Today I am going to write about the political features of shogunate japan. The Tokugawa period, also called Edo period, (that went from 1603-1867, the final period of traditional japan).
As part of the organized plan to maintain strength in the society, the social order was officially no more, and the freedom between the four classes (ronin, peasants, artisans and merchants) was outlawed. Numerous numbers of the daimyo, or the samurai, took over the capital and other castle towns (by living there) and ordered the rest of the citizens to live further away in the small towns and villages.
The Tokugawa political system was probably the most complex feudal system ever made. It was simular to the European feudal system in that it has a pope, emperor or king, feudal barons, and retainers in Europe compared to emperor, the shogun, the daimyo, and samurai retainers
The Tokugawa’s system consisted of an, emperor, shoguns, daimyo’s and samurai’s. The real name for this system was the bakuhan system. (Baku comes from bakufu, which was the government the Tokugawa’s, leaders who used to administer their private affairs inside their own fief. Han means domain and refers to the 250-plus domains that existed throughout the Edo period) over seen by the samurai.
Besides the emperor and the shogun, the daimyo and samurai had a big role in the political society; they were the ones that were collecting taxes, maintaining civil order, defending the fief (which is a territory held in fee), controlling the cities, encouraging commerce and manufacturing which was required by the fief.
The Tokugawa government alone dealt with the imperial court, the imperial nobility and the emperor himself. The emperor was the source of legitimacy since the office of shogun was an imperial appointment.
The Shogunate political structure was in fact a similar type of structure to most global political structures as can been seen below in the picture.