The Meiji Restoration (Japanese: 明治維新, Meiji-ishin), also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution or Renewal, was a chain of events that led to a change in Japan's political and social structure. It occurred from 1866 to 1869, a period of 4 years that transverses both the late Edo (often called Late Tokugawa shogunate) and beginning of the Meiji Era. Probably the most important foreign account of the events of 1862-69 is contained in A Diplomat in Japan by Sir Ernest Satow.
The formation in 1866 of the Satcho Alliance between Saigo Takamori, the leader of the Satsuma ___domain, and Kido Takayoshi, the leader of the Choshu ___domain, marks the beginning of the Meiji restoration. These two leaders supported the emperor and were brought together by Sakamoto Ryoma for the purpose of challenging the ruling Tokugawa Shogunate (bakufu) and restoring the emperor to power.
The Tokugawa bakufu 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.
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 Choshu and Satsuma defeated the ex-shogun's army and forced the Emperor to strip Yoshinobu of all power. Some shogunate forces escaped to Hokkaido, where they attempted to set up the breakaway Republic of Ezo, but this came to an early end in May 1869 with the siege of Hakodate, Hokkaido. The defeat of the armies of the former shogun (led by Hijikata Toshizo) marked the end of the Meiji Restoration; all defiance to the emperor and his rule ended.
The leaders of the Meiji Restoration, as this revolution came to be known, claimed that their actions restored the emperor's powers. This is not in fact true. Power simply moved from the Tokugawa Shogun to a new oligarchy of the daimyo who defeated him. These oligarchs were mostly from the Satsuma Province (Okubo Toshimichi and Saigo Takamori), and the Choshu province (Ito Hirobumi, Yamagata Aritomo, and Kido Koin.)
Leaders
These were leading figures in the Meiji Restoration when the Japanese emperors retook power from the Tokugawa shoguns. Some of them went on to become Prime Minister of Japan.
- Okubo Toshimichi (1830-1878)
- Kido Takayoshi (1833-1877)
- Saigo Takamori (1827-1877)
- Iwakura Tomomi (1825-1883)
- Ito Hirobumi (1841-1909)
- Kuroda Kiyotaka (1840-1900)
- Matsukata Masayoshi (1835-1924)
- Oyama Iwao (1842-1916)
- Saigo Tsugumichi (1843-1902)
- Yamagata Aritomo (1838-1922)
- Inoue Kaoru (1835-1915)
- Saionji Kinmochi (1849-1940)
Effects
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The Meiji Revolution was the catalyst towards industrialization in Japan that led to the rise of the island nation as a military power by 1905, under the slogan of "National Wealth and Military Strength" (fukoku kyohei).
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, the Emperor took all land from the Tokugawa and put is under his own control. In 1869, the daimyos of the Toza han, Hizen han, Satsuma han and Choshu han domains, who were pushing most fiercely against the shogunate, were persuaded to return their domains to the Emperor. Other damiyos were subsequently persuaded to do so. Finally, in 1871, the daimyos, past and present, were summoned before the Emperor, where it was declared that all domains were now to be returned to the Emperor. The about 300 domains (han) were turned into prefectures, each under the control of a state-appointed governor. Until 1888, several prefectures were merged in several steps to reduce their number to 75. The damiyo were promised 1/10 of their fiefs income as private income. Furthermore, 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.
Together, the samurai accounted for 1.9 million of the population, more than 10 times the size of the French privileged class at the 1789 French Revolution. With each samurai being paid fixed stipends, their upkeep presented a tremendous financial burden. Whatever their true intentions, the oligarchs embarked on a similarly 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 nation-wide conscription in 1873, mandating that every 21-yr-old male serve in the armed forces for 3 years. One of the primary difference between the samurai and peasant class was the right to bear arms; this ancient privilege was suddenly extended to every male in the nation.
Unsurprisingly, this led to a series of riots from disgruntled samurai. One of the major ones was the one led by Saigo Takamori, the Satsuma rebellion, which even turned into a civil war. This rebellion was however put down swiftly by the newly formed imperial army, trained in Western tactics and weapons, even though the core of the new army was the Tokyo Police force, which was formed in great parts of former samurai. This sent a strong message to the dissenting samurai that their time was indeed up. Subsequent to this, there were fewer samurai uprisings, although the samurai spirit lived out, and this was to have an important effect during the wars Japan participated in at the turn of the 20th century.
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, government officials or military officers. While the formal title of samurai was abolished, perhaps the elitist spirit which characterised the samurai class lived on even beyond the 1870s.
The oligarchs also embarked on a series of land reforms. In particular, they legimitised 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, villagers began 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.
Related links
Reference and further reading
Beasley, W. G. The Rise of Modern Japan: Political, Economic and Social Change Since 1850. St. Martin's Press, New York 1995.
The names of the Meiji Oligarchists were taken from: Murphey, Rhoades. East Asia: A New History. Addison Wesley Longman, New York 1997.
Further reading: A Diplomat in Japan by Sir Ernest Satow ISBN 4925080288
Akamatsu, Paul. Meiji 1868: Revolution and Counter-Revolution in Japan. Trans. Miriam Kochan. New York: Harper & Row, 1972.
Beasley, W. G. The Meiji Restoration. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1972.
Craig, Albert M. Chōshū in the Meiji Restoration. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1961.
Jansen, Marius B. and Gilbert Rozman, eds. Japan in Transition: From Tokugawa to Meiji. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986.
Jansen, Marius B. The Making of Modern Japan. Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2000.
Wall, Rachel F. Japan's Century: An Interpretation of Japanese History since the Eighteen-fifties. London: The Historical Association, 1971.