![]() ![]() In reality, however, the shogunate’s relationships with foreigners gradually relaxed over the course of their self-imposed exile. The treaty marked the beginning of the end for Sakoku. ![]() This practice, uncommon in Japan, was intended to send a message to missionaries as well as those considering conversion.Ī stamp of Commodore Perry celebrating the reopening of Japan. In 1597, shogun Toyotomi ordered the execution of some 26 Christians, 20 of whom were Japanese, and one of whom was as young 12 years old. Entering or leaving Japan was punishable by death, a sentence all too eagerly enacted. The Sakoku edicts, though arguably beneficial for Japan’s economy and cultural production, were enforced through extreme violence. In this sense, woodblock printmaking helped to connect Japan and endow its inhabitants with a shared visual language. Especially popular were posters advertising kabuki plays, which were mass produced and sold at cheap prices to villagers that did not have the money and resources necessary to travel to the cities and see the pleasure districts for themselves. While prints like Hokusai’s The Great Wave now decorate prestigious museums, they originally appealed to the masses as opposed to a cultural elite. This vacuum gave rise to unique artforms such as woodblock printmaking. Unable to access foreign texts or commodities, Japanese culture developed inside a vacuum. More important than vying for power or making money – objectives that had different meanings in the aforementioned class system – was enjoying yourself.Ī woodblock print depicting the pleasure district in Yokohama. Inside the floating world, time moved at a slower, more comfortable pace. In one of his lectures, UNC professor Morgan Pitelka refers to Sakoku Japan as an instance where a country “recognized the possibility of colonialism and prevented it from happening.”Įstablished during this period was the concept of the “floating world,” which conceived of Japan as physically and spiritually separated from the default human experience, an experience characterized by conflict, corruption, plagues, poverty, and backbreaking work. Instead of waging destructive wars, they organized elaborate processions to demonstrate their wealth and military prowess. United under the Tokugawa shogunate in a rigid but stable class system, the various clans that once kept the country divided now lived as one. For 265 years, the Japanese lived in peace and considerable prosperity. Inside Japan, the Sakoku period is remembered as somewhat of a golden age. ( Credit: Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts / Wikipedia) Shogun Toyotomi banned missionaries, setting the stage for Sakoku. Hoping to curb Western influences, Toyotomi banned missionaries in 1587. These conversions greatly worried Hideyoshi Toyotomi, a powerful feudal lord hailed as the “Great Unifier” of Japan. Trade was accompanied by missionary work, which in relatively short time converted some 300,000 Japanese to Christianity. ![]() During this time, Japan – a fiercely independent society that had successfully resisted incursions from other Asian powers – came into contact with European traders. The seeds for Sakoku were sown in the late 16 th century. This period, now referred to as “Sakoku” or chained country, lasted 265 years. Once, under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate, the country actually managed to completely sever all of its relations with the outside world. and other island nations, Japanese politics has been dominated by themes of isolationism and xenophobia for centuries. The COVID pandemic may have reinvigorated anti-foreign sentiments in Japan, but the latter is much older than the former. As former dean of Kyoto Seika University Oussouby Sacko explained, the country “conceptualised covid as something that comes from the outside,” and feared that tourists – in contrast to the notoriously clean and confirming Japanese – would not respect pandemic practices like mask wearing or silent eating. The Asian news website Nikkei reported that about 370,000 guest workers and foreign students struggled to get back into Japan, even though they all had residence visas.Īccording to The Economist, Japan’s pandemic policies – which repeatedly discriminated where the coronavirus did not – betray its deeply rooted fear and distrust of foreigners. And as one door opened, others remained firmly shut. Where other countries prohibited their own citizens from leaving just as they prevented foreigners from entering, Japanese citizens were allowed to visit any nation not in lockdown. Equally alarming were the double standards baked into Japan’s pandemic policies. ![]()
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