<Tr> <Td> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> The Edo period (江戸 時代, Edo jidai) or Tokugawa period (徳川 時代, Tokugawa jidai) is the period between 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when Japanese society was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional daimyō . The period was characterized by economic growth, strict social order, isolationist foreign policies, a stable population, "no more wars", and popular enjoyment of arts and culture . The shogunate was officially established in Edo on March 24, 1603, by Tokugawa Ieyasu . The period came to an end with the Meiji Restoration on May 3, 1868, after the fall of Edo . </P> <P> A revolution took place from the time of the Kamakura shogunate, which existed with the Tennō's court, to the Tokugawa, when the samurai became the unchallenged rulers in what historian Edwin O. Reischauer called a "centralized feudal" form of shogunate . Instrumental in the rise of the new - existing bakufu was Tokugawa Ieyasu, the main beneficiary of the achievements of Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi . Already powerful, Ieyasu profited by his transfer to the rich Kantō area . He maintained two million koku of land, a new headquarters at Edo, a strategically situated castle town (the future Tokyo), and also had an additional two million koku of land and thirty - eight vassals under his control . After Hideyoshi's death, Ieyasu moved quickly to seize control from the Toyotomi family . </P>

Why was the tokugawa period given its name