Tokugawa Ieyasu Establishes the Edo Shogunate; Sakoku Isolation Edicts Follow

In 1603, Tokugawa Ieyasu received the title of shogun from Emperor Go-Yōzei following his decisive victory at the Battle of Sekigahara (1600), founding the Tokugawa shogunate at Edo (modern Tokyo). By 1639, sakoku edicts were complete: nearly all foreigners expelled, Japanese citizens forbidden from leaving under penalty of death, and Western trade restricted to Dutch merchants at Dejima island in Nagasaki. The resulting 250-year period of internal peace saw Edo grow to over one million inhabitants and produced distinctive cultural forms including kabuki, haiku, and modern sushi.