Tokugowa essays

Tokugowa essays The Tokugowa policy toward foreigners had changed greatly over the years and this had a great effect on the Japanese. The policy isolated Japan from the rest of the world for about 200 years. Then finally they had to cancel the rule so that contact was once again restablished. The Japanese had been very friendly and welcoming at first to the western traders. The Portuguese, English, Spanish and Dutch had come to Japan. The shoguns adapted the European style of weapons and castles helping them get more power. They were also welcoming to the Christian missionaries. Many Japanese even converted to the new religion. This all changed though after they learned about how the Spanish took over the Philippines. They started to worry that the foreigners were helping to seize their land and they also didnt like the trickery between the missionaries. The Tokugawa shoguns believed that the many Japanese Christians were going to start owing their loyalty to the pope. So they decided to ban the Christian missionaries and persecute the Japanese Christians. Many were tortured and killed and others were forced to practice in secret. Then in 1638 the Tokugawa shoguns banned the western merchants and didnt allow any Japanese to travel to foreign countries either. The trade was almost completely stopped in Japan and no more large ships were allowed to be built. Only once a year was a Dutch ship allowed to sail and trade at Nagasaki harbor. This way the Japanese could keep up with the worldly news and learn several new ideas like the Dutch medical texts. This policy was kept for about 200 years. There was a lot of trade between the cities which caused them to bloom and become very important. A city called Edo had grown so big it had a population that was over a million people. Finally in 1853 the country broke the policy and they were once again were open to contact with the rest of the world. Now that Japan was reunited wit...