The Meiji Restoration – The turning point of Japan
Today we know japan as a very modern and high-tech country, but the numerous temples and shrines, that dot the landscape of Japan, are just some of the things that remind us that it has not always been like this. The so-called Meiji Restoration was the event that laid the foundation of Japan’s transition to modern society.
The focus of this article is to summarize how the change from the feudal era to the industrial era of Japan took place. A complete account of all the factors in play would be, and has been, material for several books.
Before the Meiji Restoration Japan was a feudal society. The shogun, who was the supreme military leader, was in charge of the country, as the emperor had no real practical power. Ranking under the shogun were the daimyo. These were feudal lords who ruled the peasants in each of their fiefs.
At this time Japan had closed their borders border and had limited foreign trade to a bare minimum, only permitting some Chinese and Korean trade, and Dutch trade in just a single harbor.
In 1853, however, a fleet of four American ships, the so-called Black Ships, led by Commodore Matthew Perry, arrived in Tokyo Bay and upon meeting the shogun they demanded that Japan were to open their borders to America. Otherwise the U.S. would resort to use of military power – a power superior to that of Japan’s military.
Japanese rendition of the Black Ships
Japan unwillingly agreed and the period of 200 years of almost complete isolation had ended. The Americans used the Chinese opium wars, in which China had suffered defeat against the British Empire, as a reason for Japan to accept the American conditions of trade – the Americans were offering freindly, yet unequal, terms. Within the next few years Japan set up trade agreements with all the major trading nations. These agreements all gave the foreign countries favorable terms of trade.
Japan, now trading with the West, was torn in two. One group wanted to strengthen the military and force the foreigners back out. The other group figured that the best way of handling the situation was to gain as much knowledge from the foreigners as possible, and thus becoming a modern country on equal terms with the western world.
The group that wanted the foreigners out of Japan were the so-called imperialists, who went under the slogan of sonnō jōi - “Revere the Emperor, expel the barbarians”. This group also wanted the governing power to be given back to the emperor. The other group wanted to maintain foreign relations, and did not want the emperor to reclaim power.
The imperialists took violent action towards foreigners in Japan. However, the military retaliation, which came in the form of bombings, by the Western countries proved much stronger than the imperialists had thought, and both sides realized that they needed help from the outside in order to strengthen the military power of their faction, respectively. Thus the imperialists got help from the British, while the shogun and his supporters got help from the French.
At this time in 1868, the Boshin War broke out. This was the climatic encounter between the imperialists and the shogunate. The imperialists, though fewer in numbers, proved much better armed, and they defeated the troops of the shogunate. Shortly thereafter, the shogun surrendered and was stripped of all power. This meant that the emperor was reinstated as head of state.
The Battle of Hakodate - Part of the Boshin War
This meant the end of the shogunate and Japan entered a new era of modernization and industrialization. The new government did not expel the foreigners, as they had campaigned for earlier, but choose to absorb their systems instead, while still holding the traditional Japanese virtues in esteem. This led to the first constitution of Japan being signed in 1890, and the abolition of the old feudal system along with several social reforms. And in the years to come Japan fought to regain the power that they had given to the western powers upon their first encounter, in the form of unequal trade agreements.
The Meiji Restoration was very important in terms of Japan being able to gain sovereignty of a big part of Asia in the time before 1945. The modernization made Japan a very strong country, especially when comparing it to other Asian countries at that time.
But the sudden rush of power might also have contributed to the nationalism that was on the rise, and which culminated in the Second World War.
