Japan's Closed Country Edict (1635)
In 1635 the Tokugawa government (commonly referred to as the Tokugawa bakufu, meaning Japan's military government at that time) issued a regulatory code known as the Closed Country Edict, or Sakokurei. This was one of several sets of laws issued during the 1630s that caused Japan to become largely closed off from the rest of the world for over two centuries. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, European exploration had begun to radically alter both the shape of the world and relations between peoples from different parts of the globe. Accordingly, the fact that Japan's rulers took steps to halt those developments as they affected Japan was significant.
The Closed Country Edict of 1635 was one of several codes that led to Japan's status as a “closed country.” Because Japanese rulers tended to reissue laws, often with only slight modifications, whenever they deemed it necessary, certain subjects were addressed on a number of occasions. Such was the case with...
