Map of Japan in Provinces in time of Iyeyasu', 1903. Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616) first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled Japan from 1600-1868 and is known as the Edo period. Leyasu chose to distance Japan from European influence, although granting trading rights to the Dutch East India Company, in 1614 he signed the Christian Expulsion Edict which banned the practice of Christianity. From 'A History of Japan during the century of early foreign intercourse' (1542-1651) by James Murdoch, M.A. and Isoh Yamagata. [Kobe, Japan, 1903]