Tokyo History
The most significant of Tokyo history may be traced back to the 16th century, when Tokyo’s growth to magnitude began in a little fishing village called Edo. Edo’s development was fast and dramatic from the 1600’s, when feudal lords had a power struggle that led to Tokugawa Ieyasu using the village as his power base. The degree of his authority was such that Tokugawa was appointed by the emperor as a military administrator or shogun.
That time, all feudal lords were in a decree that demanded them to use up each second year in Edo, and their families were to remain in the village permanently; Tokugawa created a flourishing city, as well as merged national power, used for the very first time. In 1638, Tokugawa’s grandson, after slaughtering several Christians, stooped Japan to nearly every foreign trade. This sweeping isolation rule remained in position for nearly three centuries in Tokyo history.
In spite of the seclusion, Edo prospered and by the beginning of early seventeenth century, it was the world’s biggest city with more than a million people. The city was structured geographically through idealistically by status and rank, as well as profession. Modern Tokyo still has this lingering structure, with little closed society specializing in particular wares.
Edo’s turning point, and entire Japan’s, appeared in 1853 after a fleet of ‘black ships’ led by Commodore Mathew Perry arrived, to insist a treaty that Japan opens its ports. With the coming of these Westerners also came extensive social revolution in Tokyo history. This time, the regime of Tokugawa became powerless to stop the deluge of progress, and control was once again handed back (not without battle) to Emperor Meiji.
In 1868, the place of imperial authority was transferred from Kyoto to Edo, and during the process, Edo was renamed the Eastern Capital or Tokyo. Militarization and industrialization came with Japan’s entry into the twentieth century. Introduction of Western-style structures started and Japan triumphed militarily over Russia and China. Additionally, Korea, Micronesia and Taiwan were taken control of. The industry’s rush brought the populace from all around Japan to its Capital, Tokyo; these times were some of the most notable in Tokyo history.
An unforgettable disaster in Tokyo history happened on the noon of September 1, 1923, when the Great Kanto Earthquake hit Tokyo, as well as the air raids of World War II where about eighty-thousand lives were lost and approximately two-fifths of Tokyo was flattened. Today, despite every disaster, war, and economic gloom, Tokyo still stands as a sole expression of contemporary Japan, with trade multiplicity hardly ever seen in any part of the world.