How Did The Portuguese Influence Feudal Japan

Trade with the outside world was very important to Japan after the Portuguese first made contact. Portuguese ships helped Japanese trade by bringing Indonesian spices from Malacca to Macao, which would be sold in China, they would then buy Chinese silks and gold, they would then leave and go from Macao to harbours in the south of Japan (first Hirado and then Nagasaki), they would sell these products, use the money to buy Japanese silver, which they would then sell in Macao, and finally buy silk again to ship to Japan or to their storehouse in Goa. The Japanese were interested in the Portuguese ships, their maps and navigation, and they studied these two techniques heavily. Their biggest interest was in guns. The incredible potential of this new weaponry had for the military was highly appreciated by the Japanese military when the Portuguese started to bring these weapons over and allow them to be studied and even copied. …show more content…
They were servants of the shogun and even gave them power over their emperor. The samurai controlled Japanese government and society, that is, until the Meiji Restoration in 1868, which led to the eradication of the feudal system. Then, the traditional samurai code of honor, discipline and morality which is known as bushido–or “the way of the warrior”–was brought back, and became the code of conduct for Japanese