Notes
- Edo Period: 1600-1868. Named for the city in which the Tokugawa Shoguns took for their capital. Edo is modern day Tokyo.
- Bakufu: The military government of Japan under the Shogun. Literally it means tent government. There was one centralized government with each area ruled by daimyo who were under the shogun.
- Ee janai ka carnivals were events where ofuda-good luck charms or papers with spells written on them from shrines-would fall from the sky. There would be dancing and chanting of "Ee janai ka!", meaning "what the hell!" or "why not." There was often cross-dressing. This caused problems for the normal workings of cities. Wilson, Patriots and Redeemers.
- Millenarian: world renewal movements
- Han: an area of land ruled over by a lord called a daimyo
- Sankin Kotai: The system used by the Tokugawa Bakufu to maintain control over the daimyo and to maintain peace within Japan.
- shishi: Men of high purpose. They were a group of samurai who wanted to expel foreigners and show reverence for the emperor. They were activists who assassinated prominent foreigners during the Bakumatsu. According to Romulus Hillsbourough's Shinsengumi: The Shoguns Last Samurai Corps, the term could also be applied to supporters of the Tokugawa as well as a number of peasants and clerics who were involved with the revolution. (Romulus Hillsborough. Shinsengumi: The Shoguns Last Samurai Core. (North Clarendon: Tuttle Publishing, 2005)6.
- Shinsengumi: A group of shishi who worked for the bakufu during the bakumatsu. They acted as a police force in Kyoto.
- Koku: a measurement of rice. Property value was determined by its projected assessed yield of rice during a years harvest. 1 koku=47.6567 US gallons or the amount of rice it takes to feed one man for a year.
- Corvee:: a type of tax where peasants provide labor for the government.
- Sonno joi: Reverence for the emperor and expel the barbarian.
- Ofuda: warding papers with written prayer or spells on them to repel spirits or for good luck charms.