Max Logan

Mentor: Dr. Jennifer Liu Demas
Research: Toyotomi Hideyoshi's Consolidation of Central Japanese Power from 1582 to 1598

For this research project, the political and social maneuvers the second of the "three unifiers" of Sengoku period Japan, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, were analyzed in the historical context of feudal power consolidation. Over the course of his career as daijōdaijin and kampaku, Toyotomi Hideyoshi would execute a variety of edicts and conquests that paved the way for a fundamental change of the role of the Japanese central government in domestic political affairs and would come to affect the country’s relationship with its international neighbors for centuries to come. These actions included events such as the total unification of every major Japanese island besides Hokkaido, the "sword hunt", the expulsion of Jesuit missionaries, and two failed invasions of Asia starting with the Korean peninsula.