Edo Japan: A Closed Society

Vocabulary terms and definitions from the lecture on Edo Japan's isolation, cultural developments, and interaction with foreign powers.

Per Capita

The average for each person.

Ranald MacDonald

The first English teacher in Japan who also worked as an interpreter between the Americans and the Japanese shogunate.

Dutch scholars

A small group of Japanese scholars who were directed to learn about Dutch medicine, the Dutch language, and Western ways.

Exclusion Laws

Strict laws that prohibited Japanese from going abroad, banned the building of large ships, and forced foreign traders to leave Japan.

Bunraku

Japanese puppet theatre detailing the ordeals of separated lovers or duelling samurai.

Kendo

Japanese martial arts that focused on developing the person through discipline.

Kabuki

A lavish (and sometimes violent) form of Japanese theatre.

Noh

A musical dance drama.

Haiku

A new form of poetry developed in Japanese culture.

The Floating Worlds

Cultural areas where the rules and controls of Tokugawa society were relaxed and merchant’s money counted for more than samurai rank.

Lord Elgin

A British representative in Japan who was impressed with the civilized society he found.

Commodore Perry

The first American to arrive in Japan; he believed that Japan was an uncivilized nation.

Ainu

The group of people with whom Ranald MacDonald made his first contact.

No Second Thought Expulsion Order

An 1825 order stating that any foreign ship sighted approaching the coast should be fired on and driven off.

1614

The year the shogun ordered all Christian missionaries to leave Japan in response to rumours about takeover plots.

1848

The year Ranald MacDonald entered Japan.

1825

The year the shogunate responded to approaching foreign nations with the No Second Thought Expulsion Order.