Travel and Encounter in Early Modern Japan Main Menu Course Description Ihara Saikaku Matsuo Bashō

Edo Period

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The timeframe for our course is the period stretching from the early seventeenth century to approximately the middle of the nineteenth. This era goes by several names, including the Edo period (after the central city of Edo, which is modern-day Tokyo), the Tokugawa period (after the family that exerted political control over Japan during this period), or the early modern period. If we consider ourselves to live in the modern (or postmodern) era, then the term “early modern” suggests that, in some ways, the ideas and institutions that we see during this period prefigure our own world. This is an argument I’d like you to think about, and we’ll revisit it periodically.








If we can identify one characteristic of the Edo/Tokugawa/early modern period that helps us account for the ideas, trends, fashions, types of literature, etc. that we’ll encounter this semester, it’s the fact that the period from about 1600 to 1850 was an era of relative peace and stability. The Edo period follows on the heels of several centuries of near-constant war, and it’s the sense of stability (and a desire to continue it) that motivates a number of the trends, institutions, and ideas that we observe during this 250-year period.

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