State and Diplomacy: Another Book Post

“State and Diplomacy in Early Modern Japan: Asia in the Development of the Tokugawa Bakufu“, by Ronald Toby, is as far as I am aware the core key text in overthrowing the idea that Japan was closed to the world during the Edo period. To the contrary, Tokugawa Japan engaged quite actively in trade with the outside world, albeit in very controlled ways at particular designated ports. The cultural effects of this interaction with the outside world were felt throughout the country, not just in the ports, but in all the major cities.

Toby expands upon the idea of the “four gates” or “four doorways”, a term coined I believe by Arano Yasunori, who is as far as I am aware the leading figure in putting forth and pushing for this revolution in the way we view this period of Japanese history.

Though “State and Diplomacy” was published in 1984, and Arano and others have been writing on the subject since around then through today, it seems that primary & secondary school education, at least here in the States, hasn’t caught on; neither have many Intro to Japanese History college survey courses & textbooks, I get the impression. In fact, Arano wrote an excellent book, which I was super lucky to just find on the shelf at Yûrindô, aimed at curriculum-makers and arguing that changes in education (apparently in Japan as well) regarding this matter are long overdue. 「鎖国を見直す」 (Sakoku wo minaosu, “Looking Again at the Closed Country (Theory)”) is short, to the point, and written in relatively simple language; if you’re interested in the subject and can read Japanese, I strongly recommend it.

The four gateways described by Arano, and Toby, and others after them, are as follows. *Matsumae-han in southern Ezo (now called Hokkaidô) was responsible for trade and relations with the Ainu, and for guarding the northern borders of the country, primarily against Russia. Though their manpower was meager and far from what would be required to effectively watch over, control, or settle all of Hokkaidô, the Matsumae clan claimed de facto control of the island, along with others to the north, on behalf of the shogunate, and sought to defend them against Russian expansion.
*Tsushima-han, based on Tsushima Island, which sits between Kyushu and Korea, controlled trade and relations with Joseon Dynasty Korea, which viewed Tsushima as something of a vassal, though as far as the shogunate was concerned, this was completely untrue; no Japanese domain was subordinate to any foreign power. Nevertheless, the Sô clan lords of Tsushima were so trusted by the Korean court that the shogunate could not replace the Sô as lords of Tsushima without losing all trade and relations with Korea.
*Nagasaki is likely the most famous of the four gates. This is where trade with the Chinese and Dutch took place. Unlike the other three gates, Nagasaki was controlled directly by agents of the shogunate, not by the semi-independent samurai lords of a given han (藩, fief/domain). A Chinese settlement thrived in the port city, and just off-shore, on the manmade island known as Dejima, the Dutch East India Company made their base.
*Satsuma-han claimed the Ryukyu Kingdom (Okinawa) as a vassal, and through Ryukyu engaged in trade and relations with China.

Toby focuses on relations and trade with Korea and Ryukyu, the only two foreign countries with which Tokugawa Japan had formal diplomatic relations, and discusses at length the political and economic significance of these relations, and their impact. He paints a picture of a vibrant, active, outward-looking Japan, shattering the view that Japan was shut off from the world, and in the process overthrowing the idea therefore that Commodore Perry “opened” the country. You can’t open something that isn’t closed.

If there were one thing I would take issue with, it is that Toby’s book, like so many academic publications at this level, fails to be a good source for anything beyond a general overview of the topic, and for his argument. That’s not to say that he doesn’t go into detail; he absolutely does, whenever it is relevant to the given aspect of Tokugawa foreign relations he is discussing at the moment. Don’t get me wrong – it is an excellent account of a great many aspects of the foreign relations of the Tokugawa shogunate. But because no effort is made to relate the historical narrative in a straightforward and direct way, it is difficult to learn specifics about any particular niche topic without reading through the whole book; there is no one section on the Ryukyuan embassies to Edo, no one chapter about the methods Satsuma used to control policy in Ryukyu, no one page describing the Yanagawa affair in Tsushima which almost caused the Sô clan to be relieved of their post. On the other hand, I suppose that leaves it open for me to write that sort of account one day.