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emperor
Meiji
The
coup of the anti shogunal Satsuma/Choshu samurai resulted in the
'restoration' of the emperor ., meaning that the emperor should
once again be at the center of the political system
to provide legitimacy and continuity , but not actual power to the
emperor .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 themselves, mostly from the Satsuma Province (Okubo Toshimichi and Saigō Takamori), and the Chōshū province (Ito Hirobumi, Yamagata Aritomo, and Kido Koin).
This was mostly because their idea of imperial rule was the ancient one
where the emperor performs his high priestly duties, while his
ministers govern the nation in his name.The teenage emperor Mutsuhito ( 1852
- 1912 ) later to be known as Meiji ( Enlightened Rule ) ruled over
a period of tremendous transformation The last shogun, Yoshinobu
retired and the shogunal base at Edo was renamed Tokyo ( eastern
capital ) and the emperor moved into the shogunal castle, renamed
the imperial palace
the
capital was moved from Kyoto to Tokyo .
Tokyo
1905
Japan
was lucky that the european powers were distracted by richer and
easier pickings in China and did not seriously seek to colonize
Japan . However, the fear of colonization made the oligarchs who
really ruled Japan act with great urgency and enact vast changes.
Under the banner of fukoku kyohei ( 富国強兵 rich country, strong army
) decided on westernization and many missions were sent overseas
to learn western methods and pratices . Over 3,000 foreign experts
werebrought to Japan to learn from the West .
Shopping
for a government
Rejecting the British model, Iwakura and other conservatives borrowed heavily from the Prussian constitutional system. One of the Meiji oligarchy, Ito Hirobumi (1841 – 1909),
a Chōshū native long involved in government affairs, was charged with
drafting Japan's constitution. He led a Constitutional Study Mission
abroad in 1882, spending most of his time in Germany. He rejected the United States Constitution
as "too liberal" and the British system as too unwieldy and having a
parliament with too much control over the monarchy; the French and
Spanish models were rejected as tending toward despotism.
the 1889 Constitution of the Empire of Japan (the Meiji Constitution)
provided for the Imperial Diet (Teikoku Gikai), composed of a popularly
elected House of Representatives with a very limited franchise of male
citizens who were over 25 years of age and paid 15 yen in national
taxes, about 1 % of the population, and the House of Peers,
composed of nobility and imperial appointees; and a cabinet responsible
to the emperor and independent of the legislature. The Diet could
approve government legislation and initiate laws, make representations
to the government, and submit petitions to the emperor. Nevertheless,
in spite of these institutional changes, sovereignty still resided in
the emperor on the basis of his divine ancestry.
In the early years of constitutional government, the strengths and
weaknesses of the Meiji Constitution were revealed. A small clique of
Satsuma and Chōshū elite continued to rule Japan, becoming
institutionalized as an extraconstitutional body of genro
(elder statesmen). Collectively, the genro made decisions reserved for
the emperor, and the genro, not the emperor, controlled the government
politically.
Throughout the period, however, political problems were usually
solved through compromise, and political parties gradually increased
their power over the government and held an ever larger role in the
political process as a result. Between 1891 and 1895,
Ito served as prime minister with a cabinet composed mostly of genro
who wanted to establish a government party to control the House of
Representatives. Although not fully realized, the trend toward party
politics was well established.
The
end of feudalism
The
new government needed to consoldate its authority. the continued
existence of feudal domains was a threat to this, and they were
abolished . Many former heads of the Han were appointed governors
.In 1871, the domains were completelt abolished and the whole country
reorgazized into prefectures.The daimyo were allowed to retain a
tenth of their domains former revenue and in 1884 they were elevated
to the peerage .The four class system was scrapped and people were
free to chose their occupation and where they would live .Many of
the peasantry were unhappy with the rapid changes and forced service
in the army, and there were uprisings against the new regime .Many
of the large merchant houses that were tied to the old shogunate
went bankrupt as well.
The
new Army
In
1872 it was decided to build a new army on the basis on conscription
and not retain the samurai .By the late 1870s the samurai were not
allowed to wear swords and were phased out by 1876 . Japan followed
the Prussian model for the army and the british for the navy . By
1876, using the same gunboat diplomacy that America had used on
it, Japan was able to force open Korea to Japan .in 1876 .
To gain control of Korea and throw of its control by China, Japan
went to war with China in 1894 over Korea end the war in 1894 and
gaining taiwan . by the time of emperor Meiji's death in 1912 Japan
was recognized as a world power .the sped of moderization was amazing
.Some of the samurai revolted against this system, led by Saigō Takamori,the Satsuma rebellion
(Seinan Sensō 西南戦争
)of 1877 , 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 formed in great parts 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.
The
Sino-Japanese war
The
world was shocked by the defeat of China in Korea in the Sino-Japanese War (1894 – 1895).
China had a stronger navy on paper. Japan broke through as an international power with a victory against Russia in Manchuria (north-eastern China) in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904 – 1905.
Industrialization
Meiji
factory
The
government established many new major industries and sold them off
to chosen entrepreneurs, a factor in forming the huge industrial
combines that would become known as the zaibatsu . In the early
years, the main industry was textiles, but later moved into manufacturing
and heavy industry and becoming a major shipbuilder by the end of
the period .Japan emerged from the Tokugawa-Meiji transition as the first Asian industrialized nation.Economic reforms included a unified modern currency based on the
yen, banking, commercial and tax laws, stock exchanges, and a
communications network. Establishment of a modern institutional
framework conducive to an advanced capitalist economy took time but was
completed by the 1890s.
By this time, the government had largely relinquished direct control of
the modernization process, primarily for budgetary reasons.
Many of the former daimyo, whose pensions had been paid in a lump
sum, benefited greatly through investments they made in emerging
industries. Those who had been informally involved in foreign trade
before the Meiji Restoration also flourished. Old bakufu-serving firms that clung to their traditional ways failed in the new business environment.
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