<P> Sakoku ( 鎖国 , `` closed country '' but commonly translated as `` period of national isolation '' ) was the isolationist foreign policy of the Japanese Tokugawa shogunate under which relations and trade between Japan and other countries were severely limited , nearly all foreigners were barred from entering Japan and the common Japanese people were kept from leaving the country . The policy was enacted by the Tokugawa shogunate under Tokugawa Iemitsu through a number of edicts and policies from 1633 -- 39 , and ended after 1853 when the American Black Ships commanded by Matthew Perry forced the opening of Japan to American ( and , by extension , Western ) trade through a series of unequal treaties . </P>
<P> Sakoku ( 鎖国 , `` closed country '' but commonly translated as `` period of national isolation '' ) was the isolationist foreign policy of the Japanese Tokugawa shogunate under which relations and trade between Japan and other countries were severely limited , nearly all foreigners were barred from entering Japan and the common Japanese people were kept from leaving the country . The policy was enacted by the Tokugawa shogunate under Tokugawa Iemitsu through a number of edicts and policies from 1633 -- 39 , and ended after 1853 when the American Black Ships commanded by Matthew Perry forced the opening of Japan to American ( and , by extension , Western ) trade through a series of unequal treaties . </P>
which shogunate isolated the country from the rest of the world
which shogunate isolated the country from the rest of the world
the Tokugawa shogunate under Tokugawa Iemitsu
the Tokugawa shogunate under Tokugawa Iemitsu