How did the Tokugawa Shogunate fall into decline and crisis?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

ANSWER:
Students should recognize that the decline of the Tokugawa Shogunate was largely economic and social in its origins. As population increased and economic growth continued, resources were outstripped. In addition, Japanese emperors had no political power and remained in virtual exile at the medieval capital, Kyoto. The shoguns wielded most of the power and lived at Edo, the new capital. The Tokugawa system of regional lords, who resided part of the time at Edo, required well-maintained roads, which in turn helped develop new trade and manufacturing centers. The regional lords had self-contained personal domains that included bureaucracies and military and education systems. Because both the lords and their followers were paid in rice, an economy using rice as a medium of exchange blossomed. Merchants and financiers converted rice into currency, lent money to samurai, and wielded increasing power as a result. Tokugawa shoguns tried to limit the power of the merchant class, but the decentralized system of rule by regional lords thwarted such efforts. However, the decentralized system did stimulate economic growth through agricultural mechanization, light industry, finance, and transport. The Tokugawa Shogunate indirectly encouraged these advances but could not exploit them for its own purposes. The government was traditional while the society had become innovative.