The United States implies unity, as a positive aspect of people’s lives, however in history the act of unifying individuals and places was not always done or perceived as positive. Japan exhibited a very suitable example of this. From the 1500s to the 1800s, Japan started to develop a central government. After years of civil war and instability through its territory, the shogun, a military general, began to enforce various edicts in an attempt to ensure unity and growth. These edicts effectively banned farmers from having weapons, outlawed Christianity and the Portuguese, and did not allow citizens to travel outside of Japan.
In 1588 an edict was declared that banned farmers from having any weapons in there possession. The …show more content…
Hideyoshi was the Shogun of Japan who first started the Shogunate and an end to the fighting. In this Edict it stated “ anyone who does not hinder the teaching of Buddha, whether it be a merchant or not, may not come and go freely from Christian countries to Japan” . The shogun wanted to make all of Japan practice Buddhism in hopes of unifying the country. The act of banning Christianity unified the political powers. Christianity brought instability to Japan because it spread many different and new ideas. If the citizens practiced Christianity it gave the Shogun less power, because it made people less dependent on him because the belief of the shogun was people would begin to disregarded the belief in re-incarnation, and acquired the belief in forgiveness of God. If forgiveness was a virtue of the people’s beliefs it allowed for people to make mistakes thus the idea that they could disobey the shoguns rules and be forgiven. The Edict had a very large impact socially as well because it unified Japans people by limiting diversity. The ban of Christianity was a practical because by unifying the people it limited the risk of civil wars and instability through