Japan's Closed Country Edict (1635)
Impact
Without the Closed Country Edict (and accompanying policies such as the ban on Christianity), early modern Japan might have developed in radically different ways than it did. For example, Christianity might have become an influential religious and social force, altering Japan's culture in fundamental ways. Likewise, relations with foreign peoples might have increased in extent and depth, with Japanese travelers journeying frequently to other parts of Asia, the Near East, and even Europe. Another possibility is that an open Japan would have been less internally stable than it was. Perhaps the Tokugawa bakufu would have had difficulty ruling such a state, and rather than lasting centuries the bakufu might have lasted only decades. Those were all possibilities, but they did not occur. Instead, Japan was closed (if imperfectly), and it followed a distinct path largely unshaped by foreign intercourse for well over two hundred years.
Although the Tokugawa leadership may have...
