<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
the Tokugawa shogunate under Tokugawa Iemitsu