Rise of Merchant Culture
After coming to power in 1600, Tokugawa Ieyasu made his capital the city of Edo (modern Tokyo). He established a stable government that endured for over two and a half centuries. To do this he enforced harsh controls over travel, trade, social mobility and thought.
Until 1614 when he issued an edict banning Christianity, Ieyasu did not act against the missionaries whom Hideyoshi had seen as the source of problems (in 1597 six missionaries and twenty converts were crucified in Nagasaki). In 1630 the Shogunate instituted a policy of national isolation and ordered nearly all Europeans out of Japan. Converts were forced to renounce Christianity or die.
The only Europeans officially allowed to remain were the Dutch who were restricted to a small man-made island named Dejima in Nagasaki harbor.
The expulsion of Westerners was part of a program of national seclusion in which the country was closed to almost all trade and international exchange. Westerners were not allowed into Japan and Japanese were not allowed to leave. Japanese who left and returned were to be executed.
Restrictions were not limited to external travel and trade. In order to make sure that his old enemies did not get together and rise up against the Shogunate, Ieyasu established a system of land distribution to the Daimyos. Domains were allotted according to whether the Daimyos had supported Ieyasu before his final victory in1600. Those who had supported Ieyasu from the start (fudai) were allowed to serve in the government; those who had surrendered only in the final battle (tozama) were excluded.
The Tokugawa shogunate was always fearful of revolt from the military families (especially tozama Daimyos). To try to preempt any revolution a system of control of the samurai families was instituted.
Strict rules of conduct, rules governing marriage and construction of castles were also in place. The Daimyos were also often shifted from one domain to another.
The major means of control of the Daimyos was a system known as “ alternate attendance” (sankin kotai). This arrangement required the Daimyos to live every other year in Edo while leaving their families in Edo all the time. In any year half the Daimyos were in Edo and the other half in their own domain. Both this hostage system and the cost of travel discouraged rebellion.
The sankin kotai system also had beneficial effects. Edo became a large city – possibly the largest in the world at the time.
The culture of Edo spread throughout Japan and made the Edo dialect Japan’s standard speech. A national culture was established. Until this time Japan was marked by great differences in regional customs, etiquette, standards of taste, fashions and language. Although they did not completely eliminate regional differences, Edo’s standards became more and more the national standards. Also, because of the continual travel, systems of roads linking Edo to the various outlying districts proliferated. Various facilities (inns, blacksmiths, suppliers, etc.) developed to service the travelers.
Having lost most of its wealth during the period of disturbance preceding the Edo period, Buddhism was no longer a major force among the ruling classes. It did remain in favor among the lower classes and a system of temple schools (tera goya) developed to teach the lower classes the rudiments of reading and writing.
The beginning of the Tokugawa period saw a revival of interest in Confucianism. In many ways this happened because of the interest in China sparked by Zen Buddhism. In Japan there was not the interest in metaphysics that was seen in China, rather Confucian ideas regarding human societal organization were viewed as offering a system legitimizing a feudal structure.
The Shogunate divided society into four classes:
1. samurai
2. peasants
3. artisans
4. merchants
In fact the most prosperous classes were the upper ranks of the samurai and the artisans and merchants. Artisans and merchants were known as “chonin” (townspeople) and came to dominate the Edo period culture and economy.
Although the samurai received annual stipends of rice and had a number of special privileges such as the right to wear swords, they were no longer mobile and the chance to rise socially was eliminated. The merchants who handled the commerce in rice and other goods became rich and the pastimes they enjoyed formed the greater part of the social life of the time.
The government enforced strict rules limiting the amount of wealth and possessions that could be accumulated by the merchants. Since the money was available it was spent on things such as food and entertainment. An industry catering to the taste of these wealthy men developed. This involved a sex trade, theaters, teahouses, art and literature.
Because this type of entertainment was officially frowned on, the enterprises involved were centered in certain areas. Participation in this low-class entertainment was seen as unbefitting by samurai and they were forbidden to enter the entertainment districts.
Among the main features of the areas were teahouses that offered food, drink, musical entertainment and women. A kind of publication appeared relating stories of activities in these entertainment districts and describing the women available there. At first these were kind of guidebooks, but gradually grew into fictionalized accounts of life in the entertainment districts.
These areas and the life there became referred to as “the floating world.” This name involved pun on a phrase associated in Buddhism with the ephemeral nature of life, a “floating world” in which nothing is permanent or to be relied on and thus sad. The new usage implied the same sort of short-lived existence, but sees it as an excuse to cut loose and enjoy oneself.
The guidebooks gradually became fiction dealing with the floating world. These evolved into a genre known as ukiyo zoshi (books of the floating world). The first ukiyo zoshi, The Man Who Loved Love, was written in 1682 by Ihara Saikaku (1642-1693).
Wild puns, irreverent attitude and suggestive situations mark Saikaku’s works. He is considered one of the three great writers of the Edo period.
The era from about 1680 to the end of the 17th century is known as the Genroku period. It marks the height of the townspeople’s culture. In addition to Saikaku, Basho is writing haiku and Chikamatsu is writing plays. The other great art form to appear at this time is the woodblock print, known in Japanese as ukiyoe or pictures of the floating world.
Haiku are seventeen syllable verses that derived from the linked verses of earlier times. Before Basho’s appearance haiku had declined to a very low level, having become little more than light comic verse.
Basho’s haiku reflect both the lightness, which had been the downfall of those before him, and the strong influence of Zen.
Furuike ya The old pond
Mizu no oto Sound of water
Chikamatsu Monzaemon was the master playwright of the day. The theater of the Genroku period is divided into a live theater and a puppet theater. Originally the most popular theater was the puppet theater (bunraku). This theater comprises three elements: puppets, chanting and music. The puppets are about two-third human size and each is manipulated by three people.
The live theater, kabuki, was performed by male actors who took all roles both male and female.
Both theaters are highly stylized and non-realistic.
Chikamatsu is best known for his puppet theater plays. He is said to have preferred to write for this theater because the puppets did not change his words. I.e., the playwright was the most important figure not the actor.
The plays are often set in the entertainment districts and revolve around a conflict between duty (giri) and human emotion (ninjo).
The Tokugawa Shogunate very heavily censored all writing and art. Every book and picture had to be passed by government censors. Despite this a great deal of the literature and art work produced was salacious. In the case of books, authors often began and ended their writing with statements of morality on the assumption that the censors did not read the whole book.
In bunraku (puppet theater) and kabuki, the plays often treated problems of conflict between duty and human emotion (giri/ninjo). Such plays frequently treated men who fell in love with women of the pleasure quarters – which was strictly forbidden – and chose to forsake social responsibilities such as family, duty, etc. The usual resolution was suicide.