Sakoku(; ; ) was the isolationist foreign policy of the Japanese Tokugawa shogunate under which, during the Edo period (from 1603 to 1867), relations and trade between Japan and other countries were severely limited, and almost all foreign nationals were banned from entering Japan, while common Japanese people were kept from leaving the country. The policy was enacted by the shogunate government (bakufu) under Tokugawa Iemitsu through a number of edicts and policies from 1633 to 1639.
Japan was not completely isolated under the policy. was a system in which strict regulations were placed on commerce and foreign relations by the shogunate and certain feudal domains (). There was extensive trade with China through the port of Nagasaki, in the far west of Japan, with a residential area for the Chinese. The policy stated that the only European influence permitted was the Dutch factory at Dejima in Nagasaki. Western scientific, technical and medical innovations flowed into Japan through ("Dutch learning").
Trade with Korea was limited to the Tsushima Domain, today part of Nagasaki Prefecture, and the wakan in Choryang, part of present-day Busan. There were also diplomatic exchanges done through the Joseon Tongsinsa from Korea. Trade with the Ainu people was limited to the Matsumae Domain in Hokkaido, and trade with the Ryūkyū Kingdom took place in Satsuma Domain (present-day Kagoshima Prefecture). Apart from these direct commercial contacts in peripheral provinces, trading countries sent regular missions to the in Edo and at Osaka Castle.
The policy ended after 1853 when the Perry Expedition commanded by Matthew C. Perry forced the opening of Japan to American, and by extension, Western trade through a series of treaties, called the Convention of Kanagawa.
Etymology The term originates from the manuscript work written by Japanese astronomer and translator Shizuki Tadao in 1801. Shizuki invented the word while translating the works of the 17th-century German traveller Engelbert Kaempfer, namely his book 'the history of Japan', posthumously released in 1727.
Rationale
It is conventionally regarded that the shogunate imposed and enforced the policy in order to remove the colonial and religious influence of primarily Spain and Portugal, which were perceived as posing a threat to the stability of the shogunate and to peace in the archipelago. The increasing number of Catholic converts in southern Japan (mainly Kyūshū) was a significant element of that which was seen as a threat. Based on work conducted by Japanese historians in the 1970s, some scholars have challenged this view, believing it to be only a partial explanation of political reality.
Before the Tokugawa, Toyotomi Hideyoshi had previously begun to turn against the European missionaries after the Spanish conquest of the Philippines began, and the gradual progress of the Spanish there led to increasing hostility from the Tokugawa as well.
The motivations for the gradual strengthening of the maritime prohibitions during the early 17th century should be considered within the context of the Tokugawa 's domestic agenda. One element of this agenda was to acquire sufficient control over Japan's foreign policy so as to not only guarantee social peace, but also to maintain Tokugawa supremacy over the other powerful lords in the country, particularly the .
These had used East Asian trading linkages to profitable effect during the Sengoku period, which allowed them to build up their military strength as well. By restricting the ability of the to trade with foreign ships coming to Japan or pursue trade opportunities overseas, the Tokugawa could ensure none would become powerful enough to challenge the 's supremacy. This is consistent with the generally agreed rationale for the Tokugawa 's implementation of the system of alternate attendance, or .
Directing trade predominantly through Nagasaki, which came under Toyotomi Hideyoshi's control in 1587, would enable the bakufu, through taxes and levies, to bolster its own treasury. This was no small matter, as lack of wealth had limited both the preceding Kamakura and the Muromachi in crucial ways. The focus on the removal of Western and Christian influence from the Japanese archipelago as the main driver of the has been argued to be a somewhat eurocentric reading of Japanese history, although it is a common perception among westerners.
Nevertheless, Christianity and the two colonial powers it was most strongly associated with were seen as genuine threats by the Tokugawa . Once the remnants of the Toyotomi clan had been defeated in 1615, shogun Tokugawa Hidetada, as well as his retired yet still-influential father, Tokugawa Ieyasu, turned their attention to the sole remaining credible challenge to Tokugawa supremacy. Religious challenges to central authority were taken seriously by the as ecclesiastical challenges by armed Buddhist monks were common during the period. The Empress Meishō (r. 1629–1643) also had grave doubts when she heard about how the Spanish and Portuguese were invading and colonising in the New World, and thought that Japan would soon become one of the many countries in their possession.
Protestant English and Dutch traders reinforced this perception by accusing the Spanish and Portuguese missionaries of spreading the religion systematically, as part of a claimed policy of culturally dominating and colonizing Asian countries. The Dutch and English were generally seen by the Japanese to be able to separate religion and trade, while their Iberian counterparts were looked upon with much suspicion. The Dutch, who were at war with the Spanish and eager to take over trade from both the Spanish and Portuguese, had no problems reinforcing this view.
The number of Christians in Japan had been steadily rising due to the efforts of missionaries, such as Francis Xavier and converts. The direct trigger which is said to have spurred the imposition of was the Shimabara Rebellion of 1637–38, an uprising of 40,000 mostly Christian peasants. In the aftermath, the shogunate accused missionaries of instigating the rebellion, expelled them from the country, and strictly banned the religion on penalty of death. The remaining Japanese Christians, mostly in Nagasaki, formed underground communities and came to be called .
All contact with the outside world became strictly regulated by the shogunate, or by the domains (Tsushima, Matsumae, and Satsuma) assigned to the task. Dutch traders were permitted to continue commerce in Japan only by agreeing not to engage in missionary activities. Today, the Christian percentage of the population (1%) in Japan remains far lower than in other East Asian countries such as China (3%), Vietnam (7%), and South Korea (29%).
The policy was also a way of controlling commerce between Japan and other nations, as well as asserting its new place in the East Asian hierarchy. The Tokugawa had set out to create their own small-scale international system where Japan could continue to access the trade in essential commodities such as medicines, and gain access to essential intelligence about happenings in China while avoiding having to agree to a subordinate status within the Chinese tributary system.
Japan's generally constructive official diplomatic relationship with Joseon Korea allowed regular embassies () to be dispatched by Korea to Japan. Together with the brisk trade between Tsushima and Korea, as well as the presence of Japanese in the Busan , Japan was able to access Chinese cultural, intellectual and technological developments throughout the Edo period. At the time of the promulgation of the strictest versions of the maritime prohibitions, the Ming dynasty had lost control of much of China and it was unnecessary, and perhaps undesirable, for Japan to pursue official diplomatic relations with either of the Ming or the Qing governments while the issue of imperial legitimacy was unsettled.
Japan was able to acquire the imported goods it required through intermediary trade with the Dutch and through the Ryukyu Islands. The Japanese actually encouraged the Ryūkyū Kingdom's rulers to maintain a tributary relationship with China, even though the Shimazu clan had surreptitiously established great political influence in the Ryukyu Islands. The Qing became much more open to trade after it had defeated the Ming loyalists in Taiwan, and thus Japan's rulers felt even less need to establish official relations with China.
Liberalizing challenges to came from within Japan's elite in the 18th century, but they came to nothing. Later on, the policy was the main safeguard against the total depletion of Japanese mineral resources—such as silver and copper—to the outside world. However, while silver exportation through Nagasaki was controlled by the shogunate to the point of stopping all exportation, the exportation of silver through Korea continued in relatively high quantities.
The way Japan kept abreast of Western technology during this period was by studying medical and other texts in the Dutch language obtained through trade at Dejima. This developed into a blossoming field in the late 18th century which was known as (Dutch studies). It became obsolete after the country was opened and the policy collapsed. Thereafter, many Japanese students (e.g., Kikuchi Dairoku) were sent to study in foreign countries, and many foreign employees were employed in Japan (see ).
The policies associated with ended with the Convention of Kanagawa in response to demands made by Commodore Perry in 1854.
Terminology
Trade prospered during the period, and though relations and trade were restricted to certain ports, the country was far from closed. Even as the shogunate expelled all non-Dutch Europeans, they simultaneously engaged in discussions with Dutch and Korean representatives to ensure that the overall volume of trade did not suffer.
Thus, it has become increasingly common in scholarship in recent decades to refer to the foreign relations policy of the period not as , implying a totally secluded, isolated, and "closed" country, but by the term used in documents at the time, and derived from the similar Chinese concept .
History
Trade during the period
During the period, Japan traded with five entities, through four "gateways". The largest was the private Chinese trade at Nagasaki (who also traded with the Ryūkyū Kingdom), where the Dutch East India Company was also permitted to operate. The Matsumae clan domain in Hokkaido (then called Ezo) traded with the Ainu people. Through the Sō clan of Tsushima, there were relations with Joseon-dynasty Korea. Ryūkyū, a semi-independent kingdom for nearly all of the Edo period, was controlled by the Shimazu clan of Satsuma Domain.
Tashiro Kazui has shown that trade between Japan and these entities was divided into two kinds: Group A in which he places China and the Dutch, "whose relations fell under the direct jurisdiction of the at Nagasaki" and Group B, represented by the Korean Kingdom and the Ryūkyū Kingdom, "who dealt with Tsushima (the Sō clan) and Satsuma (the Shimazu clan) domains respectively".
Many items traded from Japan to Korea and the Ryūkyū Kingdom were eventually shipped to China. In the Ryūkyū Islands and Korea, the clans in charge of trade built trading towns outside Japanese territory where commerce actually took place. Due to the necessity for Japanese subjects to travel to and from these trading posts, this resembled something of an outgoing trade, with Japanese subjects making regular contact with foreign traders in essentially extraterritorial land.