Hideyori. The tide of the battle turned when Kobayakawa Hideaki on Ishida's side betrayed his allies during the fight. Although at first Kobayakawa merely stood on the sidelines of the battle, not taking part in the battle, Tokugawa eventually ordered his arquebusiers to fire at Kobayakawa's troops, after which Kobayakawa began fighting on Tokugawa's side. It was in fact this betrayal that led to Tokugawa's decisive victory and the end of the fighting amongst the council of five regents.

関所

せきしょ barrier; checking station

町人文化

ちょうにんぶんか merchant culture

寺小屋

てらこや Terakoya (寺子屋, which literally means "temple schools") are private educational institutions that taught writing and reading to the children of Japanese commoners during the Edo era.

出島

でじま Dejima, also Deshima (出島, literally 'protruding island') in modern Japanese, Desjima in Dutch, often latinised as Decima, was a fan-shaped artificial island in the bay of Nagasaki that was a Dutch trading post during Japan's self-imposed isolation (sakoku) of the Edo period, from 1641 until 1853.

徳川家光

とくがわいえみつ Tokugawa Iemitsu (previously spelled Iyemitsu); 徳川 家光 (August 12, 1604 — June 8, 1651) was the third shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty who reigned from 1623 to 1651. He was the eldest son of Tokugawa Hidetada, and thus the grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Shogun Iemitsu still had his late father's advisors and veteran daimyo advising him and being "regents" for him. In 1633, after his brother's death, he dismissed his father's advisors and eliminated a number of daimyo who were a thorn in his side. The new advisors to the shogun were all friends Iemitsu had made since childhood, and instead of giving daimyo major autonomy, Iemitsu created a strong, central, administration. This made him unpopular with the daimyo, but he visited villages alone to meet with the common people, informality which would be unheard of years later in the times of later shoguns. Nonetheless, Iemitsu was still brutal. In 1633, he officially isolated Japan from the rest of the world, banned Christianity and ordered the entire Japanese population to register at a shrine or temple. Christians were then persecuted, and many fled to the Spanish Philippines or went underground. In 1635, Shogun Iemitsu set up the (Sankin Kotai) or Hostage System, where the families of daimyo would live as hostages in Edo for half the year to assure loyalty. In 1637, a rebellion arose in Shimabara, known as the Shimabara Rebellion, organized mainly because of Iemitsu's anti-Christian policies. Thousands were killed in the revolt and countless more executed after. In 1639, Iemitsu officially closed off Japan from the rest of the world.

徳川家康

とくがわいえやす Tokugawa Ieyasu (previously spelled Iyeyasu); 徳川 家康 (January 31, 1543 - June 1, 1616) was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan which ruled from the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Ieyasu seized power in 1600, received appointment as shogun in 1603, abdicated from office in 1605, but remained in power until his death in 1616.

年貢

ねんぐ annual tribute; land tax

踏み絵

ふみえ A fumie (踏み絵) was a likeness of Jesus or Mary upon which the religious authorities of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan required suspected Christians to step in order to prove that they were not members of that outlawed religion. The use of the fumie began with the persecution of Christians in Nagasaki in 1629. Its use was officially abandoned for ports open to foreigners in April 13, 1856, but some remained in use until Christian teaching was placed under formal protection during the Meiji period.

武家諸法度

ぶけしょはっと The buke shohatto (武家諸法度, lit. "Various points of laws for warrior houses") was a collection of edicts issued by Japan's Tokugawa shogunate governing the responsibilities and activities of daimyō (feudal lords) and the rest of the samurai warrior aristocracy. These formed the basis of the bakuhan taisei (shogunate-domains system) which lay at the foundation of the Tokugawa regime. The contents of the edicts were seen as a code of conduct, a description of proper honorable daimyō behavior, and not solely laws which had to be obeyed. By appealing to notions of morality and honor, therefore, the shogunate was able to see its strictures followed despite its inability to enforce them directly.

文楽

ぶんらく Bunraku (Japanese: 文楽) is a form of traditional Japanese puppet theater. Three kinds of performers take part in a bunraku performance:

封建社会

ほうけんしゃかい feudal society

読み、書き、算盤

よみ、かき、そろばん read, write, abacus

蘭学

らんがく Rangaku (Japanese: 蘭学, literally "Dutch Learning", and by extension "Western learning") is a body of knowledge developed by Japan through her contacts with the Dutch enclave of Dejima, which allowed her to keep abreast of Western technology and medicine in the period when the country was closed to foreigners, 1641-1853, because of the Tokugawa shogunate's policy of national isolation (sakoku). Through Rangaku Japan learnt many aspects of the scientific and technological revolution occurring in Europe at that time, helping the country build up the beginnings of a a theoretical and technological scientific base, which help explain Japan's success in her radical and speedy modernization following the opening of the country to foreign trade in 1854.