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The 15 shoguns of the Tokugawa shogunate or bakufu

江戸幕府

The Tokugawa shogunate or Tokugawa bakufu (徳川幕府) (also known as the Edo bakufu) was a feudal military dictatorship of Japan established in 1603 by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa shoguns|Tokugawa family until 1868. This period is known as the 'Edo period' and gets its name from the capital city of Edo, now Tokyo.

Following the Sengoku Period of "warring states", central government had been largely re-established by Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi during the Azuchi-Momoyama period. After the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, central authority fell to Tokugawa Ieyasu who completed this process and received the title of 'shogun' in 1603. His descendants were to hold the position, and the central authority that came with it, until the 19th century.

The Tokugawa period, unlike the shogunates before it, was based on the strict class hierarchy originally established by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The warrior-caste of samurai were at the top, followed by farmers, artisans, and traders. Ironically, the very strictness of the caste system was to undermine these classes in the long run. Taxes on the peasantry were set to fixed amounts which did not account for inflation or other changes in monetary value. As a result, the tax revenues collected by the samurai landowners were worth less and less over time. This often led to confrontations between noble but impoverished samurai and well-to-do peasants.

Toward the end of the 19th century, an alliance of several of the more powerful daimyo with the titular Emperor finally succeeded in the overthrow of the shogunate after the Boshin War, culminating in the Meiji Restoration. The Tokugawa bakufu came to an official end in 1868 with the resignation of the 15th Tokugawa Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu and the "restoration" (Taisei Houkan) of imperial rule.

Wikipedia ~ the free encyclopedia - The Tokugawa Shogunate

Created by:

* Kiyoko Murasaka, Apr 21, 2004 - 01:03

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Asano Naganori Takumi no kami 浅野長矩 内匠頭 - ( * keiki Tokugawa )
ASANO CLAN - ( * keiki Tokugawa )
Tokugawa Ieyasu’s Family - ( * keiki Tokugawa )
Tokugawa Hidetada's family - ( * keiki Tokugawa )


4 Posts Viewing 4 - 1