Japan restricts commerce with foreigners

Historical Context Note

Litencyc Editors (Independent Scholar - Europe)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 10.2.2: Japanese Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Mats Arne Karlsson (University of Sydney), Roy Anthony Starrs (University of Otago)

Domains

Colonialism and colonisation

Dates

Date of occurrence 1635

Places

Japan (Location)

Resources

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Following the first mission of Francis Xavier in 1549, the arrival of Portuguese, Dutch and English missionaries in Japan led to increasing social tensions as Christian converts embraced new ideas of the individual and of salvation and called into question the religious and political beliefs of the Japanese ruling class. Christianity was formally prohibited by decrees in 1612-14, after which repression of Christians became severe. In order to stamp out Christian and more general Western influence, a policy evolved known as

sakoku

(“closed country”): in 1635 all Japanese traders were forbidden to go abroad and, following a Christian-led uprising of peasants in 1637, Buddhism was adopted as a state religion and all Japanese required to register with a Buddhist temple. From 1639 all…

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164 words

Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "Japan restricts commerce with foreigners". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 13 September 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1586, accessed 06 May 2024.]

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