Meiji Period - Japanese History - week three extra information
Our primary business is teaching Japanese language in London but we also invite guest speakers to discuss their particular Japanese interest to our students each session. This article is part of our week three Japanese History session and is designed to give you a little background into the subject.
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The Meiji Period is considered as the start of the 'modern Japanese era,' spanning from 1868-1912. In 1868, an imperial edict changed the name of Edo to Tokyo, or Eastern Capital, and Emperor Meiji moved his court from the imperial capital of Kyoto to Tokyo. However, before leaving Kyoto, the emperor issued an extremely important document proclaiming that 'knowledge shall be sought throughout the world so as to strengthen the foundations of imperial rule. Evil customs of the past shall be broken and everything based upon the just laws of nature.'
Because at the end of the Edo Period the office of emperor had no longer been associated with a political system, the emperor's 'restoration' could be used as a convenient symbol and vehicle for choosing from a wide range of governmental structures. The quality of the nation's new leadership, and the political, economic an cultural choices they made, can be seen as nothing less than spectacular.
In a few decades, Japan effectively restructured itself as a political entity. In retrospect, this seems astonishingly radical. Yet it did not happen overnight, but rather by a series of incremental modifications to the political system. The first new governmental structure was a compromise between the old and the new. It cleverly borrowed names from archaic imperial institutions to give an aura of tradition to what was hardly traditional.
Meeting the western powers as an equal was one of the guiding concerns of the Meiji years. This meant adopting anything western, from railways to ballroom dancing. The pendulum first swung to extremes, from a total rejection of all native things (including an urge to abandon the Japanese language) to an emotional nationalism after the excesses of initial enthusiasm for foreign imports. Japan took to western industrialisation with enthusiasm. But the employment of numerous foreign advisors (upwards of 3,000) ended as soon as the Japanese sensed they they could continue perfectly well on their own.
After a number of unsuccessful drafts over the years, a new constitution for the country was promulgated in 1889. This Meiji Constitution helped Japan become recognised as an advanced nation by the west. Another factor was Japan's success in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, which proved the country's ability to wage modern warfare.
But the clincher in making Japan a true world power was winning the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1906, the first time that an Asian nation had defeated a European power. It din't stop there, however, In 1910, Japan annexed Korean ostensibly by treaty but actually under military threat. It would occupy Korean until the end of World War 2 in 1945.
Emperor Meiji died in 1912, By then, Japan had consolidated its economy, defined a political system, changed its social structure, and become an advanced nation in many ways.
