LESSON 9.9 How did Japan rejoin the world?
LEARNING INTENTION By the end of this lesson you should be able to: • recognise the external pressures that applied to Japan’s isolationism during the Edo period • explain why the sh̄oguns eventually could not keep out foreign influences.
Tune in The English had a great deal of control in China during this time, which may have influenced the Japanese leadership’s willingness to work with them. SOURCE1 Extract from Commodore M.C. Perry, Narrative of the Expedition of an American Squadron to the China Seas and Japan , McDonald & Co., London, 1954, p. 62 The Commander-in-Chief will not go to Nagasaki and will receive no communication through the Dutch or the Chinese ... if this friendly letter of the President to the Emperor is not received and duly replied to, [the Commander-in-Chief] will consider his country insulted, and will not hold himself accountable for the consequences.
1. Discuss what you think this letter means. 2. Who do you think the ‘Commander-in-Chief’ is? 3. Why do you think a letter like this might have been written?
9.9.1 The breakdown of isolation The Tokugawa sh̄oguns tried to ensure that Japanese life was as cut off from the rest of the world as much as possible. This meant that they were able to control trade with foreigners and that they would receive all the profits from other nations. Some of the first westerners to arrive in Japan were Portuguese traders who landed by accident after being blown off course. While their ship was being repaired, they introduced handheld guns to the Japanese, sparking widespread production of firearms by local artisans. Other westerners, like Francis Xavier from Spain, introduced Christianity in 1549, and William Adams, an Englishman, became one of the first western samurai. After this initial period of contact, Japan adopted the sakoku policy, isolating itself from most foreign influence. Despite 250 years of isolation under the Tokugawa sh̄ogunate, the sakoku policy eventually failed. By the nineteenth century, European countries and the United States were expanding their empires into the Pacific, making it impossible for Japan to keep foreign influences out indefinitely. The sakoku policy From 1640, the Dutch and Chinese were allowed a limited presence on Dejima, an artificial island in the Nagasaki harbour. Dutch traders could not enter the mainland, except for an annual visit to Edo to present gifts like clocks, telescopes and medical instruments to the sh̄ogun. This introduced European technology to Japan. Japanese scholars studied Rangaku (‘Dutch learning’) by translating Dutch books during the isolation period.
TOPIC9 Japan under the sh̄oguns 245
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