The monograph is dedicated to one of the most dynamic periods in the history of Japan, which determined the further development of the country to a large extent. That was the longest peaceful period, when the country ad no wars, did not pursue an active foreign policy, and focused its resources on the domestic affairs.

The author has paid much attention to the history of trading houses, such as Konoike, Mitsui and Sumitomo, the activities of which have largely determined the modern Japanese system of marketing, management and business philosophy. This topic is actually a «white spot» in the Japanese studies in Russia.

Large part of the monograph is devoted to the political and legal systems of the Tokugawa shogunate, to activities of all the fifteen shoguns, and to the to the assessment of their positive or negative influence on the history of the country.

New sources and materials which has been published in Japan recently made it possible to give a new assessment to this epoch and to change the traditional description of this period as «gloomy and conservative».

Data from the publication censuses, which showed the correlation between the total number of the population with the economic development of the country and the process of political stability, allowed refuting this perception. Versatile activities of the Japanese merchants also prove the dynamic character of the epoch.

New materials on foreign affairs have allowed the author to give a new assessment of the policy of isolation of the country, i.e. to show its positive aspects such as so called «sanitary curtain», to give a broader description of the Jap-anese-Dutch relations, and the bilateral interest in their development.

The book has series of portraits of the people whose activities determined the outlook of the Tokugawa epoch.

The Tokugawa epoch, which lasted for 264 years, consisted of periods of political stability and economic prosperity as well as of periods of crisis. That was determined by a range of objective and subjective factors. The author emphasizes that the fall of the Tokugawa regime was caused by domestic factors: the Japanese society has reached the peak of its development when it became necessary to change the social and economic structure in its entirety because the old one began to impede its development.