Social Studies 8 - Unit C: Japan - The Edo Period Exam

Name: ______________________________
1. As most of Renaissance Europe was influenced by Italy, Japan was influenced by this
country.

a) Portugal
b) Korea
c) The Mongols
d) The Chinese Empire

2. _________________ was the ‘divine wind’ which the Japanese believed was sent to
protect them from the invading Mongol forces.

a) Typhoon
b) Tsunami
c) Kamikaze
d) Kendo

3. The closest equivalent to Japan in Europe would be:

a) Portugal
b) British Isles
c) The Islands of Sicily and Sardinia
d) Holland

4. A difference between countries in Europe and that of Japan is that:

a) Japan had borrowed heavily from other cultures

b) Japan has a unique language
c) Japan’s physical geography encourages isolation
d) Japan had periods of conflict and civil war

5. Japan’s belief in its own superiority is MOST derived from…

a) Their religious beliefs about themselves

b) Their history of conquest and empire
c) Their wealth of natural resources
d) Their artistic and philosophical splendor

6. Japan’s islands from North to South are:

a) Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu

b) Hokkaido, Korea, Okinawa, Shikoku
c) Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, Shikoku
d) Hokkaido, Taiwan, Formosa, Pico
7. The Imperial and the Shogunate capitals are both located on the island:

a) Honshu
b) Hokkaido
c) Madagascar
d) Kyushu

8. While Europe was going through the Renaissance, Japan was going through this
period:

a) The Tokugawa Shogunate

b) The Meiji Restoration
c) The Wars of Religion
d) The Warring States Period

9. Towards the end of the 16th century (1500s) a series of strong, powerful nobles took
over more and more of Japan until ______________ _____________ consolidated all of
the power and became the de facto (in practise) ruler of Japan in 1603:

a) Hideyoshi Nokugawa
b) Tokugawa Ieyasu
c) Ken Watanabe
d) Ken Kutagari

10. A Shogun is MOST closely analogous to a(n):

a) Emperor
b) King
c) Prime Minister
d) Dictator for Life

11. Why did the Shogun think foreigners were a threat

to his military control?
a) Foreigners could join the Japanese army and fight against him.
b) The Dutch might try to convert the daimyo to Christianity.
c) Chinese swords were of higher quality than Japanese swords.
d) If the daimyo acquired European weapons, they might challenge the
shogun’s authority.

12. The rigid Japanese social structure was intended to help the shogun to
maintain control. Which list below places the societal roles in the
correct order, from most to least important?
a) emperor, samurai, shogun, farmer
b) merchant, artisan, farmer, outcast
c) shogun, farmer, artisan, merchant
d) samurai, merchant, farmer, non-human
13. The samurai, daimyo and the peasantry all shared the common
experience of
a) increase in political power during the Meiji Restoration
b) decrease in economic wealth during the Edo period
c) loss of social status after the end of Edo Japan
d) gain in social influence during the Meiji Restoration

14. Which of the following statements correctly describes the changing

role of the Emperor in the history of Japan?
a) The Emperor and the Shogun were seen as gods, but with the end of
the shogunate, only the Emperor ran the government of Japan.
b) The Emperor of Japan had always been seen as having godlike
status, but his actual role in daily government had been small.
c) In Edo Japan, the Emperor controlled the daily government of Japan,
while the Shogun was seen as a distant figurehead.
d) In Meiji Japan, the role of the Emperor was reduced from the position
that he had held during the Edo period.

15. The story of the 47 ronin is most used to illustrate the importance in
Japanese culture of the values of
a) military service and obedience
b) harmony and peace
c) revenge and power
d) duty and honour

Cracks had begun to form in the structure of Japanese society by the

end of the Edo period. Use the list below to answer questions 16-19.

a) peasant farmers
b) merchants
c) samurai
d) daimyo

16. Which group gained wealth and power because more people needed
their services?

17. Which group survived by marrying beneath their class, which went
against strict social rules?

18. Which group fled to the cities to find work?

19. Which group was nearing bankruptcy because of the high cost of
alternate attendance and road construction?
20. The Exclusion Laws passed by the government of Edo Japan, were put
into effect mostly as a result of
a) the concern of the Shogun over threats to his power and to Japanese
culture
b) Japanese fears of being defeated and enslaved as the Aztecs were
c) the distrust of Christianity by the followers of Confucius
d) Western attempts to take over the government of Japan

Use the following elements of the Exclusion Laws

to answer Questions 21 and 22.
Element 1 Japanese ships able to make long ocean voyages must be
destroyed, and new ships may no longer be built.
Element 2 Japanese are not allowed to go abroad; any Japanese out of
the country will not be allowed to return.
Element 3 All Christian missionaries and foreign traders must leave
Japan, and may not return.
Element 4 Foreign objects, such as any book containing a Christian
message, and any scientific books, are banned.

21. All of these elements of the Exclusion Laws resulted in Edo Japan's
policy of
a) imperialism
b) expansionism
c) isolationism
d) militarism

22. If a nation in the modern world wanted to impose similar restrictions in

its country, the widespread use of the Internet would pose the
greatest challenge to the enforcement of
a) Element 1
b) Element 2
c) Element 3
d) Element 4

23. Why weren’t most Japanese people exposed to the ideas of the West?
a) The shogun feared these ideas might confuse them.
b) The shogun knew the people were satisfied with their society.
c) The Japanese didn’t know how to read.
d) The people ordered the Shogun to keep Western ideas out of Japan.

24. The Imperial capital is ____________ while the Shogunate capital was:

a) Kyoto, Edo
b) Edo, Kyoto
c) Edo, Tokyo
d) Tokyo, Edo
25. Which of the following statements describes the strongest reason why
early contacts between the Christianity of the West and the beliefs of
Edo Japan were of concern to the Shogun?
a) The Christian missionaries threatened to take over control of the
government of Japan.
b) Christian belief in only one God threatened the Japanese concept of
group responsibility in society.
c) Christian teaching contradicted traditional Japanese teachings, and
threatened to weaken the social hierarchy.
d) European Christian trading activity with Japan threatened to destroy
the Japanese economy.

26. The Shogun had an artificial island built in Nagasaki harbour.

Why did the he have it built?
a) to provide a base for the Japanese Navy
b) to grow rice necessary to feed Japan’s large population
c) to allow trade with the Europeans
d) to develop industries to compete with the West

27. The European traders who were still allowed some contact with
Edo Japan despite the Exclusion Laws were
a) English
b) French
c) Portuguese
d) Dutch

28. How do long periods of stability and peace affect a country’s economy?
a) people stop buying goods
b) the economy suffers
c) the country gains wealth
d) people have to pay higher taxes

29. To a Grade 8 student in St. Albert today, which of the following

features of Edo Japan's isolation would most likely be considered an
advantage?
a) The rigid rules which controlled all social classes
b) The inability of people to move from one class to another
c) The limits on personal freedom imposed by the rulers
d) The stability and peace which resulted from control

30. Who were the Dutch scholars?

a) Dutch instructors who taught European customs to the Japanese
b) merchants from the Netherlands who traded with the Japanese
c) missionaries who converted Japanese peasants to Christianity
d) a small number of Japanese scholars who learned the Dutch
language and medicine
31. “The Shogun did not want a belief system in his realm that challenged his authority,
was imported by the gaijin (foreigners), and had its own power structure, complete with a
ruler in a faraway land that would be independent of his influence”
The ‘belief system’ mentioned in the above quote is MOST LIKELY:
a) Western democracy
b) Renaissance humanism
c) Roman Catholicism/Christianity
d) Mercantile Capitalism

32. The equivalent in Japan to European baronry would be the…

a) Samurai
b) Daimyo
c) Merchantry
d) Shogun

33. In Japan, much like in Europe, this group was looked down upon, despite their
wealth:
a) Samurai
b) Daimyo
c) Merchantry
d) Shogun

34. In Japan, much like in Europe, this group was idealized, operated with a strict social
code of conduct and was honoured even though they were often poor in times of peace:
a) Samurai
b) Daimyo
c) Merchantry
d) Shogun

35. What was the ‘initial incident’ that caused Tokugawa to clamp down on Japan and
enforce isolation and strict rules of conduct and a static social hierarchy?
a) Portuguese introducing bread/wheat to trade with Japanese for silk and fineries
b) The Dutch imparting scientific and technological knowledge to the Japanese
c) Hundreds of Japanese converting to Christianity under influence of missionaries
d) The Mongol invasions of Genghis Khan and his successors

36. Which of the following was an advantage of the Edo Period?

a) Social harmony
b) Peace and stability
c) Economic Prosperity
d) All of the above

37. Which of the following was a disadvantage of the Edo Period?

a) Constant warfare between Daimyo and other states
b) Rampant crime and banditry on the royal roads
c) Technological stagnation and eventual economic hardships
d) All of the above