Tokugawa period

Table of Contents

Introduction & Top Questions References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images & Videos

How Beauty Looking Back reflects Japanese history

Okumura Masanobu: Hanshozuku Bijin Soroi

Kimono, Edo period (1603–1867), Japan; in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

writing box decorated with cranes in reeds

Tokugawa period

Q: What happened during the Tokugawa period?

The Tokugawa period was marked by internal peace, political stability, and economic growth. Social order was officially frozen, and mobility between classes (warriors, farmers, artisans, and merchants) was forbidden. The samurai warrior class came to be a bureaucratic order in this time of lessened conflict. The shogunate perceived Roman Catholic missionaries as a tool of colonial expansion and a threat to the shogun’s authority and consequently banned Christianity and adopted a policy of national seclusion.

Q: How long did the Tokugawa period last?

The Tokugawa period lasted more than 260 years, from 1603 to 1867.

Q: Why was the Tokugawa period important?

The Tokugawa period was the final period of traditional Japan . It was the last of the shogunates . During this time Tokugawa Ieyasu established a government at Edo (now Tokyo ), where Japan’s central government remains today. In the 1630s the shogunate adopted a policy of national seclusion, which forbade Japanese subjects from traveling abroad. This isolation from the rest of the world would have a profound effect on Japan’s future.

Japanese history

Also known as: Edo period

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Nov 21, 2024 • Article History

Quick Facts

Also called:: Edo period

Date:: 1603 - 1867

Location:: Japan

Major Events:: Bunka-Bunsei period

Key People:: Iwasa Matabei

See all related content

What happened during the Tokugawa period?

How long did the Tokugawa period last?

Why was the Tokugawa period important?

Tokugawa period, (1603–1867), the final period of traditional Japan, a time of internal peace, political stability, and economic growth under the shogunate (military dictatorship) founded by Tokugawa Ieyasu. As shogun, Ieyasu achieved hegemony over the entire country by balancing the power of potentially hostile domains (tozama) with strategically placed allies (fudai) and collateral houses (shimpan). As a further strategy of control, beginning in 1635, Tokugawa Iemitsu required the domanial lords, or daimyo, to maintain households in the Tokugawa administrative capital of Edo (modern Tokyo) and reside there for several months every other year. The resulting system of semi-autonomous domains directed ...(100 of 671 words)

Access the full article

Help support true facts by becoming a member.