The Meiji Restoration in Japan

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

The Meiji Restoration also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, or Renewal, was a chain of events that led to enormous changes in Japan's political and social structure. It occurred in the later half of the 19th century, a period that traverses both the late Edo period (often called Late Tokugawa shogunate) and the beginning of the Meiji Era. Probably the most important foreign account of the events between 1862-1869 is contained in A Diplomat in Japan by Sir Ernest Satow. The restoration was a direct response to the opening of Japan by the arrival of the Black Ships of Commodore Matthew Perry. This restoration made Imperial Japan a great power.

Alliances and allegiances-
The formation in 1866 of the Satsuma-Chōshū Alliance between Saigo Takamori, the leader of the Satsuma domain, and Kido Takayoshi, the leader of the Chōshū domain, built the foundation of the Meiji restoration. These two leaders supported the Emperor Kōmei (Emperor Meiji's father) and were brought together by Sakamoto Ryoma for the purpose of challenging the ruling Tokugawa Shogunate (bakufu) and restoring the emperor to power. In early 1867, Emperor Meiji ascended the throne after Emperor Kōmei's death.

The Restoration-
The Tokugawa Shogunate came to an official end on November 9, 1867, when the 15th Tokugawa Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu "put his prerogatives at the emperor's disposal" and then resigned his position 10 days later. This was effectively the "restoration" (Taisei Hokan) of imperial rule, although Yoshinobu retained considerable power. It was on January 3, 1868 that the emperor fully regained power.

Shortly thereafter in January 1868, the Boshin War (War of the Year of the Dragon) started with the Battle of Toba-Fushimi in which an army led by forces from Chōshū and Satsuma defeated the ex-shogun's army and forced Emperor Meiji to strip Yoshinobu of all power. Some shogunate forces escaped to Hokkaidō, where they attempted to set up the breakaway Republic of Ezo, but this came to an early end in May 1869 with the siege of Hakodate, Hokkaidō. The defeat of the armies of the former shogun (led by Hijikata Toshizo) marked the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate; all defiance to the emperor and his rule ended.

Motives-
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 Saigo 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.

Effects-
The Meiji Emperor, moving from Kyoto to Tokyo, end of 1868.The Meiji Restoration was the catalyst toward industrialization in Japan that led to the rise of the island nation as a military power by 1905, under the slogan of "Enrich the country, strengthen the military" (fukoku kyohei).

By Sharad Chandra Shukla

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