Alright, buckle up for an extremely simplified history lesson from a Japanon who has had some formal education regarding modern Japanese history but not ancient;
Japan as a unified nation did not formally exist before the Meiji period; previous to this had existed the Edo period, a period of relative peace, culminating in both economic and political stability under the Tokugawa Shogunate’s rule had existed. The Tokugawa shogunate’s influence and rule encompassed most, if not all, of the land that we know as Japan today, though to call this the “Japanese nation” is akin to calling the German states, the “German nation”, before the unification in 1871. If we look back further, you have almost 600 years vague union of Samurai clans and various regional powers coming together to form a political and military unions, with the strongest and most competent family and/or Samurai leader holding real power, both militarily and politically, over much of the island.
From most historical accounts, the actual rule of the Imperial family started from the 4th century AD, and lasted to the 10th century AD in which rule by an Imperial court was laid. Towards the end of it, by various noble families would be in control of various portions of the power structure; these nobles would start slacking off and go around arsing about and doing nothing, and they hired Samurai to look after and guard their estates and interests. However these Samurai would go onto create clans of their own and by the early part of the 11th century, these Samurai clans clashed with the nobility and came out victorious, thereby creating a rule by Samurai, and the clan leaders would be called Shoguns. While this lasted until the Meiji period, the Imperial family held an important symbolic role, in which they acted as the “God” that gave the various Shogunates legitimacy, or divine right.
I’ll skip a few centuries to the Edo period, in which most, if not all, of Japan’s islands were brought under the rule of a single dynasty. The Tokugawa Shogunate had brought an end to a war that lasted nearly hundreds of years, and brought about 200 years of uninterrupted peace to the island. In this time, culture flourished, the various families given enough power to be happy, but not enough to rebel. The Edo period also saw the closing off of its nation to foreign nations through Sakoku, or the closing of the nation, except for a handful China, the Dutch, Korea of nations. The few people who were allowed to have contact with these foreigners were those closest to the Shogunate, and scholars who were allowed to read books from these nations.
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