Japanese Culture and Institutions 
The Tokugawa Shogunate:  The Early Years

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For several centuries Japan had been ruled by a military house known as the Shogunage.  In the fifteenth century, the Shogunate  lost almost all power to the great feudal lords (Daimyos) who fought among themselves.  They needed money for arms. developing industry, and the building of town.  These competing lords obtained their wealth through extensive trade.  Eventually, their petty conflicts broke out into civil war.  During the war, cities grew, social mobility followed, food production and population increased.  Portuguese traders built a major port at Nagasaki and supplied the Daimyos with excellent firearms. Jesuit missionaries followed the traders producing at least 300,000 converts.  Even Francis Xavier devoted his energies to the conversion efforts.

One of the most powerful of the Daimyos,  Oda Nobunago defeated the former Shoguanate (the Ashikaga).  Nobunago put down Buddahist military orders and drove out rivals from central Japan.  The next leader of the military,Hideyoshi,  consolidated power by reducing the power of the independent feudal lords, collecting 2/3 of the peasants produce, supporting the merchant class, nationalizing the samurai, and launching an unsuccessful invasion of Korea and China.  Tokugawa Ieyasu ended the civil war by defeating the remaining warlords at  the Battle of Seikigahar in 1600.  He proved to be a shrewd, patient, cruel and ruthless ruler.  Ieyasu  established a centralized feudal system  that ruled over Japan for 250 years.  The Emperor remained the nominal head of the government but the Shogunate held the power by commanding a unified military force.
Ieyasu curtailed European influence, forbade Japanese to travel abroad, ended the tolerance of Christians of whom many thousands were martyred, and expelled all foreigners from Japan.  Only one Dutch station was allowed at Nagasaki