Edo period
History of Japan
Nikkō Tōshō-gū
• Paleolithic 35000–14000 BC
• Jōmon period 14000–400 BC
• Yayoi period 400 BC–250 AD
• Kofun period 250–538
• Asuka period 538–710
• Nara period 710–794
• Heian period 794–1185
• Kamakura period 1185–1333
• Kenmu restoration 1333–1336
• Muromachi period 1336–1573
• Nanboku-chō period 1336–1392
• Sengoku period
• Azuchi-Momoyama period 1568–1603
• Nanban trade
• Edo period 1600–1868
• Bakumatsu
• Meiji period 1868–1912
• Meiji Restoration
• Taishō period 1912–1926
• Japan in World War I
• Shōwa period 1926–1989
• Japanese militarism
• Occupation of Japan
• Post-Occupation Japan
• Heisei period 1989–present
• Economic history
• Educational history
• Military history
• Naval history
Glossary
The Edo period (???? ,Edo jidai), or Tok-
ugawa period (???? ,Tokugawa jidai), is a di-
vision of Japanese history running from 1603
to 1868 and is the premodern era. The period
marks the governance of the Edo or Tok-
ugawa shogunate, which was officially estab-
lished in 1603 by the first Edo shogun Tok-
ugawa Ieyasu. The period ended with the
Meiji Restoration, the restoration of imperial
rule by the 15th and last shogun Tokugawa
Yoshinobu. The Edo period is also known as
the beginning of the early modern period of
Japan.
Rule of shogun and
daimyo
Tokugawa Ieyasu, first shogun of the Tok-
ugawa shogunate
An evolution had taken place in the centuries
from the time of the Kamakura bakufu, which
existed in equilibrium with the imperial
court, to the Tokugawa, when the bushi be-
came the unchallenged rulers in what histori-
an Edwin O. Reischauer called a "centralized
feudal" form of government. Instrumental in
the rise of the new bakufu was Tokugawa
Ieyasu, the main beneficiary of the achieve-
ments of Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hidey-
oshi. Already powerful, Ieyasu profited by his
transfer to the rich Kantō area. He main-
tained 2.5 million koku of land, had a new
headquarters at Edo, a strategically situated
castle town (the future Tokyo), and had an
additional two million koku of land