Essential Questions: Why did the Japanese rulers seek to isolate their nation from foreign influence? What were society and culture like under the Tokugawa shogunate? How was Japanese isolation brought to an end?
I. Foreign contact
A. The Portuguese in Japan
1. In the mid-1500�s, the daimyo began to trade with the Portuguese
a. Portuguese traders brought two items new to the Japanese
-Christianity
-Muskets
b. In the wake of Portuguese traders came Christian missionaries
-By the early 1600�s, as many as 300,000 Japanese had
been converted to Christianity
B. Closing the country
1. The Tokugawa shoguns concluded that Christianity was an undesirable
threat to their rule
a. Christianity taught loyalty to a power other than the Tokugawa
shogun
2. The Tokugawa enforced other strict rules in order to keep Japan isolated
a. They banned most overseas trade
b. Japanese people were prohibited from traveling abroad
II. Life in Tokugawa Japan
A. Social classes
1. A person�s social class was determined by birth
a. Sons followed the occupations of their fathers
2. Shoguns established schools to prepare young samurai warriors
B. Change and culture
1. Internal trade expanded
2. Different regions specialized in certain crops
3. Cities grew in size
III. End of Japan�s isolation
A. In 1853, Mathew Perry led a powerful U.S. naval force to Japan
1. He wanted to negotiate a treaty that opened Japanese ports to trade
a. This treaty sparked controversy
-Some powerful leaders favored resistance and continued
isolationism
-Others, however, feared a naval attack by the U.S if Japan
didn�t comply
b. The Treaty of Kanagawa was signed in 1854
-The treaty opened up two Japanese ports to let Americans
obtain fuel, shelter, and supplies
B. Eventually, the Japanese signed similar treaties with Great Britain, The
Netherlands and Russia
C. Many Japanese opponents criticized the government for signing the treaties
1. As a result, anti-Tokugawa forces overthrew the shogunate in 1867,
and restored the power of the emperor