The boundaries between the social classes of Tokugawa Japan were gradually broken down. Consequently, the samurai were the big losers of those social reforms since they lost all their privileges. The reforms also included the establishment of human rights such as religious freedom in In order to stabilize the new government, the former feudal lords daimyo had to return all their lands to the emperor.
This was achieved already in and followed by the restructuring of the country in prefectures. The education system was reformed after the French and later after the German system. Among those reforms was the introduction of compulsory education. After about one to two decades of intensive westernization, a revival of conservative and nationalistic feelings took place: principles of Confucianism and Shinto including the worship of the emperor were increasingly emphasized and taught at educational institutions.
Catching up on the military sector was, of course, a high priority for Japan in an era of European and American imperialism. Universal conscription was introduced, and a new army modelled after the Prussian force, and a navy after the British one were established.
Society was highly stratified, with the feudal warlords, or daimyo, at the top, and the samurai warrior class just below them. Merchants, artisans, and farmers were at the bottom. The emperor, residing in Kyoto, in practice had very little political power. The US and other Western powers would eventually impose unequal treaties on Japan to force it to open up trade to other countries. The ensuing years were chaotic and violent, with Choshu forces attempting to seize control of the imperial Kyoto court.
Foreigners and Japanese who collaborated with foreigners were also targeted, including an Englishman who was killed in Kanagawa in In the meantime, both the shogunate and the western domains had been busy modernizing their militaries along Western lines.
The two sides ended up fighting in what is known as the Boshin War, with the year-old Meiji emperor declaring his restoration to full power in January Fighting, however, continued into and beyond, and the imperialists also abandoned their goal of expelling foreigners to focus on modernizing Japan.
Other slogans that were in use at the time crystallized what Meiji leaders believed made a modern nation: bunmei kaika civilization and enlightenment , fukoku kyohei rich country, strong army , and shokusan kogyo encourage industry. By July the feudal lords had been requested to give up their domains, and in these domains were abolished and transformed into prefectures of a unified central state. The feudal lords and the samurai class were offered a yearly stipend, which was later changed to a one-time payment in government bonds.
The samurai lost their class privileges, when the government declared all classes to be equal. By the government banned the wearing of the samurai's swords; the former samurai cut off their top knots in favor of Western-style haircuts and took up jobs in business and the professions.
The armies of each domain were disbanded, and a national army based on universal conscription was created in , requiring three years' military service from all men, samurai and commoner alike. A national land tax system was established that required payment in money instead of rice, which allowed the government to stabilize the national budget. This gave the government money to spend to build up the strength of the nation.
Although these changes were made in the name of the emperor and national defense, the loss of privileges brought some resentment and rebellion. When the top leadership left to travel in Europe and the United States to study Western ways in , conservative groups argued that Japan should reply to Korean's refusal to revise a centuries old treaty with an invasion. This would help patriotic samurai to regain their importance.
But the new leaders quickly returned from Europe and reestablished their control, arguing that Japan should concentrate on its own modernization and not engage in such foreign adventures.
For the next twenty years, in the s and s, the top priority remained domestic reform aimed at changing Japan's social and economic institutions along the lines of the model provided by the powerful Western nations.
The final blow to conservative samurai came in the Satsuma rebellion, when the government's newly drafted army, trained in European infantry techniques and armed with modern Western guns, defeated the last resistance of the traditional samurai warriors. With the exception of these few samurai outbreaks, Japan's domestic transformation proceeded with remarkable speed, energy, and the cooperation of the people.
This phenomenon is one of the major characteristics of Japan's modern history. In an effort to unite the Japanese nation in response to the Western challenge, the Meiji leaders created a civic ideology centered around the emperor.
Although the emperor wielded no political power, he had long been viewed as a symbol of Japanese culture and historical continuity. Westerners of that time knew him primarily as a ceremonial figure. The people seldom saw the emperor, yet they were to carry out his orders without question, in honor to him and to the unity of the Japanese people, which he represented.
In fact, the emperor did not rule. It was his "advisers," the small group of men who exercised political control, that devised and carried out the reform program in the name of the emperor.
The abolition of feudalism made possible tremendous social and political changes. Millions of people were suddenly free to choose their occupation and move about without restrictions. By providing a new environment of political and financial security, the government made possible investment in new industries and technologies. The government led the way in this, building railway and shipping lines, telegraph and telephone systems, three shipyards, ten mines, five munitions works, and fifty-three consumer industries making sugar, glass, textiles, cement, chemicals, and other important products.
This was very expensive, however, and strained government finances, so in the government decided to sell most of these industries to private investors, thereafter encouraging such activity through subsidies and other incentives. Tokyo began life as a village known as Edo. Live TV. This Day In History.
History Vault. Tokugawa Shoguns Close Japan to Foreign Influence Suspicious of foreign intervention and colonialism, the Tokugawa regime acted to exclude missionaries and eventually issued a complete ban on Christianity in Japan. Tokugawa Period: Economy and Society The Neo-Confucian theory that dominated Japan during the Tokugawa Period recognized only four social classes—warriors samurai , artisans, farmers and merchants—and mobility between the four classes was officially prohibited.
Recommended for you. How the Troubles Began in Northern Ireland. Fukushima Nuclear Disaster. Coroner's Report: Seppuku. Nanking Massacre In late , over a period of six weeks, Imperial Japanese Army forces brutally murdered hundreds of thousands of people—including both soldiers and civilians—in the Chinese city of Nanking or Nanjing. Tokugawa Ieyasu Born to a minor warlord in Okazaki, Japan, Tokugawa Ieyasu began his military training with the Imagawa family.
Hirohito Hirohito was emperor of Japan from until his death in See More.
0コメント