The Edo period

In short

The shogun in Edo

In 1603 Tokugawa Ieyasu was named shogun and set up his government, the Tokugawa Shogunate, in Edo.

A system was built with the shogun at the top. Japan was closed off from the world, and there was peace for more than 200 years.

Through the whole period, the Emperor lived in Kyoto, which was the formal capital.

A city of a million

Edo became the center of politics and culture. By the middle of the 1700s it had more than a million people, and the first count of the people, in 1721, found about 1.3 million.

In 1657 a great fire in Edo killed more than 100,000 people. Firefighting groups were set up in 1718.

Schools for everyone

Samurai studied at domain schools called hanko. Children of ordinary people learned reading and writing at small schools called terakoya.

The end of the period

In 1854 Japan signed a treaty with the United States and ended its closed-country policy.

In 1867 Tokugawa Yoshinobu, the last shogun, gave the power to govern back to the Emperor. In 1868 the Meiji period began, and Edo was renamed Tokyo.

Think about it

• Q1What do you think helped the Edo period stay peaceful for more than 200 years?
• Q2Edo had more than a million people in the 1700s. What would a city that size need?
• Q3What was happening in your country between 1603 and 1868?

There is no single right answer. Talking it over with someone at home is a good way to learn.