Summary of Evidence Japan had been ruled a Bakufu government since 1192 to 1967. This form of government included a ruling class of shogun (warlord/generals). These shogun had almost all governmental power, and the emperor was left as a religious symbol or figure head (De Bary 120) The regime made by the first Tokugawa (Ieyasu Tokugawa) was a Bakufu government that lasted for 250 years. (De Bary 121) Under his system there were 260 daimyo or feudal lords that had control over japan (De Bary 121). These daimyo’s all answered to the Tokugawa main family. The last of this clan and the last shogun with governmental power was Tokugawa Yoshinobu (Britannica 1). The Japanese were well aware of what had happened to china once they were exposed to world culture and so the Japanese were very hesitant to open themselves up to trade. Japan had been growing economically for many years, they accomplished …show more content…
The Tokugawa government begrudgingly opened the port city of Yokohama to world trade. They British would have liked for them to open a more convenient port somewhere else on the island but the Tokugawa government purposely opened a port that was close to the capital so that they could closely monitor trade, but not too directly so that the people in the major cities did not become corrupted (Beasley 77). The Tokugawa government had heavily taxed and restricted some forms of trade and therefore made trading available but not exactly profitable. Money was flowing into the government because of the taxes from trade however they had spent almost twice the revenue in enforcement of these laws. Therefore the government was falling into debt (Beasley 78). This took a toll on everyone in power and it particularly affected the samurai who were paid by stipends, this made them less than happy with the current government (Beasley 78). An edict from the emperor stated