The City of Edo, or Explaining the Long Peace of the Tokugawa Japan

To understand the decisive role that the city of Edo played in the long peace of the Tokugawa, one must first recall that Japan, prior to the Tokugawa, had the cities at the eastern end of the Setonaikai (Japan’s Mediterranean) as its center, namely Osaka(Naniwa), Nara and Kyoto. This is quite natural as Japan has always had to be conscious about its gigantic neighbor to the west, China. The pre-Tokugawa capitals were far enough from China to maintain independence, while close enough with it for trade between the two countries to continue. While the first samurai government was built in Kamakura, close to latter day Edo, the city itself was small in comparison to the older capitals and had never achieved economic importance to compete with them.

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