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Questions tagged [edo-period]

Edo period refers to the time period from 1603 to 1868 when the Tokugawa Shogunate ruled the islands.

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What was the purpose of the breastplate rings on samurai armor?

In the Royal Ontario Museum, I found this armor, and was perplexed by the two gold rings that appear on the breastplate. While it seem that something ought to be attached to them, no example of ...
SPavel's user avatar
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20 votes
1 answer
3k views

What are the hay effigies in this Japanese movie?

I am moving this question from Movies.SE in hope of getting the answer here The movie The Blind Swordsman Zaitochi (2003) takes places somewhere in a small town in Japan, probably around the 19th ...
Yasskier's user avatar
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19 votes
1 answer
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Were taiko drums used to determine village sizes?

Were taiko drums used to determine village size? If so, when was this practice in use? In 'Full Circle', Michael Palin says that the taiko drums were used to determine village sizes in pre-industrial ...
gktscrk's user avatar
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7 votes
2 answers
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What did the Japanese military do to maintain their fighting edge during the Edo era/Bakufu (1603-1868)?

After Tokugawa unified Japan, it entered a long era of militarized peace 1603-1868, with very limited warfare, a severely isolationist attitude and strict limits to weaponry (guns were essentially ...
Italian Philosopher's user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
151 views

What was the basis of the calendar during Japan's Edo period?

I couldn't find a proper answer on the internet, every article refers to the timeline using the Gregorian calendar. But I'm guessing Japan didn't use this method given the fact that they weren't ...
Why_Lxx's user avatar
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4 votes
0 answers
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What went into an Edo-era Hyakkumonogatari Kaidankai?

I was looking for information on the Edo-era parlour game hyakkumonogatari kaidankai. I found a lot of academic sources about kaidan themselves (the history, spread, adaption, influence, etc.) But at ...
The Drowning Fetch's user avatar
4 votes
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88 views

What was the political context of the Japanese "North Ezo" explorations?

Mamiya Rinzō explored Sakhalin in 1808. This seems to have been the culmination of a series of explorations, which started in the 1770's, and in which the Japanese discovered much of the northern ...
gktscrk's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
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How did the Japanese populace view the emperor during the Edo Period?

What was the context behind the Sonnō Jōi (尊皇攘夷, "revere the emperor and repel the barbarians") movement? To my understanding, the Edo Shogunate was a typical feudal society with strict ...
TomNoook's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
427 views

What did the Edo samurai bureaucracy actually look like?

While researching the Japanese Edo period, the Samurai class are frequently described as bureaucrats and the government is described as a "sophisticated bureaucracy", often with detailed ...
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2 votes
0 answers
103 views

During Edo period Japan, was there any circumstance where a Western person was able to go outside of Dejima?

I know that during the Edo period Westerners (specifically the Dutch) were confined in Dejima due to Japan's isolationist policy. But as I was looking into the time period, it seems to me that there ...
Twinkling Star's user avatar