Who Was When

You are looking at

Tokugawa shogunate (Edo period)江戸幕府

East Asia & PacificHeartland today: Japan

Compare with…

Meanwhile…

Tokugawa Ieyasu won at Sekigahara in 1600, took the title of shogun in 1603 and ruled from Edo. His heirs limited foreign trade to Nagasaki for over two centuries. Perry's squadron arrived in 1853, and the shogunate ended in 1868.

Also alive at the same time

Key events

  1. Tokugawa Ieyasu leads a coalition of eastern daimyo to victory over western daimyo at Sekigahara

    Also happening around

  2. Ieyasu has the emperor appoint him shogun and governs from Edo

    Also happening around

  3. Tokugawa forces take Osaka Castle, the last Toyotomi stronghold, and Toyotomi Hideyori dies

    Also happening around

  4. Daimyo must spend alternate years in Edo, and their families stay thereDisputed

    Sources say only that the rule dates from the 1630s; this entry uses 1635.

    Also happening around

  5. – Edicts bar Japanese from travelling abroad and, by 1641, confine foreign contact to Nagasaki, with the Dutch restricted to DejimaDisputed

    Sources date the seclusion policy differently: 1624 (EBSCO), 1635 for the travel ban and 1641 for the Nagasaki limit (Japan: A Country Study), and 1639 for the expulsion of most foreigners (US State Department). This entry spans 1635 to 1641. Limited trade with Korea and the Ryukyu Islands continued, and the Chinese also traded at Nagasaki.

    Also happening around

  6. – Commodore Perry's squadron anchors in Edo Bay; in 1854 Japan signs the Treaty of Kanagawa, opening two ports to American ships
  7. – The last shogun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu, resigns, and on 3 January 1868 the new government announces an imperial restoration and abolishes the shogunate