mentions Japan's glorious history, and we have to talk about Edo period , which was ruled by Tokugawa shogunate .
In addition to the world-famous Ukiyoe and geisha cultures, there are many worthy of attention and research in the Edo era.
For example, in the Edo period, although the Tokugawa shogunate advocated lockdown, Japan's trade with the world never stopped.
First of all, Japan, as one of the first countries in Asia to successfully achieve modernization, is the main reason that it cannot be separated from the Edo era.
After more than 150 years of turmoil, Japan carried out a stable development of the Edo period under the leadership of the Tokugawa shogunate.
With these 260 years of long peace, not only did Japan, which was severely damaged, have enough time to recuperate, but also allowed the Japanese who were devastated by war to be liberated. The people at the bottom who have been suppressed by hunger and hunger for many years, finally have the opportunity and time to pursue their own lives.
In addition, the "new three views" gradually emerged in the Edo era - a new geographical view, a new scientific view and a new cultural view, laid the foundation for Japan's modernization concept.
At the same time, the small peasant feudal economy that developed stably during the Edo era also provided a solid economic foundation for Japan's modernization development.
1. The concept of "superior" world consciousness
In the Edo period, Japan happened to be in the most stable period of feudal society - the development period of small peasant economy.
Through farming, it can basically meet people's daily life needs.
plus the long-term destruction of war and hunger, the lower-class people have very low requirements for life.
Therefore, people have a low desire for foreign trade.
The Tokugawa Shogunate, who was in the New Deal period, adopted a policy of locking the country in line with the grounds of "protecting the country from being invaded by foreign powers" on the grounds of "protecting the country from being invaded by foreign powers."
Tokugawa Ieyasu Although he proposed a policy of locking the country, at the same time, he is not a completely locking the country.
Tokugawa Ieyasu has always lived under the forces of hostile Daming as a proton, and he knows the truth that "knowing your own and knowing your opponent, and winning every battle."
Therefore, although foreign culture is hostile to Tokugawa Ieyasu, it can also be used as a mirror for reference.
Under such a contradictory idea, the Tokugawa shogunate headed by Tokugawa Ieyasu proposed the concept of "appropriate" world consciousness that combines openness, modernity and historicity.
believes that the "appropriate" world consciousness is to distinguish and handle the relationship between ordinaryity and particularity, tradition and modernity, and historical values.
In other words, we must summarize the successful experiences and lessons of Japan's modernization cause from a conceptual and cultural perspective.
This way, we can prevent foreign culture from invading their own culture while transforming foreign cultures to adapt to local national conditions and thus develop local characteristic cultures.
For example, " Bushido ", is a cultural fusion product with very Japanese local characteristics.
Bushido is not only a morality, but also a path that guides the growth of samurai.
The origin of Bushido is the "loyalty" in Chinese Confucianism.
became a samurai way that lost its direction in the peaceful era by exaggerating the meaning of "loyalty" advocated by Chinese Confucianism.
, a new cultural concept that integrates Japan's national conditions, is due to the Tokugawa Shogunate's policy of locking the country.
Because only under the premise of locking the country, people are not easily affected by foreign culture. When the inherent thinking is relatively stable, appropriate introduction of some foreign cultural ideas will not only not cause confusion to local culture, but will instead make them the cornerstone of local cultural progress.
plus the "loyalty" originated from Chinese Confucianism. The original meaning is that the king, minister, father and son are in their own position and follow their own etiquette. Although the elders are orderly, they do not obey absolutely.
However, the Tokugawa shogunate advocated that "loyalty" is more important than "filial piety", and emphasized the absolute loyalty and surrender of the subjects to the emperor and the general.
Tokugawa Shogunate is a concept of "appropriate" world consciousness to gradually consolidate its dominance in the Japanese regime.
has shifted from "the world" to "the world"
In addition, under the Tokugawa shogunate's policy of locking the country, only a few knowledgeable people can come into contact with foreign culture.
They not only have a certain knowledge base, but also can independently judge the quality of foreign cultures.
In this way, they will not lose their original direction due to the impact of foreign cultures. Instead, they will use foreign cultures and combine local cultures to create a new culture that is more in line with national conditions.
For example, Japan in the Edo era happened to be in the period of rapid development and stability of the feudal society era, while the world was in the period of rapid development of capital trade.
In this comparison, Japan's economy may be much behind the world, but they are protected by "locking the country" and do not have to worry about being invaded by foreign countries because of their backward economy.
At the same time, because of the "iron wall" of the Tokugawa shogunate's policy of locking the country, foreign powers also find it difficult for foreign powers to break through Japan's national gates.
Therefore, for Japan, the policy of locking the country is probably a balance of pros and cons.
However, although the Tokugawa shogunate advocates locking the country, they themselves are not closed. They also learn very carefully about the knowledge they should learn.
In the Edo period, GDP in Japan was generally low, and the rice production was still the main source.
However, after the development of new fields, not only did the total area of fertile fields increase from more than 2 million mu to more than 3.5 million mu, but the per capita GDP also greatly improved in a short period of time.
Moreover, in the era of the world, gold, silver and copper coins were circulated, and the ratio of currency basically followed the exchange method of 1 tael of gold equals 4000 texts of copper coins equals 50 silver.
For example, in terms of geographical knowledge, Japan is influenced by China, and basically believes that there is only one "world".
However, at that time, the emergence of foreign ships broke the Japanese concept of geographical views and began to transform into the "world".
In addition, before the Tokugawa Shogunate, Japan was basically divided by multiple forces, so the Japanese rulers did not develop the dictatorial idea of "the world is the only one", but instead became more likely to accept the concept of "world".
Therefore, under the impact of the "worldview", Japan did not suffer much actual damage.
By the middle of the Edo period, it reached the peak of Japanese feudal centralization.
As people's living standards and quality improve, the conflict between the lower class people and local daimyos and other power holders has become increasingly serious. It is an era of conflicts that both human feelings and not human feelings, and internal struggles internal affairs and external struggles against outsiders.
Not only caused new land competition due to the development of the Nida policy, but also caused the problem of financial losses of the Tokugawa shogunate to become increasingly serious due to the development of the new country. The Edo period did not have an impact on foreign culture, but instead caused serious internal contradictions first.
So, for Japan at that time, the "world" and "world" were the same, and had no impact on Japan's internal problems.
Japan Terakoya Education
Although in the Edo period, the Tokugawa shogunate advocated a policy of locking the country, it did not block trade with the Netherlands.
In the 17th century, the Netherlands was one of the best developed countries in the world at that time.
not only has a developed ship trade system, but also has a high educational and cultural awareness.
In addition, the Tokugawa shogunate hates countries such as Portugal and Spain that brought Catholic culture. Not only did they vigorously implement the ban on religion, but they also put forward many harsh trade terms.
And the Netherlands actually agreed one by one, and expressed their willingness to trade with Japan.
This made the Tokugawa shogunate feel a lot about the Netherlands.
And the Netherlands is not only engaged in economic business with Japan, but also bringing a lot of books to Japan.
These books open up the educational issues in the Edo period of Japan. Because Japan in the Edo period was too peaceful, people don’t have to worry about war, and naturally they have the time and mind to develop other things, such as reading novels.
In order to understand the words in the novel, educational issues are naturally exposed.
According to statistics, by the 1960s, the literacy rate of for adults in the world could barely reach about 60%, and in the 1980s it barely reached about 80%.
However, Japan's literacy rate reached 99.8% after the 1970s.
The reason why Japan has such a high literacy rate is that it is necessary to mention general education, Terakoya education.
Because Terakoya education is a compulsory education that has emerged since the Edo period. At that time, it was a symbolic collection of some money and you could go in and study.
Moreover, Shikoya education is for ordinary people, even children from poor families can still receive Shikoya education.
This concept of attaching importance to education not only began in the Edo era, but also continued to this day.
Even after , after , Japan was defeated, it still remains.
So in Japan, no matter how remote urban and rural it is, the best building and the vastest space will definitely be a school.
Although Tejikoya education originated in the Edo period of the Lok Sakura country, it has a strong sense of the world.
Education not only allows people to understand words, but also allows people to govern the country through education, thereby achieving a long-term peace pattern.
It has to be said that the Tokugawa shogunate was able to create a peaceful and prosperous era that lasted for 260 years, which was inseparable from their unique concept of "worldview", allowing them to rule and manage Daming, who had been adapted to fighting for territory by force for a long time, without giving them the opportunity to resist.
plus an advanced worldview can not only better control Japan's future development, but also enable Japan to protect itself in an environment of division between the world's powers even under a policy of locking up the country that is unfavorable to development.
Its historical significance is very important.
Also, the Tokugawa shogunate also has a high acceptance of the world. Although he advocates locking up the country in governing the country, he advocates founding the country in power, that is, appropriately introducing foreign cultures and ideas to fill his narrow ideas and concepts, integrate the "world" into a culture that suits his country's local conditions, and make it a new cultural product that exerts its own strength.
References:
Igarashi Masayoshi, Japanese Culture Theory Tutorial [M], Shandong University Press, 2000
