Japan (Lonely Planet, 11th Edition) - Chris Rowthorn [16]
Christianity, though not greatly popular, threatened the authority of the shōgunate. Thus Christian missionaries were expelled in 1614. By 1638, following the bloody quelling of the Christian-led Shimabara Uprising (near Nagasaki), which saw Christianity banned and Japanese Christians – probably several hundred thousand – forced into hiding, all Westerners except the Protestant Dutch were expelled. The shōgunate found Protestantism less threatening than Catholicism – among other things it knew the Vatican could muster one of the biggest military forces in the world – and would have been prepared to let the British stay too if the Dutch, showing astute commercial one-upmanship, had not convinced it that Britain was a Catholic country. Nevertheless, the Dutch were confined geographically to a tiny trading base on the man-made island of Dejima, near Nagasaki, and numerically to just a few dozen men.
Thus Japan entered an era of sakoku (secluded country) that was to last for more than two centuries. Within the isolated and severely prescribed world of Tokugawa Japan, breach of even a trivial law could mean execution. Even mere ‘rude behaviour’ was a capital offence, and the definition of this was ‘acting in an unexpected manner’. Punishments could be cruel, such as crucifixion, and could be meted out collectively or by proxy (for example, a village headman could be punished for the misdeed of a villager). Secret police were used to report on misdeeds.
As a result, people at large learned the importance of obedience to authority, of collective responsibility and of ‘doing the right thing’. These are values still prominent in present-day Japan.
For all of the constraints there was nevertheless a considerable dynamism to the period, especially among the merchants, who as the lowest class were often ignored by the authorities and thus had relative freedom. They prospered greatly from the services and goods required for the daimyō processions to and from Edo, entailing such expense that daimyō had to convert much of their domainal produce into cash. This boosted the economy in general.
A largely pleasure-oriented merchant culture thrived, and produced the popular kabuki drama, with its colour and stage effects. Other entertainments included bunraku (puppet theatre), haiku (17-syllable poems), popular novels and ukiyo-e (wood-block prints), often of female geisha, who came to the fore in this period. (Earlier geisha – meaning ‘artistic person’ – were male.)
Samurai, for their part, had no major military engagements. Well-educated, most ended up fighting mere paper wars as administrators and managers. Ironically, it was during this period of relative inactivity that the renowned samurai code of bushidō (way of the warrior) was formalised, largely to justify the existence of the samurai class – some 6% of the population – by portraying them as moral exemplars. Though much of it was idealism, occasionally the code was put into practice, such as the exemplary loyalty shown by the Forty-Seven Rōnin (masterless samurai) in 1701–03, who waited two years to avenge the unfair enforced suicide by seppuku (disembowelment) of their lord. After killing the man responsible, they in turn were obliged to commit seppuku.
In more general terms, Confucianism was officially encouraged with the apparent aim of reinforcing the idea of hierarchy and