1. Japan (Tokugawa Shogunate), China (Qing Dynasty), & Russia (Peter the Great) all experienced major political growth, military conflict, & new cultural contacts from 1500-1800

2. Japan’s small size: political unification much faster

1. 1100-1600: Japan’s feudal period

2. regional warlords/nobles (daimyo)controlled towns

- army of warriors (samurai)- Shogun was the hereditary military commander

3. samurai “chivalry” code of conduct: Bushido

4. Japanese contracts between lord-samurai were verbal agreements

5. Hideyoshi was the most successful warlord during Japan’s Civil War

- launched invasion of Korea (1592)- defeated by Chinese Manchus

1. 1603: Japan’s civil war ended

- Shogun Tokugawa established military government

2. Capital moved from Kyoto to Edo (Tokyo):

- trade increased w/ decentralized government- Shogun paid lords in rice…lords paid followers in rice- warriors lost power (became more educated, elitist)- merchants/manufacturers gained more wealth

1. Portuguese arrived (1543)…both conflict/opportunity

2. major impact on Japanese military technology- Daimyo began using firearms

3. Jesuit missionaries converted many Japanese3. - 1617: Christians beheaded & crucified

4. 1639: isolationist government executed foreigners

1. 1700s experienced population growth

- Shogun’s inability to control the price of rice

2. Government protected the samurai & limited power of the merchant class (Confucianism looked down on merchants)

3. decentralized government could NOT control merchant class...

4. Merchants created:

- Kabuki theater- woodblock prints- silk screened fabrics

5. incident of “Forty-Seven Ronin” (1701-1703): end of samurai (government law over “traditional” values)