Japan The fall of Tokugawa and the Meiji

Japan The fall of Tokugawa and the Meiji Restoration 明治維新

Goal How do you create a nation out of 250 domains?

What did Japan realize after Perry’s visit? How should Japan react?

Key Dates 1603 – 1867 Tokugawa Shogunate 1853 Commodore Perry arrives 1854 Treaty of Kanagawa 1890 This picture What is surprising about this picture from the 1890 s? What does it tell us about Japan in the period after Western Intervention?

A zen moment: centre yourself

Review 1. Power was in Edo (T______), the home of the T____ clan 2. The Emperor lived in K_____ 3. S______ policy isolated Japan from the West, but Commodore P______ used G____ diplomacy to force Japan to open ports with the treaty of K_____ 4. Samurai are the elite but becoming administrators 5. M____ are becoming wealthier 6. Daimyo lords rule regions (h____) but they are becoming more independent

Why did the Tokugawa Shogunate fall?

How did the Treaty of Kanagawa (1854) impact the fall of the Shogun? 1 What was the danger of refusing to open Japan to the West? What was the danger of opening Japan to the West? Do you feel for the Shogun?

How did knowing about China impact the Shogun’s decision to open to the West? In 1862, just before the start of the Meiji period, Tokugawa sent officials and scholars to China to study the situation there. A Japanese recorded in his diary from Shanghai… The Chinese have become servants to the foreigners. Sovereignty may belong to China but in fact it's no more than a colony of Great Britain and France.

China’s unequal treaties warn Japan After the Opium Wars many in the Shogun’s government were convinced that it had to open up to the West or face the fate of China v

2 Baku-han system decentralized power • Over 250 Daimyos have great autonomy • Many are ignoring directions from Edo • Do you know other countries where politics is decentralized?

How did the samurai, especially the Ronin, react to the West? 3 Ronin Xenophobic Murders of foreigners Seven years after Perry: foreign traders in Yokohama port 1861 A woodblock print by ukiyo-e master Utagawa Kuniyoshi depicting famous rōnin Miyamoto Musashi having his fortune told. What impact might this have on Japanese society?

Why do the samurai, especially the Ronin, become xenophobic? 3 After the Tokugawa treaties opened Japanese ports to European powers, many Ronin become xenophobic - the result of feelings of: threat, lost culture, fierce pride, social change, and / or new commercial values

1860 s: increasing instability 3 • Ronin killed the proforeign official for signing a treaty with the US • Then committed seppuku • Very dangerous in Edo for Shogun officials and foreigners

Expel the barbarians! 3

The murder of a British merchant 3 Charles Richardson murdered in 1863 when he failed to dismount from his horse when passing a procession of Satsuma samurai.

The Shi-shi (“Men of High Purpose”) v Highly idealistic samurai who felt that the arrival of Westerners was an attack on the traditional values of Japan. v They believed that: § Japan was sacred ground. § The Emperor, now a figurehead in Kyoto, was a God. v Were furious at the Shogun for signing treaties with the West without the Emperor’s consent. v Their slogan v. Revere the Emperor, Expel the Barbarians!

Ryoma was one of these Shi. They feared European colonisation of Japan. They believed the Tokugawa were to blame for Japan’s weakness. The young Emperor agreed with these xenophobic views – that Japan had been humiliated by foreigners – and encouraged policies to expel them.

Of what does this remind you? • Compare and contrast Cixi and the Boxers Emperor and the Shi-shi

Another zen moment: centre yourself

Anti-Tokugawa parties Lower samurai Satsuma and Choshu v v "Expel the Barbarians" Merchants

The Satsuma Choshu Alliance (March 1866)

The Satsuma and Choshu Clans Saigo Takamori of the Satsuma clan

The Meiji Revolt - 1868 v An alliance of low ranking samurai from Satsuma and Choshu plot to overthrow the Shogun v. The Sat-Cho Alliance v Sakamoto Ryoma and Saigo Takamori played a key role

The Shogunate Is Overthrown! v The Sat-Cho alliance with the court is too strong v Tokugawa Yoshinobu forced to resign

Important People 1873 Empress Shōken Mutsuhito Emperor Meiji (1868 -1912) 1872 Tokugawa Yoshinobu the 15 th and last shogun (1866 -1868)

1868: The Emperor restored to power • The Emperor moves with Sat. Cho armies to conquered Edo • It is renamed Tokyo (eastern capital) MEIJI “Enlightened Rule”

The Meiji Emperor moves from Kyoto to Tokyo • Source: "Le Monde Illustre", February 20 th, 1869.

Emperor Meiji

Review: Tokugawa to Meiji • Satsuma and Choshu clans unite to rebel against Tokugawa • “Expel the barbarian, restore the Emperor” • 1867 the Emperor is “restored” to power • Civil war between Tokugawa and Sat-Cho forces • Sat-Cho clans win 1868 • The new Imperial government drops promise to expel foreigners • They accelerate modernisation!

Japan Learns a Lesson Japanese were sent abroad to learn from the West. But among the Japanese, there has never been the scornful indifference that has often characterized the Chinese attitude towards foreigners. The Japanese have never been too proud to learn. It appeared therefore strange reversal of the whole situation for the anti-foreign monarchical party and, in effect, became pro-foreign almost overnight.

Ukiyo-e edo Search for three minutes to find your favorite piece of Ukiyo-e edo Late edo prints, art Ukiyo-e edo

Meiji Restoration 1868 -1912 Chronology 1573 -1600, “Warring States” - Transitional Era 1635, Shogunate forbids Japanese to travel overseas 1639, Portugese ships forbidden; Japan closed to outside world 1641, Dutch Trading Mission is moved to Nagasaki 1600 -1868, Tokugawa Period - Centralized Feudalism era 1853 -54, Perry Mission to “open” Japan 1854, Japan concludes friendship treaties with U. S. , Britain, France & Netherlands; three ports open to foreign trade 1868, Meiji Restoration 1877, Satsuma Rebellion 1881, Sale of government industries to new zaibatsau 1889, Meiji Constitution 1894 -5, Sino-Japanese War, Japan becomes imperialist power 1904 -5, Russo-Japanese War 1910, colonization of Korea 1912, emperor Meji dies