The Transformation of Japan

1750-1914

Map of Daimyos

• Here

The Tokugawa Shogunate

• 1603-1867• Military governors of Japan• Centralized feudalism• Balanced bureaucracy and samurai

From Tokugawa to Meiji

• Crisis and reform in early 19th C– Crisis: crop failure, high taxes, rising rice

pricesprotests and rebellions– Bakufu tried conservative reforms, resisted

• Stressed Japanese culture• Kept abreast of Western science & technology• Some commercial growth, but rural protests

– Shortages of funds led to reform movements• Weakened the shogunate• Made Japan vulnerable to external threats

From Tokugawa to Meiji

• Foreign pressure to end closed door policy– 1844, British, French, US requests for entry

rebuffed• They had demanded for open trade

– 1853, Commodore Perry shows up in Tokyo Bay– Japan forced to accept unequal treaties w/ US &

the West– 1856 western consuls & open ports– Shogunate (bowed to the west) vs. Dimyos

(maintain isolation)both appealed to the emperor

From Tokugawa to Meiji

• The end of Tokugawa rule followed these humiliations– Widespread opposition to shogun rule– Dissidents rally around emperor in Kyoto

• “Restoration” of the emperor

The Meiji Restoration

• Meiji Restoration, 1868– After brief civil war,

armies defeated by dissident militia

• Samurai class defeats shogun & restores “imperial” rule

– Boy emperor Mutsuhito, or Meiji, regained authority

– End of nearly 7 centuries of military rule

Meiji Reforms

• Welcomed foreign enterprise– Fukuzawa Yukichi studied western constitutions

and education– Ito Hirbumi helped build Japanese constitutional

government

• Abolition of the feudal order– Daimyo and samurai lost status & privilegesgov’t

took over payments to the samurai– Districts restructured to break up feudal domains

(no more daimyos)– New conscript army ended samurai power

• Rebelled in 1877, but lost

Meiji Reforms

• Revamping the tax system– Converted grain taxes into a fixed monetary

tax; more reliable state income– Assessed taxes on potential of arable land

• Constitutional government, the “gift” to the people, 1889– Emperor remained supreme limiting the rights

of the people– Less than 5% of adult males could vote– The Diet was an opportunity for debate and

dissent

Meiji Reforms

• Remodeling the economy and infrastructure– Transportation: RR, telegraph, steamships– Education: universal primary &

secondary; competitive universities– Industry: privately owned, government

controlled arms industry– Zaibatsu: powerful financial cliques– 1894—new nobility class formed; civil

service exams issued

Meiji Reforms

• Costs of economic development born by Japanese people– Land tax costs peasants 40%-50% of crop

yield, provided 90% of state revenue– Peasant uprisings crushed– Labor movement crushed; Meiji law treated

unions & strikes as criminal

• Industrial power in a single generation– Ended unequal treaties in 1899– Defeated China in 1895 and Russia in 1904

Industrial Revolution in Japan

• Military reforms to modernize army• Lack of capital led to industrialization• Ministry of industryeconomic

development• Factories to develop new

technologies• Introduction of private enterprise• Selling manufactured goods abroad

Imperial Japan

• Resented the unequal treaties of 1860s, vowed to become imperial power

• Early expansion to nearby islands– 1870s, to the north: Hokkaido, Kurile islands– 1879, to the south: Okinawa and Ryuku islands

• Bought British warships, built up navy, established military academies– 1876, imposed unequal treaties on Korea at

gunpoint– Made plans to invade Japan

Imperial Japan

• The Sino-Japanese War (1894-95)– Rebellion in Korea: Chinese army sent to

restore order, reassert authority– Meiji leaders declared war against

China, demolished Chinese fleet– China forced to cede Korea, Taiwan,

Pescadores Islands, Liaodong peninsula

Imperial Japan

• The Russo-Japanese War (1904-05)– Russia also wanted Liaodong peninsula,

Korea, Manchuria– Japanese navy destroyed local Russian

forces; Baltic fleet sent as reinforcements

– Japan is now a major imperial power

Imperialism in China and Japan

• 1600s-1700s—policy of isolation from West. Foreign powers only allowed in 1 trade city

• mid-1800s—after winning Opium War, Britain forced China to sign unequal treaties, opening more ports to trade. Other nations demand trade

• 1860s—Britain & France force trade concessions; spheres of influence

• 1880s-1890s—Open Door Policy, US trading rights; Boxer Rebellion

• Early 1900s—Qing dynasty fell during Nationalist Revolution

• 1600s-1700s—policy of isolation from West. Only 1 European trading ship allowed per year

• mid-1800s—1853, unequal treaties w/ American warships in Tokyo Bay

• 1860s—In 1868, Japan started modernization, imitating Western technology & reorganizing army & navy on Western models

• Early 1900s—Japan signed 10-yr treaty of alliance w/ Britain. 1904-1905, won Russo-Japanese War, taking over Manchuria & Korea. Now an imperialistic country.

Map with prefectures