Edo (Japanese 江 戸 時代 edo-jidai) - the historical period (1603-1868) of Japan, during the reign of the Tokugawa clan. Began with the appointment of Tokugawa Ieyasu as shogun in 1603. Completed by the withdrawal of his powers by the Tokugawa shogun Yoshinobu in 1868. It is characterized as the time of the establishment of the Tokugawa dictatorship, at the same time as the transition from the medieval feuds of the daimyo to a completely controlled country.
During the Edo period, the formation of the Japanese spirit took place, the emergence of the Japanese national idea, the development of the economy and the bureaucracy. The Edo period - the golden age of literature and Japanese poetry, Matsuo Basho is the most prominent representative of the poetry of both the Edo period and Japanese poetry in general. As a result of sakoku′s self-isolation policy, for almost the entire Edo period, the country was behind the Iron Curtain, without conducting trade and not communicating with other countries (a rare exception - China and the Netherlands).