This eight-lesson unit introduces students to developments in Tokugawa, Japan, from 1630-1867. Students explore art, literature, and other primary sources to compile a picture of the stable, hierarchical society that the Tokugawa rulers sought to establish and maintain; students then draw on these sources to analyze social, economic, and cultural changes that contributed to the ultimate downfall of Tokugawa rule. Lesson 1, "Neo-Confucianism: The Social Philosophy of Tokugawa Japan," focuses on Confucianism as the political and social philosophy that guided and supported Tokugawa rulers in attaining their goals of peace and social stability. Lesson 2, "Social Class in Tokugawa Society," provides students with primary source documents to analyze Tokugawa laws designed to keep all social classes in their place. Lesson 3, "Social Change and the Development of Urban Culture," introduces the economic changes and urbanization that led to a drastically changing class structure in Tokugawa, Japan. Lesson 4, "Tokugawa Art: An Inquiry Lesson," allows students to compare and contrast the style, subjects, and goals of a "high culture" artist with a chronicler of urban mass culture. Lesson 5, "Hoitsu: A Samurai Artist," continues the exploration of art as a reflection of government-defined class structure and social hierarchy. Lesson 6, "Hokusai: An Artist of the People," offers a case study of an artist of popular culture. Lesson 7, "Haikai: Poetry and Social Change in Tokugawa Japan," looks at trends in poetry during the Tokugawa period and the transformation of "high culture" poetry to popular poetry. Lesson 8, "A Samurai in Late Tokugawa Japan," explores social economic and cultural changes of the period through the autobiography of a samurai living in the final years of the Tokugawa rule. (EH)