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86-559: After the Iwai Rebellion (527–528), in the first year of Senka (536), a regional capital was established over Kyushu and was commonly known as "Nanotsu no Miyake". In 609, this is mentioned in the Nihon Shoki under the name "Tsukushi no Ohomikoto Mochi no Tsukasa". The year after the Battle of Hakusukinoe (664), administrative functions were moved inland to Dazaifu , and the former site on

172-403: A "centralized feudal " form of the shogunate. Instrumental in the rise of the new bakufu was Tokugawa Ieyasu , the main beneficiary of the achievements of Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi . Already a powerful daimyo (feudal lord), Ieyasu profited by his transfer to the rich Kantō area. He maintained two million koku , or thirty-six hectares of land, a new headquarters at Edo ,

258-505: A Buddhist or Shinto temple. The Dutch and Chinese were restricted, respectively, to Dejima and to a special quarter in Nagasaki . Besides small trade of some outer daimyo with Korea and the Ryukyu Islands , to the southwest of Japan's main islands, by 1641, foreign contacts were limited by the policy of sakoku to Nagasaki. The last Jesuit was either killed or reconverted by 1644. By

344-529: A courier was sent from Dazaifu to the Imperial Court. Officials called Karamonozukai were then dispatched from the imperial court , and they prioritized the purchase of sutra scrolls, Buddhist statues, Buddhist utensils, medicines, spices, and other products requested by the imperial court and aristocrats . The remaining products were purchased by local powerful families and influential temples and shrines. Merchants stayed at Kōrokan for three to six months from

430-561: A diffusion of trade and handicraft industries. The construction trades flourished, along with banking facilities and merchant associations. Increasingly, han authorities oversaw the rising agricultural production and the spread of rural handicrafts. By the mid-18th century, Edo had a population of more than one million, likely the biggest city in the world at the time. Osaka and Kyoto each had more than 400,000 inhabitants. Many other castle towns grew as well. Osaka and Kyoto became busy trading and handicraft production centers, while Edo

516-613: A diplomatic mission from Goguryeo visited the Naniwa Kōrokan. Per the Shoku Nihon Kōki the facility was shut down in 844 and its function taken over by the government office of Settsu Province . When the imperial capital moved to Heian-kyō , modern day Kyoto , in 794, a kōrokan was initially built on both sides of the Rajōmon the south gate of the city. In the Kōnin era (810–824) it

602-464: A ship run by the merchant Li Yanxiao, and the "Onjo-ji Temple Documents" states that a welcoming banquet was held at the gate tower of the north building of Kōrokan. In 861 and 865, Li Yanxiao visited Kōrokan again; however, Sugawara Michizane abolished the Japanese missions to Tang China in 894. Initially, trade at Kōrokan was government-run. Dazaifu was notified of the arrival of the merchant ship, and

688-507: A significant threat, and Ieyasu devoted the next decade to their eradication. In 1615, the Tokugawa army destroyed the Toyotomi stronghold at Osaka . The Tokugawa (or Edo) period brought 250 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

774-463: A strategically situated castle town (the future Tokyo ), and also had an additional two million koku of land and thirty-eight vassals under his control. After Hideyoshi's death, Ieyasu moved quickly to seize control of the Toyotomi clan . Ieyasu's victory over the western daimyo at the Battle of Sekigahara (October 21, 1600, or in the old Japanese calendar , on the 15th day of the ninth month of

860-461: A vital commercial sector to be in flourishing urban centers, a relatively well-educated elite, a sophisticated government bureaucracy, productive agriculture, a closely unified nation with highly developed financial and marketing systems, and a national infrastructure of roads. Economic development during the Tokugawa period included urbanization , increased shipping of commodities, a significant expansion of domestic and, initially, foreign commerce, and

946-469: The Nihon Shoki state that a "Naniwa no Murotsumi" was located at the port as a diplomatic facility, and it was here that envoys from King Muryeong of Baekje stayed in 512 AD. In 561, delegations from Baekje and Silla were lodged and entertained at this location. In April 608, Pei Shiqing , an envoy of Emperor Yang of Sui was welcomed by the Imperial Court at this location, thus marking the start of diplomatic relations between Japan and China. In May 660,

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1032-1108: The chōnin (craftsmen and merchants) class and nōmin (peasants) class were literate. Some historians partially credited Japan's relatively high literacy rates for its fast development after the Meiji Restoration. As the literacy rate was so high that many ordinary people could read books, books in various genres such as cooking, gardening, travel guides, art books, scripts of bunraku (puppet theatre), kibyōshi (satirical novels), sharebon (books on urban culture), kokkeibon (comical books), ninjōbon (romance novel), yomihon and kusazōshi were published. There were 600 to 800 rental bookstores in Edo, and people borrowed or bought these woodblock print books. The best-selling books in this period were Kōshoku Ichidai Otoko ( Life of an Amorous Man ) by Ihara Saikaku , Nansō Satomi Hakkenden by Takizawa Bakin and Tōkaidōchū Hizakurige by Jippensha Ikku and these books were reprinted many times. The flourishing of Neo-Confucianism

1118-499: The Kamakura period . On the other hand, in 958, Sugawara no Buntoki ( Sugawara Michizane 's grandson) submitted an opinion to Emperor Murakami recommending the restoration of the Kōrokan to promote diplomacy, indicating that it was no longer functional by that date. The Heian-kyo kōrokan is mentioned in the first chapter of The Tale of Genji . The novel's protagonist, Hikaru Genji ,

1204-712: The Tokugawa period ( 徳川時代 , Tokugawa jidai ) , is the period between 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan , when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional daimyo . Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period , the Edo period was characterized by economic growth, strict social order, isolationist foreign policies, a stable population, overall peace, and popular enjoyment of arts and culture , colloquially referred to as Ōedo ( 大江戸 , Oo-Edo , "Great Edo") . The period derives its name from Edo (now Tokyo ), where on March 24, 1603,

1290-658: The bakufu and daimyos often encouraged commercial crops and artifacts within their domains, from textiles to tea. The concentration of wealth also led to the development of financial markets. As the shogunate only allowed daimyos to sell surplus rice in Edo and Osaka, large-scale rice markets developed there. Each daimyo also had a capital city, located near the one castle they were allowed to maintain. Daimyos would have agents in various commercial centers, selling rice and cash crops, often exchanged for paper credit to be redeemed elsewhere. Merchants invented credit instruments to transfer money, and currency came into common use. In

1376-411: The bakuhan , the shōgun had national authority, and the daimyo had regional authority. This represented a new unity in the feudal structure, which featured 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 seven million koku , control of

1462-419: The emperor , the court, all daimyo, and the religious orders. The emperor was held up as the ultimate source of political sanction for the shōgun , who ostensibly was the vassal of the imperial family. The Tokugawa helped the imperial family recapture its old glory by rebuilding its palaces and granting it new lands. To ensure a close tie between the imperial clan and the Tokugawa family, Ieyasu's granddaughter

1548-634: The shōgun ' s retainers and residents of Tokugawa lands had been ordered to forswear Christianity. More restrictions came in 1616 (the restriction of foreign trade to Nagasaki and Hirado, an island northwest of Kyūshū), 1622 (the execution of 120 missionaries and converts), 1624 (the expulsion of the Spanish), and 1629 (the execution of thousands of Christians). Finally, the Closed Country Edict of 1635 prohibited any Japanese from travelling outside Japan or, if someone left, from ever returning. In 1636,

1634-699: The shōgun and daimyo could authorize the use of wood. By the 18th century, Japan had developed detailed scientific knowledge about silviculture and plantation forestry . The first shogun Ieyasu set up Confucian academies in his shinpan domains and other daimyos followed suit in their own domains, establishing what's known as han schools (藩校, hankō ). Within a generation, almost all samurai were literate, as their careers often required knowledge of literary arts. These academies were staffed mostly with other samurai, along with some buddhist and shinto clergymen who were also learned in Neo-Confucianism and

1720-482: The terakoya curriculum consisted of basic literacy and arithmetic, instead of literary arts or philosophy. High rates of urban literacy in Edo contributed to the prevalence of novels and other literary forms. In urban areas, children were often taught by masterless samurai, while in rural areas priests from Buddhist temples or Shinto shrines often did the teaching. Unlike in the cities, in rural Japan, only children of prominent farmers would receive education. In Edo,

1806-526: The "Kōrokan" and Dazaifu is about 16 kilometers, and a straight road complete with gutters with a maximum width of 10 meters was constructed to connect the two. However, this road was abandoned by the 8th century. It is recorded in the Nihon Shoki that that Prince Kim Sang-nim of Silla was hosted here in 688. The "Korokan" was also used as an official lodging facility for Japanese missions to Tang China and monks studying abroad. A poem composed at "Kōrokan" by

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1892-700: The 1660s, Christianity was almost completely eradicated. Its external political, economic, and religious influence on Japan became quite limited. Only China, the Dutch East India Company , and for a short period, the Portuguese, Spanish and English, enjoyed the right to visit Japan during this period, for commercial purposes only, and they were restricted to the Dejima port in Nagasaki. Other Europeans who landed on Japanese shores were put to death without trial. During

1978-412: The 1720s and 1820s, Japan had almost zero population growth , often attributed to lower birth rates in response to widespread famine ( Great Tenmei famine 1782–1788), but some historians have presented different theories, such as a high rate of infanticide artificially controlling population. At around 1721, the population of Japan was close to 30 million and the figure was only around 32 million around

2064-399: The 5% samurai class, followed by craftsmen and merchants. However, various studies have revealed since about 1995 that the classes of peasants, craftsmen, and merchants under the samurai are equal, and the old hierarchy chart has been removed from Japanese history textbooks. In other words, peasants, craftsmen, and merchants are not a social pecking order, but a social classification. Only

2150-610: The Americas and then to Europe. Also during that period, the bakufu commissioned around 720 Red Seal Ships , three-masted and armed trade ships, for intra-Asian commerce. Japanese adventurers, such as Yamada Nagamasa , used those ships throughout Asia. The "Christian problem" was, in effect, a problem of controlling both the Christian daimyo in Kyūshū and their trade with the Europeans . By 1612,

2236-467: The Dutch were restricted to Dejima , a small artificial island —and thus, not true Japanese soil—in Nagasaki's harbor. The shogunate perceived Christianity to be an extremely destabilizing factor, and so decided to target it. The Shimabara Rebellion of 1637–1638, in which discontented Catholic samurai and peasants rebelled against the bakufu—and Edo called in Dutch ships to bombard the rebel stronghold—marked

2322-514: The Edo period coincides with the last decades of the Nanban trade period during which intense interaction with European powers, on the economic and religious plane, took place. It is at the beginning of the Edo period that Japan built its first ocean-going warships , such as the San Juan Bautista , a 500- ton galleon -type ship that transported a Japanese embassy headed by Hasekura Tsunenaga to

2408-562: The Japanese people had separate toilets. Furthermore, it has been revealed that the toilets were separated by gender, and that sticks called chuugi were used for toilet paper. In 1995, the Kōrokan Ruins Exhibition Hall was built on the south side of the ruins after the excavation survey was completed, and the discovered ruins and excavated artifacts are on display. In the spring of 2016, the remains were backfilled and opened to

2494-660: The Meiji Restoration around 150 years later. From 1721, there were regular national surveys of the population until the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate. In addition, regional surveys, as well as religious records initially compiled to eradicate Christianity, also provide valuable demographic data. The Tokugawa era brought peace, and that brought prosperity to a nation of 31 million, 80% of them rice farmers. Rice production increased steadily, but population remained stable. Rice paddies grew from 1.6 million chō in 1600 to 3 million by 1720. Improved technology helped farmers control

2580-516: The Tang dynasty. This is first reference to the guest house using its Heian name in the historical record. It is said that in 838, Ono no Takamura , deputy envoy of the 19th embassy to China, recited a poem with the Dazaifu Kōrokan, and in 842, and in 849, the visit of 53 Chinese merchants was reported from Dazaifu to the Imperial Court. In (858), Enchin , a monk who studied abroad, returned to Japan on

2666-432: The Tokugawa period, the social order, based on inherited position rather than personal merits, was rigid and highly formalized. At the top were the emperor and court nobles ( kuge ), together with the shōgun and daimyo . Older scholars believed that there were Shi-nō-kō-shō ( 士農工商 , four classes ) of "samurai, peasants ( hyakushō ), craftsmen, and merchants ( chōnin )" under the daimyo, with 80% of peasants under

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2752-496: The all-important flow of irrigation to their paddies. The daimyo operated several hundred castle towns, which became loci of domestic trade. Large-scale rice markets developed, centered on Edo and Ōsaka. In the cities and towns, guilds of merchants and artisans met the growing demand for goods and services. The merchants, while low in status, prospered, especially those with official patronage. Merchants invented credit instruments to transfer money, currency came into common use, and

2838-480: The all-important flow of water to their paddies. The daimyos operated several hundred castle towns, which became loci of domestic trade. The system of sankin kōtai meant that daimyos and their families often resided in Edo or travelled back to their domains, giving demand to an enormous consumer market in Edo and trade throughout the country. Samurai and daimyos, after prolonged peace, were accustomed to more elaborate lifestyles. To keep up with growing expenditures,

2924-489: The banks of the Natsu river remained as base for overseas exchange and national defense. This facility was called "Tsukushi no Murotsumi" (and later called the "Kōrokan"), and it functioned as a guest house and lodging facility to welcome envoys from Tang China , Silla , and Balhae . Overseas envoys first entered the "Kōrokan" before heading to Dazaifu and onward to the capital at Asuka (and later Heijō-kyō ). The distance between

3010-400: The beggars, entertainers, and prostitutes. The word eta literally translates to "filthy" and hinin to "non-humans", a thorough reflection of the attitude held by other classes that the eta and hinin were not even people. Hinin were only allowed inside a special quarter of the city. Other persecution of the hinin included disallowing them from wearing robes longer than knee-length and

3096-515: The chief counselor Mizuno Tadakuni. He raised taxes, denounced luxuries and tried to impede the growth of business; he failed and it appeared to many that the continued existence of the entire Tokugawa system was in jeopardy. Rice was the base of the economy. About 80% of the people were rice farmers. Rice production increased steadily, but population remained stable, so prosperity increased. Rice paddies grew from 1.6 million chō in 1600 to 3 million by 1720. Improved technology helped farmers control

3182-923: The cities and towns, guilds of merchants and artisans met the growing demand for goods and services. The merchants benefited enormously, especially those with official patronage. However, the Neo-Confucian ideology of the shogunate focused the virtues of frugality and hard work; it had a rigid class system, which emphasized agriculture and despised commerce and merchants. A century after the Shogunate's establishment, problems began to emerge. The samurai, forbidden to engage in farming or business but allowed to borrow money, borrowed too much, some taking up side jobs as bodyguards for merchants, debt collectors, or artisans. The bakufu and daimyos raised taxes on farmers, but did not tax business, so they too fell into debt, with some merchants specializing in loaning to daimyos. Yet it

3268-414: The city of their feudal lord and become a paid retainer. Only a few land samurai remained in the border provinces of the north, or as direct vassals of the shōgun , the 5,000 so-called hatamoto . The daimyo were put under tight control of the shogunate. Their families had to reside in Edo; the daimyo themselves had to reside in Edo for one year and in their province ( han ) for the next. This system

3354-475: The commercialization of the economy grew rapidly, bringing more and more remote villages into the national economy. Rich farmers appeared who switched from rice to high-profit commercial crops and engaged in local money-lending, trade, and small-scale manufacturing. Wealthy merchants were often forced to "lend" money to the shogunate or daimyos (often never returned). They often had to hide their wealth, and some sought higher social status by using money to marry into

3440-638: The end of the Christian movement. During the Shimabara Rebellion an estimated 37,000 people (mostly Christians) were massacred. In 50 years, the Tokugawa shoguns reduced the amount of Christians to near zero in Japan. Some Christians survived by going underground, the so-called Kakure Kirishitan . Soon thereafter, the Portuguese were permanently expelled. Members of the Portuguese diplomatic mission were executed. All Japanese subjects were ordered to register at

3526-649: The envoy to Silla in 736 is included in the Man'yōshū . Under the Ritsuryō system, the Kōrokan was under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Ceremonies and was also used for inspections, entertainment, and trading with foreign merchants. The name "Kōrokan" appears for the first time in 837 in the "Record of Pilgrimage to the Tang Dynasty" written by Ennin , a monk who studied abroad in

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3612-536: The envoys from Balhae were merchants, and not diplomats, and from thence the frequency of official visits was reduced to every 12 years. In 839, the east guest house was abolished, becoming a pharmacy. Further, after the Kingdom of Balkai was destroyed by the Khitan 926, diplomatic contacts ceased. One theory is that the west guest house was abolished in 920; however, other theories indicate that it declined and only disappeared in

3698-602: The fifth year of the Keichō era) gave him 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 shōgun helped consolidate the alliance system. After further strengthening his power base, Ieyasu installed his son Hidetada (1579–1632) as shōgun and himself as retired shōgun in 1605. The Toyotomi were still

3784-455: The hierarchy was the fudai , or "house daimyo ", rewarded with lands close to the Tokugawa holdings for their faithful service. By the 18th century, 145 fudai controlled much smaller han , the greatest assessed at 250,000 koku . Members of the fudai class staffed most of the major bakufu offices. Ninety-seven han formed the third group, the tozama (outside vassals), former opponents or new allies. The tozama were located mostly on

3870-652: The historical record tells us that the Song merchant Li Jujian (李居簡) copied a sutra there in 1091. During the Edo period , Fukuoka Domain scholars theorized that the Kōrokan was located in Kannai-chō in Hakata (near present-day Nakagofuku-chō, Hakata-ku, Fukuoka ), and this theory persisted into the Taishō period . However, Nakayama Heijirō, a professor at Kyushu Imperial University , proposed that

3956-563: The kingdoms of Silla and Goguryeo, and sent 513 Confucian scholars to Yamato with a request for help. Before Yamato could send aid to Mimana and Baekje, Iwai, the governor of the Tsukushi region (semi-autonomous Kumaso region in northern Kyushu ), made a treacherous alliance with the Silla kingdom, thus blocking the Yamato kingdom's attempts to send aid to Korea. This was the first recorded rebellion against

4042-421: The most important cities, and a land assessment system reaping great revenues. The feudal hierarchy was completed by the various classes of daimyo . Closest to the Tokugawa house were the shinpan , or "related houses". There were twenty-three daimyo on the borders of Tokugawa lands, all directly related to Ieyasu. The shinpan held mostly honorary titles and advisory posts in the bakufu. The second class of

4128-629: The national law. Although the daimyo were not taxed per se, they were regularly levied for contributions to military and logistical support and for public works such as projects as castles, roads, bridges, and palaces. The various regulations and levies not only strengthened the Tokugawa but also depleted the wealth of the daimyo , thus weakening their threat to the central administration. The han , once military-centered domains, became mere local administrative units. The daimyo had full administrative control over their territory and their complex systems of retainers, bureaucrats , and commoners. Loyalty

4214-409: The official class. By the mid-17th century, neo-Confucianism was Japan's dominant legal philosophy and contributed directly to the development of the kokugaku (national learning) school of thought. Advanced studies and growing applications of neo-Confucianism contributed to the transition of the social and political order from feudal norms to class- and large-group-oriented practices. The rule of

4300-493: The peasants lived in rural areas. Samurai, craftsmen and merchants lived in the cities that were built around daimyo castles , each restricted to their own quarter. Edo society had an elaborate social structure, in which every family knew its place and level of prestige. At the top were the Emperor and the court nobility, invincible in prestige but weak in power. Next came the shōgun, daimyo and layers of feudal lords whose rank

4386-420: The peripheries of the archipelago and collectively controlled nearly ten million koku of productive land. Because the tozama were the least trusted of the daimyo , they were the most cautiously managed and generously treated, although they were excluded from central government positions. The Tokugawa shogunate not only consolidated their control over a reunified Japan, but also had unprecedented power over

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4472-709: The public as a lawn plaza. There is a mark indicating the site of the building. The site is a 10-minute walk from Akasaka Station on the Fukuoka City Subway Airport Line . The Osaka kōrokan was located in Namba-tsu (Watanabe-tsu), the ancient port of the Yamato Kingdom since the Kofun period . The exact location is thought to have been between Tenmabashi and Tenjinbashi bridges between Chuo-ku and Kita-ku in present-day Osaka City. Ancient documents, such as

4558-500: The rebellion can be found in the Nihon Shoki , although it is also mentioned in Kojiki and other historical sources. The Yamato Kingdom was formed in the central areas of Honshu in the late 3rd or early 4th century, and by 350 this state had extended its rule to the western part of Honshu and the northern part of Kyushu . In 366, Yamato invaded the Korean peninsula , which at the time

4644-480: The rise of kokugaku , and the Igakukan ( 医学間 , "Institute of medicine") , focusing on Chinese medicine. One estimate of literacy in Edo suggest that up to a fifth of males could read, along with a sixth of women. Another estimate states that 40% of men and 10% of women by the end of the Edo period were literate. According to another estimate, around 1800, almost 100% of the samurai class and about 50% to 60% of

4730-494: The ruins were thought to have been destroyed. However, when renovation work was carried out in 1957, 3000 more pottery shards were unearthed. In 1987, during an excavation survey carried out to repair the stadium's outfield seats, parts of the structure that had been thought to have been destroyed were discovered in good condition, raising the possibility that the remaining structures might still exist as well. The stadium closed in 1997, and full-scale excavation work began in 1999, when

4816-551: The ruling imperial dynasty . Mononobe no Arakabi , the leader of a warrior clan, was sent to quell the rebellion. In 528, Iwai was overthrown and executed, and the previous autonomy of his area ended with the establishment of Daizaifu Fortress, a government military stronghold on the island of Kyushu. Power in northern Kyushu passed into the hands of the Otomo clan, but Gaya fell to the Silla kingdom in 562. Edo period The Edo period ( 江戸時代 , Edo jidai ) , also known as

4902-439: The samurai class. There is some evidence that as merchants gained greater political influence in the late Edo period, the rigid class division between samurai and merchants began to break down. A few domains, notably Chōshū and Satsuma, used innovative methods to restore their finances, but most sunk further into debt. The financial crisis provoked a reactionary solution near the end of the "Tempo era" (1830–1843) promulgated by

4988-459: The samurai undermined their loyalties to the system, and the empty treasury threatened the whole system of government. One solution was reactionary—cutting samurai salaries and prohibiting spending for luxuries. Other solutions were modernizing, with the goal of increasing agrarian productivity. The eighth Tokugawa shogun, Yoshimune (in office 1716–1745) had considerable success, though much of his work had to be done again between 1787 and 1793 by

5074-447: The shogun's chief councilor Matsudaira Sadanobu (1759–1829). Other shoguns debased the coinage to pay debts, which caused inflation. Overall, while commerce (domestic and international) was vibrant and sophisticated financial services had developed in the Edo period, the shogunate remained ideologically focused on honest agricultural work as the basis of society and never sought to develop a mercantile or capitalistic country. By 1800,

5160-544: The shogunate set up several schools under its direct patronage, the most important being the neo-Confucian Shōheikō ( 昌平黌 ) acting as a de facto elite school for its bureaucracy but also creating a network of alumni from the whole country. Besides Shoheikō, other important directly run schools at the end of the shogunate included the Wagakukōdansho ( 和学講談所 , "Institute of Lectures of Japanese classics") , specialized in Japanese domestic history and literature, influencing

5246-566: The shogunate was officially established by Tokugawa Ieyasu . The period came to an end with the Meiji Restoration and the Boshin War , which restored imperial rule to Japan . A revolution took place from the time of the Kamakura shogunate , which existed with the Tennō 's court, to the Tokugawa , when the samurai became the unchallenged rulers in what historian Edwin O. Reischauer called

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5332-624: The site was actually under Fukuoka Castle after examining the descriptions in the Man'yōshū . At the time, the 24th Imperial Japanese Army Infantry Regiment was stationed at Fukuoka Castle, but in 1915, on a rare "open house" day, Nakayama surveyed the barracks and collected ancient roof tiles . He published a paper in the Archaeological Journa l in 1926–1927. A military officer in the same regiment, Kagamiyama Takeshi, also collected fragments of ancient roof tiles while guarding an ammunition depot, and

5418-582: The site was fortified. Trade continued with merchants from the Northern Song dynasty , Goryeo , and Liao dynasty , but in the 11th century, direct trade became active among influential temples and shrines as well as by powerful aristocrats. The coast from present-day Hakata to Hakozaki became the center of trade, and trade at Kōrokan, which had changed its name to the "Great Song Dynasty Merchant and Guest House", declined. It burned down in 1047, and disappears from literature soon afterwards. The last reference in

5504-507: The stands and other buildings were dismantled, and continues to this day, and in May 2004 it was designated as a national historic site. Wooden tablets and tiles were unearthed during excavations. Other unearthed items include Shaoxing kiln celadon, Changsha kiln porcelain, Jingzhou kiln white porcelain, pottery from Silla and Goryeo, blue-glazed pottery from the Islamic world, and Persian glass. It

5590-408: The strengthening credit market encouraged entrepreneurship. The daimyo collected the taxes from the peasants in the form of rice. Taxes were high, often at around 40%-50% of the harvest. The rice was sold at the fudasashi market in Edo. To raise money, the daimyo used forward contracts to sell rice that was not even harvested yet. These contracts were similar to modern futures trading . It

5676-469: The time they arrived until the time they began trading. Lodging and meals were provided by Kōrokan. Later, in regulations issued in 903, trade was strictly prohibited before purchase by the imperial court, indicating that trade was shifting from government to private management. Then, in 909, Dazaifu officials were assigned to handle trade matters instead of the envoys from the capital. After the Toi invasion on 1019,

5762-575: The title of Danzaemon ( ja:弾左衛門 ) and had the authority to issue orders to eta and hinin throughout the country, as well as jurisdiction within the eta and hinin . In the 19th century the umbrella term burakumin was coined to name the eta and hinin because both classes were forced to live in separate village neighborhoods. The eta , hinin and burakumin classes were officially abolished in 1871. However, their cultural and societal impact, including some forms of discrimination, continues into modern times. The Edo period passed on

5848-457: The total population. After a long period of inner conflict, the first goal of the newly established Tokugawa government was to pacify the country. It created a balance of power that remained (fairly) stable for the next 250 years, influenced by Confucian principles of social order . Most samurai lost their direct possession of the land: the daimyo took over their land. The samurai had a choice: give up their sword and become peasants, or move to

5934-697: The two later founded the Kyushu Archaeological Society in 1930. After World War II , in 1948, a stadium for the National Athletic Meet was constructed on the site of the former 24th Infantry Regiment barracks, and the following year, in 1949, the Heiwadai Baseball Stadium was constructed. During this construction work a large amount of roof tiles and Chinese celadon shards, as well as foundation stones were excavated, but no official archaeological excavations were carried out, and

6020-491: The wearing of hats. Sometimes eta villages were not even printed on official maps. A sub-class of hinin who were born into their social class had no option of mobility to a different social class whereas the other class of hinin who had lost their previous class status could be reinstated in Japanese society. On the other hand, in practice, both eta and hinin were recognized as owners of fields, some with very large incomes ( koku ) and some economic power. Their chief held

6106-511: The works of Zhu Xi .When the clergy of Shinto religion were alive, samurai, Buddhist monks were also there. Beyond kanji (Chinese characters), the Confucian classics, calligraphy, basic arithmetics, and etiquette, the samurai also learned various martial arts and military skills in schools. The chōnin (urban merchants and artisans) patronized neighborhood schools called terakoya (寺子屋, "temple schools"). Despite being located in temples,

6192-574: Was a rebellion against the Yamato court that took place in Tsukushi Province , Japan (now nearby Ogōri city in Fukuoka Prefecture ) in 527 AD. The rebellion was named after its leader, Iwai, who is believed by historians to have been a powerful governor of Tsukushi. The rebellion was quelled by the Yamato court, and played an important part in the consolidation of early Japan. The main record of

6278-471: Was also revealed that the buildings were divided into five periods over time. However, the remains of the 4th period from the late 9th century and the 5th period from the late 10th century to the early 11th century were destroyed by the construction of Fukuoka Castle. Analysis of parasite eggs in the remains of toilets from the Nara period revealed that the toilets of foreigners who regularly ate pigs and wild boars and

6364-413: Was called sankin-kōtai . Lower orders divided into two main segments—the peasants—80% of the population—whose high prestige as producers was undercut by their burden as the chief source of taxes. They were illiterate and lived in villages controlled by appointed officials who kept the peace and collected taxes. The family was the smallest legal entity, and the maintenance of family status and privileges

6450-513: Was divided into three kingdoms : Goguryeo , Paekje , and Silla . On several occasions (391 and 404), Japanese troops as allies of the Paekje kingdom invaded Korea and fought against the Silla and Goguryeo kingdoms. At the beginning of the 6th century, the rising Silla kingdom began to threaten Japan's allies in Korea. At the same time, the kingdom of Baekje, a Japanese ally, was attacked from two sides by

6536-411: Was during the Edo period that Japan developed an advanced forest management policy. Increased demand for timber resources for construction, shipbuilding and fuel had led to widespread deforestation, which resulted in forest fires, floods and soil erosion. In response the shōgun , beginning around 1666, instituted a policy to reduce logging and increase the planting of trees. The policy mandated that only

6622-607: Was exacted from religious foundations, already greatly weakened by Nobunaga and Hideyoshi, through a variety of control mechanisms. Like Hideyoshi, Ieyasu encouraged foreign trade but also was suspicious of outsiders. He wanted to make Edo a major port, but once he learned that the Europeans favoured ports in Kyūshū and that China had rejected his plans for official trade, he moved to control existing trade and allowed only certain ports to handle specific kinds of commodities. The beginning of

6708-571: Was inconceivable to systematically tax commerce, as it would make money off "parasitic" activities, raise the prestige of merchants, and lower the status of government. As they paid no regular taxes, the forced financial contributions to the daimyos were seen by some merchants as a cost of doing business. The wealth of merchants gave them a degree of prestige and even power over the daimyos. By 1750, rising taxes incited peasant unrest and even revolt. The nation had to deal somehow with samurai impoverishment and treasury deficits. The financial troubles of

6794-529: Was indicated by their closeness to the Tokugawa. They had power. The daimyo comprised about 250 local lords of local "han" with annual outputs of 50,000 or more bushels of rice. The upper strata was much given to elaborate and expensive rituals, including elegant architecture, landscaped gardens, Noh drama, patronage of the arts, and the tea ceremony. Then came the 400,000 warriors, called "samurai", in numerous grades and degrees. A few upper samurai were eligible for high office; most were foot soldiers. Since there

6880-434: Was made an imperial consort in 1619. A code of laws was established to regulate the daimyo houses. The code encompassed private conduct, marriage, dress, types of weapons, and numbers of troops allowed; required feudal lords to reside in Edo every other year (the sankin-kōtai system); prohibited the construction of ocean-going ships; restricted castles to one per domain ( han ) and stipulated that bakufu regulations were

6966-452: Was of great importance at all levels of society. The individual had no separate legal rights. The 1711 Gotōke reijō was compiled from over 600 statutes promulgated between 1597 and 1696. Outside the four classes were the so-called eta and hinin , those whose professions broke the taboos of Buddhism . Eta were butchers, tanners and undertakers. Hinin served as town guards, street cleaners, and executioners. Other outsiders included

7052-513: Was removed due to the construction of the great temples of Tō-ji and Sai-ji , and replaced by an east guest house on Shichijō, southeast of what is now Tambaguchi Station in Shimogyō-ku, Kyoto . Emissaries from Balhae were the most frequent guests. However, during the reign of King Seon of Balhae , relations with Japan deteriorated. In 824, the Udaijin Fujiwara no Otsugu declared that

7138-527: Was sent when he was a seven years old to see an expert physiognomist from Goryeo staying at the kōrokan . The physiognomist sees signs that Hikaru is destined to achieve a "sovereign's supreme eminence". A monument erected in 1915 marks the site of Higashi Kōrokan in Nishishinyashiki Ageya-cho, Shimogyo-ku. [REDACTED] Media related to Kourokan at Wikimedia Commons Iwai Rebellion The Iwai Rebellion ( 磐井の乱 , Iwai no Ran )

7224-444: Was the center for the supply of food and essential urban consumer goods. Around the year 1700, Japan was perhaps the most urbanized country in the world, at a rate of around 10–12%. Half of that figure would be samurai, while the other half, consisting of merchants and artisans, would be known as chōnin . In the first part of the Edo period, Japan experienced rapid demographic growth, before leveling off at around 30 million. Between

7310-410: Was the major intellectual development of the Tokugawa period. Confucian studies had long been kept active in Japan by Buddhist clerics, but during the Tokugawa period, Confucianism emerged from Buddhist religious control. This system of thought increased attention to a secular view of man and society. The ethical humanism , rationalism , and historical perspective of neo-Confucian doctrine appealed to

7396-443: Was very little fighting, they became civil servants paid by the daimyo, with minor duties. The samurai were affiliated with senior lords in a well-established chain of command. The shogun had 17,000 samurai retainers; the daimyo each had hundreds. Most lived in modest homes near their lord's headquarters, and lived off of hereditary rights and stipends. Together these high status groups comprised Japan's ruling class making up about 6% of

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