What was life like in Japan during the Tokugawa peace?

OON HIS DEATHBED , Hideyoshi set up a council of regents to govern during the minority of his infant son. The strongest regent was Hideyoshi’s long-time supporter Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543–1616). In 1600 at Sekigahara, Ieyasu smashed a coalition of daimyo defenders of the heir and began building his own government. In 1603 he took the title “shogun.” The Tokugawa Shogunate that Ieyasu fashioned lasted until 1867. This era is also called the Edo period after the location of the shogunate, starting Tokyo’s history as Japan’s most important city (Map 21.2).

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Daimyo ProcessionThe system of alternate residence meant that some daimyo were always on the road. The constant travel of daimyo with their attendants between their domains and Edo, the shogun’s residence, stimulated construction of roads, inns, and castle-towns. (Daimyo’s Processions Passing Along the Tokaido, by Utagawa Sadahide [1807–1873]/triptych of polychrome woodblock prints; ink and color on paper, Edo period [1615–1868]. Bequest of William S. Lieberman, 2005, accession 2007.49.290a–c/Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA/Image copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Image source: Art Resource, NY)