Page 38 - All About History - Issue 18-14

Heroes & Villains

EMPEROR MEIJI

The call to ‘expel the barbarians’ of the shogun
Meiji Constitution had transformed to an open-minded attitude of
HowthegovernmentofJapan ‘civilisation and enlightenment.’ This quest began
changed forever by changing the very mode of governing itself.
Appointment of judges Emperor: Advice
Before it was changed into a Sovereignty The revolutionaries created a council of state,
Consultation as head of
new form (see the graphic to the state and beneath them a government was formed.
right), a strict class system had With such a dramatic shift in focus, the main
ruled Japan since the 12th century concern was keeping the support of the Japanese
in which the shoguns held the Appointment Counsel for Assent in lawmaking Supreme command population, which was easier in rural parts of the
most power. secretary of state
On the other end of the scale, Appointment of peers and dissolution of the country where the emperor was still revered as an
butchers, executioners and Courts Council House of Representatives Armed forces incarnation of god on Earth. Meiji sat at the top of
tanners were deemed unclean statesmen the pyramid, the imperial head, and would prove
and forced to live away from Imperial diet Former senior essential in orchestrating the creation of a new and
others. On the bottom rung Cabinet powerful Japan.
were merchants, regarded as Privy Ministers of state Prime minister
council Having been so brutally introduced to a
parasites who fed off the labour world that could crush them easily with their
of others. Artisans who produced Voting House of Peers
clothes, books and utensils sat House of industrial weapons of war, Japan needed
on the third rung. Unlike many Representatives Meiji to fundamentally change if it had any
other class systems, the farmers Japanese citizens hope of becoming a world power.
and peasants were second on period The samurai had stood as
the social ladder; because all the translates the single absolute power for
classes beneath them relied on Exercise jurisdiction in Military draft
‘the name of the emperor’ generations; there was a time when
the food they produced. to ‘period of
refusing to bow to a samurai could
enlightened
result in instant decapitation. The
Thestruggleforpowerreacheditsbrutalclimax wasnothisfather’ssonandrather rule’ emperor and his ministers slowly but
attheBattleofUenowheretheimperialforces,led than remaining in the dusty outdated surely broke down the samurai class,
by passionate samurai Saigo Takamori, crushed traditions of old, under his rule Japan first of all by taxing the stipends (a form of
2,000 supporters of the shogun order, putting an would embrace everything it needed to become salary) that had proved such a financial burden
end to the last trace of resistance in Edo. Saigo the greatest country it could be. The samurai for years, then by demanding all samurai turned
led his forces into the city of Edo and claimed it who had fought so strongly against the shogun’s their stipends into government bonds. The final
in the name of the emperor. Meiji quickly moved attitude to foreign influence made it their primary deathblow, though, was the order for national
his capital from Kyoto to the newly named Tokyo. aim to restore the pride and prestige of Japan conscription in 1873, which removed the ancient
The streets the 16-year-old emperor travelled down around the world at any cost. They had fought for privilege of bearing arms reserved for samurai
on his arrival were lined with people cheering the their emperor and helped him regain power, but alone – now anyone could carry a weapon. This,
return of the traditional head of state. On 4 January Meiji’s revolution would not spare anyone who along with the fact that new weapons such as
1868 the young emperor read out a document stood in the way of his country’s modernisation pistols and rifles required much less skill to use
before the court in the same restrained style he – the ancient samurai warriors would soon find (any farmer could now be trained to kill with a
would conduct his reign, “The Emperor of Japan themselves in the firing line. gun) decreased the samurai’s power further.
announces to the sovereigns of all foreign countries
and to their subjects that permission has been Defining moment
granted to the Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu to Boshin War 1868-1869
return the governing power in accordance with Pro-imperial forces mainly comprising of samurai from
his own request. We shall henceforward exercise theChōshū,SatsumaandTosadomainsjointogether
supreme authority in all the internal and external to overthrow the shogunate rule and reinstate the
emperor. This plunges Japan into a civil war and feeling
affairs of the country.” Feudalism was dead. The age
thepressureuponhim,ShogunTokugawaYoshinobu
of emperors had returned. stepsdownfrompower.However,shogunateforces
As the young emperor was formally crowned in arenotsoquicktosurrender,andYoshnobuleadsa
a grand ceremony, a name was given to the new era militarycampaignagainstthenewlyreinstatedemperor.
In the modern day the restoration of the emperor will
that his reign would usher in – Meiji, or enlightened
beviewedasarelativelybloodlessrevolution,butwith
rule. The emperor was keen to show that he the mobilisation of 120,000 troops and at least 3,500
casualties, the eventual imperial victory and restoration of
Timeline theemperorassupremeauthoritycomesatacost.

1852
O Birthofanemperor O The black ships O Mass unrest O A new emperor O End of the shogun O Tokyo is born
Emperor Meiji is born as Commodore Matthew After the Treaty of After the After a brutal and The capital of
Sachinomiya. His mother Perry arrives in Japan Kanagawa opens unexpected – and bloody military Japan is changed
is Nakayama Yoshiko, a with a fleet of US ships Japan to foreign unexplained – campaign, imperial from Kyoto to
concubine of Emperor and demands Japan trade the Sonnō death of his father rule is restored and Edo, which
Kōmei, and he is the opens itself up to jōi movement on 30 January, the emperor returns is renamed
emperor’s second son. trade or face military to ‘revere the the crown prince to full power as the Tokyo. The
He will be the only one action. It is clear that emperor, expel the ascends to the last reigning shogun, emperor and
of his six children to Japan’s technology is barbarians’ comes throne at just 14 Tokugawa Yoshinobu, his imperial court
survive to adulthood. desperately outdated. into full force. years old. steps down. move to Tokyo.
3 November 1852 8 July 1853 1850s – 1860s 3 February 1867 1868 1868

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