Japan Under the Shoguns Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards focusing on key historical figures, social structures, and cultural concepts from Japan under the Shoguns.

Oda Nobunaga

A powerful late 16th-century military strategist who used force with firearms to unify the central part of Japan.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi

A farmer's son turned military commander and successor to Oda Nobunaga who moved the capital to Ōsaka and prohibited Christian activity.

Tokugawa Ieyasu

A leader who took the title of shogun in 1603, established the Tokugawa shogunate in Tokyo, and ruled during a period known as the Great Peace.

Francis Xavier

A Jesuit missionary who converted Japanese people into Christians and destroyed local shrines.

Great Peace

The period of peaceful rule under Tokugawa leadership during which trade and industry flourished.

Hostage system

A administrative system where daimyo owned land in Edo, and their families remained at the shogun's court in Edo as insurance when the daimyo was away.

Shi

The warrior class in Tokugawa Japan's rigid social structure, consisting of the Shogun, daimyo, samurai, and ronin.

No

The social class consisting of peasant farmers who were considered privileged but remained poor.

Ko

The social class consisting of artisans and craftspeople in Tokugawa Japan.

Sho

The merchant class in Tokugawa society who profited from the labor of others.

Eta (burakumin)

Outcasts in Tokugawa Japan's rigid class system who did dirty work.

Ihara Saikaku

A writer during the Tokugawa era who wrote Five Women Who Loved Love.

Matsumoto Bashō

A 17th-century poet who wrote serious literature focused on nature.

Kabuki theatre

A form of theater in tea houses and dance halls where women were banned to prevent corrupting moral standards, leading to male actors playing female characters.