Tokugawa

views updated May 23 2018

Tokugawa Japanese family that controlled Japan through the shogun (1603–1867). The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Ieyasu Tokugawa (1543–1616) who completed the unification of Japan. The Tokugawa ruled through the provincial nobility (daimyo), and they controlled much of Japan's wealth and farmland as well as controlling the emperor and priests. They banned Christianity and Western trade and isolated Japan from the rest of the world. The regime declined during the 19th century as their isolationist policy began to crack under Western pressure. The last Tokugawa shogun was toppled before the Meiji Restoration (1867).