Meiji restoration

Background Political and social structure In the Edo period , Japan was governed by a strict and rigid social order with inherited position. This hierarchy in descending order had the Emperor and their Court at the top. The shōgun , with the rōjū and daimyō below him inhabited the upper strata of society. Below them were various subdivisions of samurai , farmers, artisans, and merchants. [ 1 ] Historian Marius B. Jansen refers to the political organisation of the system as being one of " feudal autonomy". [ 2 ] This was a structure of government where the shōgun granted extensive control to the various daimyō over their own domains to control their own jurisdiction while paying homage to him through irregular taxation, the seeking of permission for marriage and movement, [ 3 ] and systems such as that of alternate attendance . [ 4 ] The total population of samurai families in the 19th century numbered around 5–6% of 30 million people (1,500,000–1,800,000), among these families, roughly 1 in 50 was an "upper samurai " while the rest were divided mostly evenly between "middle" and "lower" samurai , with each division containing more subdivisions. [ 5 ] The influence exerted by the Tokugawa shogunate ( bakufu ) in contemporary Japan was built on the distribution and management of land. Split into domains, each domain was measured by koku , or the amount of rice a given area of land could produce per annum. By 1650, the shōgun directly controlled land producing roughly 4.2 million koku of rice, with his direct retainers, other members of the Tokugawa family ( shinpan daimyō ), and his vassals ( fudai daimyō ) controlling a combined total of land producing 12.9 million koku out of a national 26 million koku . The remaining 9.8 million koku (just under 38%) was parceled out between about 100 rival tozama daimyō , the descendants of those who had fought against the Tokugawa at the Battle of Sekigahara . Many of the strongest tozama domains were located in western Japan away from centres of power, with the fudai often controlling government offices, but with smaller provinces to incentivize them to preserve the system. [ 6 ] According to the Neo-Confucian tenets of bakufu authority, the system of hierarchy developed in bushidō encouraged a series of descending subordinations, [ 7 ] but unlike in China, its adoption by the bakufu came to inform an ethic that was distinct from the structural organisation of the Tokugawa state; this allowed it to coexist with Western scientific methods. Historian William G. Beasley argues that there was a tension between this official state ideology that encouraged enlightened meritocratic rule and the rigid class structure that prevented the lower and middle ranking samurai bureaucrats from advancing their position. [ 8 ] When exacerbated by foreign and domestic crises, and in spite of official attempts to begin promoting samurai to offices beyond their inherited position, [ 9 ] the social bonds between these systems weakened, leading to reformist and revolutionary attitudes among the samurai . [ 10 ] Merchant classes, that had been flourishing economically in developing mass culture and communication , were forbidden to translate their influence into political power. [ 11 ] Ideological currents Beginning especially in the last quarter of the 18th century, a kind of Shintō revival was occurring alongside a growing interest in Dutch studies . Both schools occurred as part of a turn away from China as the centre of intellectual thought. But adherents to both movements were careful not to assert that their learning was in any way meant to upset the established political order. [ 12 ] The work of the Mito School working primarily from the Kōdōkan , was especially important in the development of nativist concepts connected to kokugaku (national learning). [ 13 ] There were limits. When Hirata Atsutane went too far for the bakufu in reviving the political claims the Emperor held, he was silenced. [ 14 ] Still, the development of national learning continued in the Mito School, with the use of the term fukoku kyōhei (rich nation, strong army) to describe the solution to domestic and foreign threats applied by the scholar Fujita Yūkoku . [ 13 ] Fujita's son, Fujita Tōko , writing in the wake of news of British victory in the First Opium War insisted that a desirable position for Japan to take would be jōi (repelling the barbarian) to be followed with kaikoku , an opening of the country on equal footing. [ 15 ] When faced with the immediate danger the foreign threat possessed, the work of kokugaku scholars led to an evaluation of what was national, which focused attention on the Emperor and Shintō . [ 16 ] Sakuma Shōzan was a midranking samurai under the daimyō Sanada Yukinori of Matsushiro Domain , he held a conservative attitude to the social development of Japanese society, but was practical in his approach to the adoption of Western technology. He supplemented his view of Neo-Confucian ethics with that of the adoption of foreign scientific methods, [ 17 ] coining the phrase "Eastern ethics, Western science". [ a ] [ 18 ] In addition to writing about the need for coastal defense, he took charge over cannon founding , built his own camera, and wrote a Japanese-English dictionary designed to contribute to the defense of Japan. [ 17 ] He opened a school in Edo , teaching over 5,000 students from all over the country. [ 19 ] His efforts to promote men of talent (who would be drawn exclusively from the samurai class), and reorganise the Japanese military were incredibly influential among his disciples, not least Katsu Kaishū and Yoshida Shōin . However, they would serve as the foundation for proposals that would change the social order he was attempting to preserve. [ 17 ] Economic development The Tenpō Reforms (1841–1843) were a series of readjustments to government policy designed to reform issues in political and economic organisation, the result of which was to reveal a deep divide between the shogunate and the daimyō . During the 1830s and 1840s famine and popular unrest was widespread (e.g. the Osaka revolt ), [ 20 ] means to resolve these issues and their symptoms had mixed effects. [ 21 ] Initial efforts by senior Rōjū Mizuno Tadakuni involved introducing sumptuary laws on the promotion of austerity and limiting consumption. [ 22 ] Lowering or confiscating the stipends of samurai retainers alienated them from serving their lords, or even from the social class altogether with some choosing to pursue personal liberty and mercantile freedom not afforded to them due to their expectations as members of the samurai class. Daimyō cancelled debt owed to their own merchants and renegotiated favourable terms for debt owed to merchants under bakufu jurisdiction—due to resulting higher interest rates imposed on the daimyō to borrow more money, across Japan efforts were made to increase domain income. [ b ] [ 21 ] Fixed rice stipends made the samurai vulnerable to fluctuations in the market, periodic coinage debasement , and the need to transfer this stipend into the new monetary system. For instance, merchants who acted as agents to sell their stipends often pocketed the profit made on these sales. Meanwhile, as part of the development of urban life, artisans and farmers diversified the production of goods and crops which, due to increasing demand, often drained the samurai 's resources while other crops became more lucrative to sell than rice. Many samurai were often constantly in debt, with the daimyō living under a system of enforced expenditure by the bakufu to carry out (among other things) the alternate exchange system and public works projects. [ 24 ] The bakufu started to show a small annual gold deficit by 1800, which had grown to over half a million ryō by 1837. To recoup some of these losses, the bakufu initiated a system of forced loans on the daimyō and conferred special privileges to merchants. [ 25 ] The resultant diversification of merchant and artisanal industries also brought about a high degree of commercial specialisation and profound changes to rural life. Merchants collectively set up guilds and organised monopolies over goods and services, obtaining official status as contractors and suppliers. [ 26 ] By the time of the Tenpō Reforms some of these guilds were broken up as they were believed to be increasing prices, but much of the cause was due to production not keeping up with demand. [ 27 ] The changing economic history of the Edo period drastically altered the traditionally rigid social hierarchy of Tokugawa Japan, with new land becoming available for cultivation and new outlets for commercial trade and manufacturing. Beyond changing the nature of value in local economies, these changes brought with them an erosion of the official class system, with some domains offering the sale of samurai status, and many rich commoners educating their children and bribing their way into adoption by poor samurai families. [ 28 ] While the taxation and control over monopolies partially resolved the issue of government finance, it didn't resolve the issue of samurai poverty. Among farmers, the ability to increase land cultivation and cope with price fluctuations exacerbated wealth disparities, the difference in the tax burden between different crops meant that many fell into debt and tenancy to their wealthier neighbours. Satō Nobuhiro claimed that by 1827, at least 30% of farmers had lost land this way. [ 29 ] Foreign influence, 1633–1854 Since 1633, a system of national isolation known as sakoku had been imposed by the Tokugawa shogunate, wherein no person was allowed to enter or leave Japan without permission from the shōgun . The resultant isolationism fuelled systemic diversification of the domestic economy to fulfil local needs. This socio-cultural development combined with strict regulation and censorship on the topic of politics created a "seldom penetrated" lack of international consciousness. [ 30 ] Following the Shimabara Rebellion , the non-Catholic Dutch had been permitted to maintain a monopoly through their factory on Dejima , just off the coast of Nagasaki in Saga Domain . [ 31 ] This trade, although limited in scope, had led to a growing understanding of the West by Tokugawa intellectuals. [ 30 ] While this limited trade with the Dutch had disseminated aspects of Western culture into Japanese society, it also created an uneven understanding of the development of Western technology and military capabilities that did not seem to threaten the socio-political order. [ 11 ] Russian Empire In the Edo period, a number of incidents occurred where Russians came into contact with Japanese people, due to exploration east by Russia and north by Japan. In 1804, Nikolai Rezanov entered Nagasaki bay with a letter from Tsar Alexander I requesting trade. After being refused this request, he staged a series of raids on Japanese settlements in Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands in 1806–1807. The 1811 Golovnin Incident inflamed Japanese mistrust of Russian expeditions, until Golovnin explained that the earlier raids by Rezanov had not been sanctioned by the Tsar. The growing contact with Russia caused the bakufu to attend to the defense of the northern frontier. The Napoleonic Wars drew the attention of both the Russians and the Japanese, who were concerned that the situation in Europe would impact trade with the Dutch. As a result, Russian interest in Pacific exploration declined until the 1840s. [ 32 ] Western Europe During the Napoleonic Wars, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland assumed control over Dutch colonial possessions in south-east Asia, while Dejima was supplied by neutral charter ships from other countries. [ 33 ] In 1808, a British frigate entered Nagasaki harbour demanding supplies from the Dutch. [ 34 ] The Dutch station chief was attempting to conceal the situation in Europe, following political crisis in the Netherlands. British lieutenant-governor Stamford Raffles assumed control over Java , and made an unsuccessful attempt to bring the Nagasaki trade under British possession. [ 33 ] [ 34 ] This increasing contact with Europe caused the bakufu to begin hiring their own specialists to improve their understanding of western languages and cultures. [ 35 ] However, by the time of the Morrison Incident (1837) and subsequent suppression of Western scholarship in 1839, the bakufu signalled a reverse course. [ 36 ] The threat of the Western powers became far more pronounced when news of Britain's success in the First Opium War against the Qing Dynasty reached Japan. The Nanking Treaty (1842) specified the transfer of Hong Kong to British control and detailed the opening of treaty ports. The ideological commitment to free trade by the British amounted to a loss of Chinese sovereignty over conducting their own foreign affairs. [ 37 ] Information about the War was supposed to be strictly controlled, but the information spread among the daimyō . [ 38 ] China's defeat was taken as a severe military and cultural disaster. The responses from officials within the bakufu were varied and contradictory; Dutch studies were still viewed with suspicion, but military applications were taken more seriously as interest among samurai scholars grew. [ 39 ] From 1843 reports started to circulate of British and French interests in the Ryukyu Islands , then in 1844 the Dutch King William II sent a letter to Japanese officials advising them to take the initiative in their interactions with foreign powers. [ 40 ] It was around this time that the samurai intellectual Sakuma Shōzan wrote his first memoranda on the importance of coastal defence. [ 41 ] [ 42 ] A planned British expedition approved in 1845 failed to materialise when, [ 40 ] conscious of the infamy incurred by forcing China to buy British opium, and in consideration of the more modest trading opportunities available in Japan, Britain decided to support and capitalise on the success of a planned American expedition to open Japan's ports. [ 43 ] United States Main article: Perry Expedition A Japanese print depicting the arrival of Perry's fleet (1854) Appointed to command the American expedition in 1852, [ 44 ] Commodore Matthew C. Perry was initially reluctant to take the command. [ 45 ] American interests in Japan derived from ambitions to capitalise on the China trade and to ensure the protection of shipwrecked seamen, especially those of the essential and lucrative whaling industry. Their goal was to set up ports of free trade, and a place to secure provisions, including a coal pit for steam-ships. [ 44 ] [ 45 ] The first visit took Perry to Uraga, Kanagawa , where after entering Tokyo Bay , his consultations with the governor of Uraga led to him handing over documents requesting an end to Japanese isolation. This exchange took place in a ceremony at Kurihama on 14 July. [ 46 ] Beginning in August 1853, senior Rōjū Abe Masahiro took the unprecedented step of seeking a mandate from the daimyō . The results were inconclusive, with important figures urging different actions. Future rōju Hotta Masayoshi ; fudai lord Ii Naosuke ; and Shimazu Nariakira of Satsuma Domain agreed to some level of compromise, if only temporarily. Yamauchi Toyoshige recommended rejecting the treaty, while enlisting Dutch specialists to assist in manufacturing weapons. Tokugawa Nariaki gave the expulsionist view of the Mito School. [ 47 ] Less than a year later Perry returned in threatening large warships to conclude the treaty. [ 48 ] His return in February was sooner than expected, partly because he had heard of a Russian mission in Nagasaki also seeking to negotiate a treaty. The bakufu attempted to conduct the talks at Uraga due to its further distance from Edo, but Perry insisted on Kanagawa . The talks were conducted between Perry and Hayashi Akira for 23 days. [ 49 ] In 1854, the Convention of Kanagawa was signed. It opened up two treaty ports (Shimoda and Hakodate ), ensured the safety of American seamen, and gave permission for American ships to buy their own provisions. As part of the treaty, Townsend Harris was appointed the first American consul to Japan. [ 50 ] The treaty excluded any mention of the right to trade, which was considered a positive outcome by the bakufu 's negotiators. However, Japan was now in a position where it had to sign similar treaties with Britain and Russia, effectively ending Japanese isolationism. [ 51 ] ^ Beasley 1972 , p. 22. ^ Jansen 1994 , p. 3. ^ Jansen 1994 , p. 6. ^ Beasley 1972 , pp. 17–22. ^ Beasley 1972 , pp. 24, 27. ^ Beasley 1972 , pp. 15–17. ^ Beasley 1972 , pp. 34–35. ^ Beasley 1972 , p. 38. ^ Beasley 1972 , pp. 61–63. ^ Beasley 1972 , pp. 39–40. ^ a b Swale 2009 , p. 21. ^ Beasley 1972 , p. 79. ^ a b Beasley 1972 , pp. 82–83. ^ Jansen 1994 , p. 52. ^ Beasley 1972 , pp. 84–85. ^ Jansen 1994 , p. 53. ^ a b c Beasley 1972 , pp. 80–82. ^ Beasley 1972 , p. 86. ^ Jansen 2000 , p. 288. ^ Jansen 2000 , p. 247-248. ^ a b Jansen 2000 , p. 251. ^ Beasley 1972 , pp. 64–65. ^ Beasley 1972 , pp. 65–66. ^ Beasley 1972 , pp. 44–46. ^ Beasley 1972 , pp. 51, 53. ^ Beasley 1972 , pp. 43–44. ^ Beasley 1972 , p. 65. ^ Beasley 1972 , pp. 31–34. ^ Beasley 1972 , pp. 55–56. ^ a b Jansen 2000 , p. 257. ^ Jansen 1994 , p. 8. ^ Jansen 2000 , pp. 260–262. ^ a b Jansen 2000 , pp. 264–265. ^ a b Beasley 1972 , p. 77. ^ Jansen 2000 , pp. 265–266. ^ Jansen 2000 , p. 267. ^ Jansen 2000 , p. 270. ^ Swale 2009 , p. 26. ^ Swale 2009 , pp. 27–28. ^ a b Beasley 1972 , p. 78. ^ Jansen 2000 , p. 271. ^ Beasley 1972 , p. 81. ^ Jansen 2000 , p. 274. ^ a b Beasley 1972 , p. 88. ^ a b Jansen 2000 , pp. 274–275. ^ Beasley 1972 , p. 89. ^ Beasley 1972 , pp. 90–92. ^ Hunt 2016 , pp. 712–713. ^ Jansen 2000 , pp. 278. ^ Jansen 2000 , pp. 278–279. ^ Beasley 1972 , pp. 96–97. 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Legacy Cultural references Shimazaki Tōson 's epic novel Before the Dawn reflects many of the concerns of the era, particularly drawing from the intellectual nativism of kokugaku and the hierarchical structure of society in "a certainty of place and identity" during the Meiji Restoration. [ 1 ] Akira Kurosawa 's 1961 film, Yojimbo follows a wandering rōnin during the late Edo period, depicting themes of social tension and the displacement of the samurai class by modernisation and the new money economy. [ 2 ] The 2021 film Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning (based on the 1990s manga series by Nobuhiro Watsuki ) depicts a fictionalised retelling of the era during the 1860s until the Battle of Toba-Fushimi. [ 3 ] ^ Jansen 2000 , p. 323. ^ Prince 1991 , pp. 220–222. ^ Eisenbeis, Richard (18 June 2021). "Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning — Live Action Film Review" . Anime News Network . Archived from the original on 10 December 2024 . Retrieved 19 March 2025 .