A History of Japan: 1615-1867

Sansom's final volume in his magisterial series, A History of Japan: 1615-1867, is significantly shorter than the preceding books. A lot of complex and contradictory traits of this important stage in Japanese history are quickly covered and analyzed while raising so many questions. Since the Edo period is perhaps one of our favorite eras and Sansom's study of it is a great introduction, it is definitely worth the time. However, it seems like the Tokugawa state and the type of nation they were attempting to build was one that moved in contradictory directions. Agricultural, industrial, commercial, and scientific advancements continued and were sometimes supported by a government that was based on feudal principles but sought to create, at least for some time, an "authoritarian dictatorship" or totalitarian state. 

An example of this can be seen in the growing interest in Western science and learning, trade with Russia and Asia via the Ryukyus, and the importation of non-Christian texts. The policy of seclusion was not necessarily maintained or closely adhered to by various actors during this period. Another example can be seen in the attempts to regulate consumption patterns of the commoners in a social structure that officially placed traders and moneylenders below warriors, farmers and artisans. Yet the warrior class and entire fiefs became indebted to moneylenders and wealthy merchants, some of whom invested their capital into ventures such as Echigoya, which appears to be a forerunner of the modern department store with advertising and sales to poor consumers. These aspects of the social and economic history of the era suggest the ways in which this conservative Bakufu actually oversaw a changing society in which many seemingly "modern" ideas, practices, and concepts developed. 

So, we will continue to read more on Japanese history to see how it complicates our assumptions on modernity, authoritarian states, feudal regimes, militarism, capitalism, and industrialization. The Tokugawa state seems to be an interesting case study of this, particularly for our past interest in the peasantry and urban laborers during what appears to have been a tumultuous era of famines, inequality, urbanization, and the impact of the market on commoners.