The Meiji
Restoration
Discussion Questions:
Was the Meiji Restoration a revolution or just a changing of the guard?
What was the role of the Emperor?
Could the
Shogunate have survived?
TIMELINE
1853
US Commodore Perry arrives in Uraga with four warships. Demands opening of Japan for supplying foreign ships.
1854
Perry returns
with seven warships. Japan is forced to sign Treaty of Amity. Similar treaties
immediately demanded by Russia and England. Japan opens ports of Shimoda and
Hakodate to foreign ships.
1856
Townsend Harris takes up residence in Shimoda as US Consul General.
1857
Harris concludes
trade treaty with bakufu. Includes opening of more ports, rights of extraterritoriality,
fixed tariffs on trade.
1858
Emperor refuses
to ratify treaty. Demands expulsion of foreigners. Bakufu ratifies treaty
without imperial consent, and concludes similar treaties with Britain, Holland,
Russia, and France.
1859
Trade begins
in Kanagawa (Yokohama), Nagasaki, Hakodate. Shogunal chief minister Ii Naosuke
begins purge of critics
1860
First Japanese
embassy travels to US. Ii Naosuke assassinated. American embassy interpreter
Heusken murdered. Inflation causes rice riots
1861
Shogun Iemochi
marries Emperor’s daughter – attempted “union of court and shogunate”
1862
British trader
Richardson murdered by Satsuma retainers. Britain demands 100,000 pounds indemnity.
Abandonment of “sankin kotai” system of alternate attendance.
1863
Following
imperial order to expel foreigners, Choshu bombards British, French and Dutch
ships in strait of Shimonoseki. Britain mounts expedition against Satsuma,
bombards and burns capital city of Kagoshima
1864
Allied force
(Britain, France, US, Holland) attacks and burns city of Shimonoseki in reprisal
for previous year’s bombardment. Choshu attacks shogunal forces in Kyoto.
Shogun orders punitive expedition against Choshu. Choshu forces retire and
leaders accept punishment.
1865
Bakufu orders
second punitive expedition against Choshu. Choshu fights back, leading to
military stalemate.
1866
Shogun Iemochi
dies – his death is used as an excuse to end the Choshu campaign. Tokugawa
Yoshinobu becomes new Shogun. Immediately – but too late – initiates major
reforms.
1867
Faced with
united opposition, Yoshinobu resigns as Shogun and “returns power to the court”.
Combined forces of Satsuma and Choshu attack shogunal army
1868
Collapse
of Tokugawa bakufu. Emperor Meiji moves to Edo (renamed Tokyo). Charter Oath
calls for abolition of “absurd customs” and seeking of foreign knowledge.
POWERPOINT OUTLINE (Presented in Class):
Decline
of the Tokugawa Bakufu
- Stresses within samurai class
o Paradox of warrior ruling class in time of peace
o Impoverishment due to fixed rice incomes
- Financial problems of bakufu (shogunate) and domains
o Fixed incomes unable to keep up with rising prices
and living standards
o Growing relative wealth of merchants/townsmen (and
even some peasants)
o Inability to reform tax systems
- Growing foreign threat – industrial technology + imperialism
- Issues of legitimacy – calls for “restoration” of imperial power
Rise
of Revolutionary Fervor
- Ancient enmity of southwestern domains
o Revival of Choshu and Satsuma
- Anti-foreign sentiment – rise of the “men of high purpose”
o Nascent nationalism
- Popularity of emperor-centered “national learning”
- Frustration of lower-ranked samurai
- Need for unified nation to counter foreign threat
o Ideal of “Western science and Eastern ethics”
Military Conflict
- Race to import Western military techniques
o Ships, guns and cannon
o Conscript soldiers
- Struggle for control of Kyoto
- Informal alliances with foreign powers
o Bakufu with France, rebels with Britain
- Failed bakufu attempts to “chastise” rebels
IDs:
Matthew Perry
Townsend Harris
Unequal treaties Satsuma