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Japan Provincial Wars and Foreign Contacts
The Onin War led to serious political fragmentation
and
obliteration of domains: a great struggle for land and
power ensued
among bushi chieftains until the mid-sixteenth
century.
Peasants rose against their landlords and samurai against
their
overlords as central control virtually ceased. The
imperial house
was left impoverished, and the bakufu was
controlled by
contending chieftains in Kyoto. The provincial domains
that emerged
after the Onin War were smaller and easier to control.
Many new
small daimyo arose from among the samurai who had
overthrown
their great overlords. Border defenses were improved, and
wellfortified castle towns were built to protect the newly
opened
domains, for which land surveys were made, roads built,
and mines
opened. New house laws provided practical means of
administration,
stressing duties and rules of behavior. Emphasis was put
on success
in war, estate management, and finance. Threatening
alliances were
guarded against through strict marriage rules.
Aristocratic society
was overwhelmingly military in character. The rest of
society was
controlled in a system of vassalage. The shoen were
obliterated, and court nobles and absentee landlords were
dispossessed. The new daimyo directly controlled
the land,
keeping the peasantry in permanent serfdom in exchange for
protection.
Most wars of the period were short and localized,
although they
occurred throughout Japan. By 1500 the entire country was
engulfed
in civil wars. Rather than disrupting the local economies,
however,
the frequent movement of armies stimulated the growth of
transportation and communications, which in turn provided
additional revenues from customs and tolls. To avoid such
fees,
commerce shifted to the central region, which no
daimyo had
been able to control, and to the Inland Sea. Economic
developments
and the desire to protect trade achievements brought about
the
establishment of merchant and artisan guilds.
By the end of the Muromachi period, the first Europeans
had
arrived. The Portuguese landed in southern Kyushu in 1543
and
within two years were making regular port calls. The
Spanish
arrived in 1587, followed by the Dutch in 1609. The
Japanese began
to attempt studies of European civilization in depth, and
new
opportunities were presented for the economy, along with
serious
political challenges. European firearms, fabrics,
glassware,
clocks, tobacco, and other Western innovations were traded
for
Japanese gold and silver. Significant wealth was
accumulated
through trade, and lesser daimyo, especially in
Kyushu,
greatly increased their power. Provincial wars were made
more
deadly with the introduction of firearms, such as muskets
and
cannons, and greater use of infantry.
Christianity had an impact on Japan, largely through
the
efforts of the Jesuits, led first by Saint Francis Xavier
(1506-
52), who arrived in Kagoshima in southern Kyushu in 1549.
Both
daimyo and merchants seeking better trade
arrangements as
well as peasants were among the converts. By 1560 Kyoto
had become
another major area of missionary activity in Japan. In
1568 the
port of Nagasaki, in northwestern Kyushu, was established
by a
Christian daimyo and was turned over to Jesuit
administration in 1579. By 1582 there were as many as
150,000
converts (2 percent of the population) and 200 churches.
But
bakufu tolerance for this alien influence
diminished as the
country became more unified and the openness of the period
decreased. Proscriptions against Christianity began in
1587 and
outright persecutions in 1597. Although foreign trade was
still
encouraged, it was closely regulated, and by 1640 the
exclusion and
suppression of Christianity had become national policy
(see Tokugawa Period, 1600-1867
, this ch.;
Religious and Philosophical Traditions
, ch. 2).
Data as of January 1994
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