Meiji Restoration

[Meiji]

Japanese history: Meiji Restoration

 

Meiji Restoration

 

 

The Meiji Restoration (明治維新 Meiji ishin?), also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, or Renewal, was a chain of events that led to enormous changes in Japan's political and social structure. It occurred in the later half of the 19th century, a period that spans both the late Edo period (often called Late Tokugawa shogunate) and the beginning of the Meiji Era. Probably the most important foreign account of the events between 1862–1869 is contained in A Diplomat in Japan by Sir Ernest Satow. The restoration was a direct response to the opening of Japan by the arrival of the Black Ships of Commodore Matthew Perry and made Imperial Japan a great power.

 

 

The formation in 1866 of the Satsuma-Chōshū Alliance between Saigō Takamori, the leader of the Satsuma domain, and Kido Takayoshi, the leader of the Chōshū domain, built the foundation of the Meiji restoration. These two leaders supported the Emperor Kōmei (Emperor Meiji's father) and were brought together by Sakamoto Ryoma for the purpose of challenging the ruling Tokugawa Shogunate (bakufu) and restoring the emperor to power. In late 1867, Emperor Meiji ascended the throne after Emperor Kōmei's death. This period also saw Japan change from being a feudal society to having a capitalist economy and left the Japanese with a lingering Western influence.

 

The Restoration

 

The Tokugawa Shogunate came to an official end on November 9, 1867, when the 15th Tokugawa Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu "put his prerogatives at the Emperor's disposal" and then resigned his position 10 days later. This was effectively the "restoration" (Taisei Hōkan) of imperial rule, although Yoshinobu retained considerable power. It was on January 3, 1868 that the Emperor fully regained power.

Shortly thereafter in January 1868, the Boshin War (War of the Year of the Dragon) started with the Battle of Toba-Fushimi in which an army led by forces from Chōshū and Satsuma defeated the ex-shogun's army and forced Emperor Meiji to strip Yoshinobu of all power.

 

On January 3rd, 1868, the Emperor made a formal declaration of the restoration of his power:

 

 

"The Emperor of Japan announces to the sovereigns of all foreign countries and to their subjects that permission has been granted to the Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu to return the governing power in accordance with his own request. We shall henceforward exercise supreme authority in all the internal and external affairs of the country. Consequently the title of Emperor must be substituted for that of Tycoon, in which the treaties have been made. Officers are being appointed by us to the conduct of foreign affairs. It is desirable that the representatives of the treaty powers recognize this announcement."

 

– January 3, 1868

Mutsuhito[1]

 

 

Motives

The leaders of the Meiji Restoration, as this revolution came to be known, acted in the name of restoring imperial rule. However, political power simply moved from the Tokugawa Shogun to an oligarchy consisting of the leaders, mostly from the Satsuma Province (Okubo Toshimichi and Saigō Takamori), and the Chōshū province (Ito Hirobumi, Yamagata Aritomo, and Kido Koin). This reflected their belief in the more traditional practice of imperial rule, whereby the emperor performs his high priestly duties and his ministers govern the nation in his name.

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Effects

The Meiji Restoration accelerated industrialization in Japan, which led to its rise as a military authority by the year 1905, under the slogan of "Enrich the country, strengthen the military" (富国強兵 fukoku kyōhei?).

 

The Meiji oligarchy that formed the government under the rule of the Emperor first introduced measures to consolidate their power against the remnants of the Edo period government, the shogunate, daimyo, and the samurai class.

In 1868, all Tokugawa lands were seized and placed under "Imperial control", thus placing them under the prerogative of the new Meiji government. In 1869, the daimyo of the Tosa, Hizen, Satsuma and Chōshū domains, who were pushing most fiercely against the shogunate, were persuaded to 'return their domains to the Emperor'. Other daimyo were subsequently persuaded to do so, thus creating, arguably for the first time, a central government in Japan which exercised direct power through the entire 'realm' (天下).

 

Finally, in 1871, the daimyo, past and present, were summoned before the Emperor, where it was declared that all domains were now to be returned to the Emperor. The roughly 300 domains (han) were turned into prefectures, each under the control of a state-appointed governor. By 1888, several prefectures had been merged in several steps to reduce their number to 75. The daimyo were promised 1/10 of their fiefs' income as private income. Later, their debts and payments of samurai stipends were to be taken over by the state.

The oligarchs also endeavoured to abolish the four divisions of society.

 

Throughout Japan at the time, the samurai numbered 1.9 million. (For comparison, this was more than 10 times the size of the French privileged class before the 1789 French Revolution. Moreover, the samurai in Japan were not merely the lords, but also their higher retainers--people who actually worked.) With each samurai being paid fixed stipends, their upkeep presented a tremendous financial burden, which may have prompted the oligarchs to action. Whatever their true intentions, the oligarchs embarked on another slow and deliberate process to abolish the samurai class. First, in 1873, it was announced that the samurai stipends were to be taxed on a rolling basis. Later, in 1874, the samurai were given the option to convert their stipends into government bonds. Finally, in 1876, this commutation was made compulsory.

 

To reform the military, the government instituted nationwide conscription in 1873, mandating that every male would serve in the armed forces upon turning 21 for four years; followed by three more years in the reserves. One of the primary differences between the samurai and peasant class was the right to bear arms; this ancient privilege was suddenly extended to every male in the nation. Furthermore, samurai were no longer allowed to walk about town bearing a sword or weapon to show their status as in former times.

Not surprisingly, this led to a series of riots from disgruntled samurai. One of the major riots was the one led by Saigō Takamori, the Satsuma rebellion, which eventually turned into a civil war. This rebellion was, however, put down swiftly by the newly formed Imperial Japanese Army, trained in Western tactics and weapons, even though the core of the new army was the Tokyo police force, which was largely composed of former samurai. This sent a strong message to the dissenting samurai that their time was indeed up. There were fewer subsequent samurai uprisings and the distinction became all but a name as the samurai joined the new society. The ideal of samurai military spirit lived on in romanticized form and was often used as propaganda during the early 20th century wars of the Empire of Japan.

 

However, it is equally true that the majority of samurai were content despite having their status abolished. Many found employment in the government bureaucracy, which resembled an elite class in its own right. The samurai, being better educated than most of the population, became teachers, gun makers, government officials, or military officers. While the formal title of samurai was abolished, the elitist spirit that characterized the samurai class lived on.

 

The oligarchs also embarked on a series of land reforms. In particular, they legitimized the tenancy system which had been going on during the Tokugawa period. 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. This greatly disrupted the clearly defined class system which the bakufu had envisaged, partly leading to their eventual downfall.

 

Wikipedia.com

[Liqaye]

Yes so why did you choose to call yourself meiji.

[Meiji]

Meiji (明 "bright, brilliant" 治 "reign, government")

 

Thats the definition of Meiji.

 

Also, I am an admirer of the Meiji reformers and the modernization/industrialization it brought to Japan which catapulted the country to a first-rate power in the world.

 

The Meiji Restoration was what made Japan to become the 2nd largest industrial/economic power in the world today.

[Muriidi]

i support chaos and anarchy!...

[Sky Camel National]

I think that Somalia needs to learn from the Meiji reformers. There ability and wisdom to relieve that there are systems (army, schools,etc) that are already created around the world that they can copy from was genius.

[Naxar Nugaaleed]

Somalis! we have a long way to go before we compare ourselfs to any high civilizations such as the Japanese or how they modernized. When thinking of ways to develop Somali, we must look up to the ideas of the middle ages. Hamams for public health. Libraries. Public sqares to promote trade. As high as we can go is ataturks ideas (westernize the way the way people dress and force secularism on society).

[Chimera]

Originally posted by Meiji:

Meiji (明 "bright, brilliant" 治 "reign, government")

 

Thats the definition of Meiji.

 

Also, I am an admirer of the Meiji reformers and the modernization/indust rialization it brought to Japan which catapulted the country to a first-rate power in the world.

Correct. They also had a complex clan-system like us and managed to rid themselves of this problem as an actual 'powerfull influencing factor' in their society through modernization rendering the system obselete, something i wish for Somalia one day!.

 

The Meiji Restoration was what made Japan to become the 2nd largest industrial/economic power in the world today.

Japan pre-WWII was a major power but still on par with countries such as India and China in terms of production and output. Post WWII is when Japan turned itself into such an industrial juggernaut by investing heavily into new technology such as automobiles and electronics which they dominate today. Same with South Korea, Post Korean war era it was the poorest country in the world today it has the 12th largest economy in the world!

 

Stability and proper reforms are the key to success!

[Muriidi]

film

 

 

try it .. it's energizing !

[Nina Fox]

We need a Gandhi, thats what we need as a nation. "Where art thou, O' Gandhi?"

[burahadeer]

you want good ideas; get rid off jihadists & qabilists from SOL....they consume so much time & generate unnecessary clashes among us.

Time to put our priorities inorder......clean house here before u clean back home...

[genius pauper.]

actually, the main contributing factor to their success was, differentiating western culture from technology.

not like the likes of burahadeer, who hop from thread to thread spreading falsehood against the diin. like ataturk he is for the idea of faslu diin cani dowlah(autonomy of the religion from governance) which is a pure secular.

 

p.s. really it is not the house that needs cleaning but the mind. ideology is the prime change factor. if you are against the diin, then woe you.

[burahadeer]

genius pauper.;734595 wrote:

actually, the main contributing factor to their success was, differentiating western culture from technology.

not like the likes of burahadeer, who hop from thread to thread spreading falsehood against the diin. like ataturk he is for the idea of faslu diin cani dowlah(autonomy of the religion from governance) which is a pure secular.

 

p.s. really it is not the house that needs cleaning but the mind. ideology is the prime change factor. if you are against the diin, then woe you.

 

 

 

Is she INFIDEL,too...Mr. Pauper!

[genius pauper.]

ala yaa iska hadlay.

[burahadeer]

yeeeee, you excuse yourself this time; hahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

 

 

Back to the topic now; yes we can do it.Let us copy & paste western technology,it's easy,but stability & accountability must be laid first.