Today, whenever Japanese history is mentioned in the media, people think of the romantic stories of ninjas, Japanese mercenaries who carried out covert operations, and samurai, warriors who were part of the hereditary military caste in feudal Japan, but these versions have been distorted, just as many other historical figures have done. The story is full of brilliant past adventures and relevance that Hollywood takes at face value. Once people discover that the famous ninja did not actually wear black pajamas and that samurai were not as honorable as they were portrayed, one might become curious as to what really happened at that time. What really happened in Japanese history and which period is the most significant? According to Japanese history experts, this period would be the Tokugawa, or Edo, period. What makes this era of peace significant and distinguishes it from the many war-torn periods in Japan's history? The Battle of Sekigahara in 1603 marked the beginning of a new era when a man named Tokugawa Ieyasu defeated many daimyō, warlords who ruled the territory, and established a new bakufu, military government, to rule Japan (Collcutt 134) . Ieyasu worked hard to restore Japan and manage foreign trade in order to improve the economy. Ironically, the third shogun, or military ruler, of the Edo period, called Tokugawa Iemitsu, separated Japan from the outside world because of his fear of outside ideas (Watt). Iemitsu is responsible for many of the period's most defining features such as the Seclusion Act and "anti-Christian policies" (Watts). The Seclusion Act was so powerful that it only allowed one port in Nagasaki to trade with the Koreans, Portuguese, and Dutch and remained undisturbed for over... half of the paper... pedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica online. Encyclopedia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 27 February 2014. Bodart-Bailey, Beatrice. “The Dog Shogun: The Personality and Policies of Tokugawa Tsunayoshi.” University of Hawaii Press. March 6, 2014. .Collcutt, Martin. Cultural Atlas of Japan. New York: Equinox, 1988. Hall, John. Japanese history. Maryland: Waverly Press, 1961. Sansom, George. A history of Japan 1334-1615. California: Stanford University Press, 1961. History, Richard. The Way of the Samurai. New York: Galley Press, 1978. Watts, Sarah. “Tokugawa Iemitsu, 'Closed Country Edict of 1635' and 'Exclusion of the Portuguese, 1639'.” The isolation of Japan. March 6 2014. .