ABSTRACT
Although historical overviews of the establishment of the Pax Tokugawa in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries frequently describe a process of national "reunification," and then turn to the development of leadership under the Tokugawa house, Japan's political situation was considerably more complex. Thus, five years following the destruction of Osaka castle in 1615, Tokugawa Hidetada ordered many daimyo to make contributions to rebuilding it. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, administration of Nagasaki gave the shogunate control of the port most important to trade with China, as well as the major port for contact with Western shipping. Control of Nagasaki became more central to overseeing trade with China and the West after the Tokugawa limited officially recognized trade to this one port. Even when not tied to significant foreign trade, the shogun's control of ports like Niigata provided leverage over coastal shipping, a growing segment of the economy.
