The Meiji rule ended with the death of the emperor on July 30, 1912, which also marked the end of the era of the genro. [13] During the Edo period, daimyo were divided into different categories depending on their family's connection with the Tokugawa. A program of radical social reform . The latter concern had its origins in the efforts by Western powers to open Japan, beginning in the 1850s after more than two centuries of near isolation, and the fear that Japan could be subjected to the same imperialist pressures that they observed happening in nearby China. The Meiji Restoration of 1868 toppled the long-reigning Tokugawa shoguns of the Edo period and propelled Japan into the modern era. Despite efforts at fiscal reform, mounting opposition seriously weakened the Tokugawa shogunate from the mid-18th to the mid-19th century, when years of famine led to increased peasant uprisings. Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. Furthermore, the new Japanese education . to provide some clarity as to how the meiji era occurred, one must know two things: one, the term meiji is named after the meiji emperor, who lived from 1852 to 1912 c.e., and reigned over. The Making of the West, Peoples and Cultures. The opening up of Japan not only consisted of the ports being opened for trade, but also began the process of merging members of the different societies together. Answer (1 of 2): Politically, the shogun (military general, who was the real leader of Japan) was dissolved and replaced with the current diet (a parliamentary assembly). From the Edo Period to Meiji Restoration in Japan The Edo Period The Edo period (1603-1868), when Japanese society was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate, was characterized by economic growth, strict social order, isolationist foreign policies, and stable population. Why did Japan cut itself off from the world? The Meiji Restoration was a coup dtat that resulted in the dissolution of Japans feudal system of government and the restoration of the imperial system. [citation needed], Finally, by 1872, the daimys, past and present, were summoned before the Emperor, where it was declared that all domains were now to be returned to the Emperor. The first reform was the promulgation of the Five Charter Oath in 1868, a general statement of the aims of the Meiji leaders to boost morale and win financial support for the new government. As servants of the daimyos, or great lords, the read more, In late 1937, over a period of six weeks, Imperial Japanese Army forces brutally murdered hundreds of thousands of peopleincluding both soldiers and civiliansin the Chinese city of Nanjing (or Nanking). "Meiji Restoration." The oligarchs also endeavored to abolish the four divisions of society. It was presented as a gift from the emperor to the people, and it could be amended only upon imperial initiative. In the 17th century, the Tokugawa took vigorous action to keep the daimyo in line, but from the beginning of the 18th century, the system stayed in place mainly because of institutional inertia. He took over at a time of rising democratic sentiment, but his country soon turned toward ultra-nationalism and militarism. The Japanese knew they were behind the Western powers when US Commodore Matthew C. Perry came to Japan in 1853 in large warships with armaments and technology that far outclassed those of Japan, with the intent to conclude a treaty that would open up Japanese ports to trade. The Meiji Restoration was a political event that took place in Japan in 1868. [7] The Meiji restoration boomed throughout and modernized Japan by the end of the 1890's. The Meiji restoration may not have effected other many countries with it's own internal revolution, but it did revolutionize the entirety of Japan in less than a hundred years. One of the major riots was the one led by Saig Takamori, the Satsuma Rebellion, which eventually turned into a civil war. Sergei Witte, a minister in Czar Nicholas government, represented Russia, while Harvard graduate Baron Komura represented Japan. At the same time, Japan maintained close relations with neighboring Korea and China, confirming a traditional East Asian political order with China at the center. In addition to an emphasis on agricultural production (including the staple crop of rice as well as sesame oil, indigo, sugar cane, mulberry, tobacco and cotton), Japans commerce and manufacturing industries also expanded, leading to the rise of an increasingly wealthy merchant class and in turn to the growth of Japanese cities. the emperor's upcoming abdicationwhich will end Heisei in its thirtieth yearhas revived interest in the names of . Cite This Work However, after the shogunates brutal repression of a Christian rebellion on the Shimabara Peninsula in 1637-38, Christianity was forced underground. ): McAleavy, Henry. What period is Japan in now? In a wider context, however, the Meiji Restoration of 1868 came to be identified with the subsequent era of major political, economic, and social changethe Meiji period (1868-1912)that brought about the modernization and Westernization of the country. The political structure, established by Ieyasu and solidified under his two immediate successors, his son Hidetada (who ruled from 1616-23) and grandson Iemitsu (1623-51), bound all daimyos to the shogunate and limited any individual daimyo from acquiring too much land or power. Why did the Meiji want to modernize Japan? A military dictator, or shogun, ruled over everyone. To prevent Japan becoming a colony, it was necessary to overthrow the bakufu and create a new government. When did the Meiji Restoration end? The Tokugawa government had been founded in the 17th century and initially focused on reestablishing order in social, political and international affairs after a century of warfare. [citation needed]. Omissions? Shishi from Satsuma killed a foreign merchant, and in response the British bombarded Kagoshima. The Meiji Restoration is almost universally regarded as the dividing line between traditional and modern Japan because it brought a new government that introduced radical policies that fundamentally altered Japanese society. A large imperial army then surrounded the city of Edo (modern-day Tokyo), but negotiations resulted in the peaceful surrender of Edo Castle. The Meiji Restoration was a coup d'tat that resulted in the dissolution of Japan's feudal system of government and the restoration of the imperial system. The growth of these sectors is shown below. The land tax, which contributed to 78% of the nation's income in 1868, had decreased to 30% by 1897. The leaders of the Meiji Restoration, as this revolution came to be known, acted in the name of restoring imperial rule to strengthen Japan against the threat of being colonized, bringing to an end the era known as sakoku (the foreign relations policy, lasting about 250 years, prescribing the death penalty for foreigners entering or Japanese nationals leaving the country). The Meiji reform can be seen as a restoration only in the instilment of the imperial power. Answer. Some Rights Reserved (2009-2023) under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license unless otherwise noted. At the beginning of the 19th century, European ships armed with industrial-age weapons began to approach Japan demanding that the country open to foreign trade. In 1863, anti-foreign activists from Choshu seized control of the imperial court in Kyoto and Emperor Komei (1831-1867), who was also hostile to opening the country, issued an order to 'expel the barbarians.' Tokugawa YoshinobuTojoMuseum of History (Public Domain). The World History Encyclopedia logo is a registered trademark. The restoration event itself consisted of a coup dtat in the ancient imperial capital of Kyto on January 3, 1868. We care about our planet! The American challenge to Japan turned out to be the trigger for the Meiji Restoration, the broad-brush descriptor for Japan's radical remaking in the image of its would-be conquerors. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Its five provisions consisted of: Modernization is regarded as the process by which a traditional society turns into a modern one. The word "Meiji" means "enlightened rule" and the goal was to combine "modern advances" with traditional "eastern" values. It marks the end of a sentence. They wanted to unite the country under a new, centralized government in order to strengthen their army to defend against foreign . It is called the Meiji Restoration . After the Meiji Restoration, class restrictions vanished and allowed education to be open to all people. Asia for Educators.The Meiji Restoration: The End of the Shogunate and the Building of a Modern Japanese State. https://www.britannica.com/event/Meiji-Restoration, Asia for Educators - The Meiji Restoration and Modernization, The abolition of the feudal system and all feudal class privileges, The construction of transport and communication systems. Whatever their true intentions, the oligarchs embarked on another slow and deliberate process to abolish the samurai class. The foundation of the Meiji Restoration was the 1866 Satsuma-Chsh Alliance between Saig Takamori and Kido Takayoshi, leaders of the reformist elements in the Satsuma and Chsh Domains at the southwestern end of the Japanese archipelago. Russia Because Japan felt disrespected by the provisions of the Treaty of Portsmouth, it would most likely lead Japan to The oligarchs also embarked on a series of land reforms. By the end of the Meiji Restoration, Japan, as "one of the world's largest produces of coal and exporters of copper" (Miocevich, 26), definitely possessed a progressive and prosperous economy. Please support World History Encyclopedia. Squires, Graham. With the Act of Seclusion (1636), Japan was effectively cut off from Western nations for the next 200 years (with the exception of a small Dutch outpost in Nagasaki Harbor). This era in Japanese history was a momentous epoch that saw the transformation of feudal Japan into a modern industrialized state with a parliamentary form of government and its emergence as a world power through military When did the Meiji Restoration end? The emperor was only 14 at the time, and the samurai used their influence over him to politically restructure Japan. Corrections? The samurai, members of a powerful military caste in feudal Japan, began as provincial warriors before rising to power in the 12th century with the beginning of the countrys first military dictatorship, known as the shogunate. Did you know? Students also attended courses in "moral training" which reinforced their duty to the Emperor and to the Japanese state. A vibrant urban culture emerged centered in Kyoto, Osaka and Edo (Tokyo), catering to merchants, samurai and townspeople rather than to nobles and daimyo, the traditional patrons. Since the 1970s, however, modernization theory has largely been discredited. As the Tokugawa shogunate grew increasingly weak by the mid-19th century, two powerful clans joined forces in early 1868 to seize power as part of an imperial restoration named for Emperor Meiji. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. Melvin After the installation of the new government, headed by 14 year-old Meiji Emperor, Japan ended its centralised feudal system and began the process of modernising the nation . The Meiji Restoration (1868) ended the rule of the Tokugawa shoguns and restored the power of the imperial family. Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616) had the emperor appoint him as shogun in 1603, and this gave him the right to establish the bakufu. The Tokugawa political system is often described as being feudal, but feudalism in medieval Japan was different from feudalism in Europe in the Middle Ages. Please select which sections you would like to print: How did the Meiji Restoration change Japan? In 1868, Japan underwent a massive transformation called the 'Meiji Restoration'. . Industrialization additionally went hand in hand with the development of a national railway system and modern communications.[16]. Those uprisings were repressed only with great difficulty by the newly formed army. Japans Edo period, which lasted from 1603 to 1867, would be the final era of traditional Japanese government, culture and society. The majority of Japanese castles were smashed and destroyed in the late 19th century in the Meiji restoration by the Japanese people and government in order to modernize and westernize Japan and break from their past feudal era of the Daimyo and Shoguns. In 1867, two powerful anti-Tokugawa clans, the Choshu and Satsuma, combined forces to topple the shogunate, and the following year declared an imperial restoration in the name of the young Emperor Meiji, who was just 14 years old at the time. However, in order for the Meiji Restoration to begin, the ruling shogun would have to be unseated. In 1866, the two han secretly formed an alliance, and Satsuma refused to participate in a second bukufu campaign against Choshu. We'll look closely at the causes, the major accomplishments, and the effects of the Meiji Restoration. The Neo-Confucian theory that dominated Japan during the Tokugawa Period recognized only four social classessamurai warriors, artisans, farmers and merchantsand mobility between the four classes was officially prohibited. Graham Squires is a senior lecturer in Japanese Studies at the University of Newcastle in Australia. [citation needed]. Consequently, domestic companies became consumers of Western technology and applied it to produce items that would be sold cheaply in the international market. European warships retaliated by destroying the gun emplacements. At first, the two nations attempted to negotiate. In Choshu, shore batteries fired on foreign vessels sailing through the Shimonoseki Strait. This set the stage for the Boshin War, a war between supporters of the court and the bakufu. The samurai, being better educated than most of the population, became teachers, gun makers, government officials, and/or military officers. Based on the evidence gathered, Japan underwent a revolution similar to the French or American Revolution, after the restoration of a past power. During the 1500s, power was decentralized in Japan, which was torn apart by warfare between competing feudal lords (daimyo) for nearly a century. [14] These free schools taught students reading, writing, and mathematics. In it, the Tokugawa family, a warrior clan that had ruled Japan for more than 260 years, was overthrown by a group of political activists who proclaimed that their goal was to restore the imperial family to power. While the year 1868 was crucial to the fall of the shogunate and the establishment of a new government . Among other accomplishments, during the Meiji period Japan adopted a constitution and a parliamentary system, instituted universal education, built railroads and installed telegraph lines, and established strong army and navy forces. In particular, they legitimized the tenancy system which had been going on during the Tokugawa period. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms. When the Czar set his sights on a warm-water port in the Pacific Ocean for trade and as a base for its growing navy, he zeroed in on the Korean and Liaodong peninsulas. Japans first Ministry of Education was established in 1871 to develop a national system of education; it led to the promulgation of the Gakusei, or Education System Order, in 1872 and to the introduction of universal education in the country, which initially put emphasis on Western learning. Despite the bakufu's best efforts to freeze the four classes of society in place, during their rule villagers had begun to lease land out to other farmers, becoming rich in the process. In the heyday of modernisation theory, Meiji-period Japan was often cited as a good example of this process, and the Meiji Restoration was viewed from this perspective. This dialect eventually became the norm in the realms of education, media, government, and business.[12]. Those who had been Tokugawa retainers before the Battle of Sekigahara were called fudai daimyo, while those who had not were called tozama daimyo. Oral Statement by the American Navy AdmiralUnknown Artist (Public Domain). During World War II (1939-45), Japan attacked nearly all of its Asian read more, Its hard to say how old Chinese culture actually is, but its one of the oldest that still has a presence in the modern world. In 1858, the bakufu signed the Japan-US Treaty of Amity and Commerce. Even the Dutch were confined to a trading post in Nagasaki. The early goals of the new government were expressed in the Charter Oath (April 1868), which committed the government to establishing deliberative assemblies and public discussion, to a worldwide search for knowledge, to the abrogation of past customs, and to the pursuit by all Japanese of their individual callings. Up, until the end of WWII, this is exactly what the bulk of the Japanese population believed through its long history. Throughout Japan at the time, the samurai numbered 1.9 million. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. They resented being marginalized and under-represented in the new Meiji government. In another blow to its prestige, the bakufu was defeated. [4] The Tokugawa shogunate came to its official end on 9November 1867, when Tokugawa Yoshinobu, the 15th Tokugawa shgun, "put his prerogatives at the Emperor's disposal" and resigned 10 days later. 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