An outline, era by era

Japan

Meiji Restoration (1868); rapid modernization; Russo-Japanese War (1904 – 1905)

Late Modern Era / 19th Century · ~1800 – 1914

In 1868 a group of samurai from several domains overthrew the Tokugawa shogunate, which had ruled Japan from Edo since 1603, and restored political authority in the name of the young Emperor Meiji. This is known as the Meiji Restoration. It followed years of crisis after American warships arrived in 1853 and 1854 and Japan was pressed to open its ports to foreign trade.

The new government then pursued rapid modernization. It abolished the domains and the privileges of the samurai class, built railways, a conscript army and navy, a national school system and modern industries, and in 1889 issued a constitution. Within a generation Japan had become the first non-Western power to industrialize and take part in imperial rivalry. In the Russo-Japanese War of 1904 to 1905 Japan defeated Russia on land and at sea, which confirmed its place among the great powers and shaped its later role in East Asia.

Things happened, and the rest is history

  1. Perry arrives in Edo Bay

    Event

    What happened

    In July 1853 Commodore Matthew Perry of the United States Navy brings four warships into Edo Bay and delivers a letter from President Millard Fillmore asking for trade and protection for shipwrecked sailors. He returns in February 1854 with a larger squadron. In March 1854 the shogunate signs the Convention of Kanagawa, opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American ships.

    The rest is history

    Japan had limited foreign contact since the 1630s, with only the Dutch and Chinese trading at Nagasaki. The 1854 treaty was followed by similar agreements with Britain, Russia and the Netherlands. In 1858 the Harris treaty and others opened more ports and set low tariffs and extraterritoriality for foreigners, terms later called the unequal treaties. Many Japanese thought the shogunate had given in to foreign pressure, which badly damaged its authority and helped start the movement that overthrew it.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryConvention of Kanagawa (Treaty of Peace and Amity between the United States and Japan). Treaty signed 31 March 1854.
    2. BookBeasley, W. G. The Meiji Restoration. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1972.Standard account of the crisis that followed Perry's arrival.

  2. The fall of the Tokugawa shogunate

    Event

    What happened

    In 1866 the domains of Satsuma and Chōshū, long rivals, form a secret alliance against the shogunate. In November 1867 the last shogun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu, offers to return political power to the emperor. On 3 January 1868 the allied leaders proclaim the restoration of imperial rule. Fighting breaks out at Toba and Fushimi, and Edo surrenders without a battle in 1868.

    The rest is history

    Resistance in the north and at Hakodate ended in 1869 in what is called the Boshin War. The capital moved to Edo, renamed Tokyo, and the era name Meiji was adopted. The leaders were mostly young samurai of middle rank, who then dismantled the order that had given them their status. In 1871 the domains were abolished and replaced by prefectures.

    Sources

    1. BookJansen, Marius B. Sakamoto Ryōma and the Meiji Restoration. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1961.Follows the Satsuma-Chōshū alliance and the final years of the shogunate.
    2. BookJansen, Marius B. The Making of Modern Japan. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000.

  3. The Charter Oath and the Iwakura Mission

    Event

    What happened

    In April 1868 the young emperor swears the Charter Oath, promising public discussion of policy and a search for knowledge throughout the world. In December 1871 a large mission led by the court noble Iwakura Tomomi sails for the United States and Europe, with leaders such as Ōkubo Toshimichi and Itō Hirobumi. It aims to renegotiate the unequal treaties and to study foreign institutions. It returns in September 1873.

    The rest is history

    The mission did not win treaty revision, which took until the 1890s. But its members came home convinced that Japan needed industry, a strong state and a constitution, and they dominated the government afterwards. Their reports, edited by Kume Kunitake, described Western societies in detail. The mission shaped the policy of national wealth and military strength.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryKume Kunitake. Tokumei zenken taishi Bei-Ō kairan jikki. Official record of the Iwakura Mission, 1878.Published in English as The Iwakura Embassy, 1871-73.
    2. BookNish, Ian, ed. The Iwakura Mission in America and Europe: A New Assessment. Richmond: Japan Library, 1998.

  4. Abolition of the samurai class and conscription

    Event

    What happened

    In 1871 the domains are replaced by prefectures governed from Tokyo. In January 1873 a conscription law requires men of all classes to serve in a national army. Samurai stipends are turned into government bonds in 1876, and samurai are forbidden to carry swords in public. Samurai risings follow, the largest being the Satsuma Rebellion of 1877.

    The rest is history

    The conscript army, trained on European models, crushed the Satsuma rebels in 1877, and their leader Saigō Takamori died in the fighting. This ended the samurai as a privileged warrior class. The government now had the only army in the country. It was strong enough for wars abroad.

    Sources

    1. BookRavina, Mark. The Last Samurai: The Life and Battles of Saigō Takamori. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2004.
    2. BookHuffman, James L. Modern Japan: A History in Documents. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.

  5. Industry, railways and schools

    Event

    What happened

    Japan's first railway opens between Tokyo and Yokohama in 1872. A national school system is announced the same year, and the government sets up model factories, mines and shipyards, many later sold to private firms. A telegraph network and a modern postal service follow. Hired foreign experts, called oyatoi, advise on engineering, law and teaching.

    The rest is history

    The state paid for much of this through a land tax reform of 1873, which turned the old rice levies into fixed money payments. Private business groups such as Mitsui and Mitsubishi grew into large combines. By the 1890s there was a modern textile industry, and by 1900 heavy industry was growing. Literacy was high, and this helped the shift to factory work.

    Sources

    1. BookGordon, Andrew. A Modern History of Japan: From Tokugawa Times to the Present. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.
    2. BookSmith, Thomas C. Political Change and Industrial Development in Japan: Government Enterprise, 1868-1880. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1955.

  6. The Meiji Constitution

    Event

    What happened

    After a movement for popular rights in the 1870s and 1880s, the emperor promises a constitution in 1881. Itō Hirobumi studies European systems, especially in Prussia, and drafts a text. It is promulgated on 11 February 1889 and takes effect in 1890 with the first Imperial Diet. The emperor is declared sacred and holds supreme command of the armed forces, while an elected lower house shares in lawmaking.

    The rest is history

    This made Japan the first constitutional state in Asia. The elected house could block budgets, but the army and navy had direct access to the emperor, which later limited civilian control. Revision of the unequal treaties followed: extraterritoriality ended in 1899, and tariff autonomy was fully regained in 1911.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryConstitution of the Empire of Japan. Promulgated 11 February 1889.
    2. BookHane, Mikiso, and Louis G. Perez. Modern Japan: A Historical Survey. Boulder: Westview Press, 2012.

  7. The First Sino-Japanese War

    Event

    What happened

    In 1894 Japan and Qing China go to war over influence in Korea. Japan's new army and navy win at Pyongyang and the Yalu River and take Port Arthur. The Treaty of Shimonoseki in April 1895 recognizes Korea's independence and gives Japan Taiwan, the Pescadores and a large indemnity. Russia, France and Germany then press Japan to give up the Liaodong Peninsula.

    The rest is history

    The war showed that Japan's modernization had worked and made it a regional power with its first colony. The forced return of Liaodong angered Japanese opinion, and Russia soon took a lease of Port Arthur itself. Rivalry with Russia over Korea and Manchuria grew from this. It led to war in 1904.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryTreaty of Shimonoseki. Treaty between Japan and China, signed 17 April 1895.
    2. BookPaine, S. C. M. The Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895: Perceptions, Power, and Primacy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.

  8. The Russo-Japanese War

    Event

    What happened

    On 8 February 1904 Japan attacks the Russian fleet at Port Arthur without a prior declaration, and war is declared two days later. Japanese armies besiege Port Arthur, which falls in January 1905, and win the great battle of Mukden in March. In May 1905 Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō destroys the Russian Baltic Fleet at Tsushima. President Theodore Roosevelt mediates, and the Treaty of Portsmouth is signed in September 1905.

    The rest is history

    Japan gained the southern half of Sakhalin, Russia's lease on the Liaodong Peninsula and railway rights in southern Manchuria, and Russia accepted Japan's dominant position in Korea. Japan annexed Korea in 1910. Many Japanese were angry that no indemnity was paid, and riots broke out in Tokyo. The defeat of a European great power by an Asian one was noted around the world, and Russia's loss added to the unrest of the 1905 revolution.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryTreaty of Portsmouth. Peace treaty between Japan and Russia, signed 5 September 1905.
    2. BookConnaughton, Richard. Rising Sun and Tumbling Bear: Russia's War with Japan. London: Cassell, 2003.

  9. Emperor Jimmu and the 2,600-year throne

    Origin story

    The legend

    The first emperor, Jimmu, a descendant of the sun goddess Amaterasu, sets out from Kyushu and fights his way east to Yamato. Guided by a three-legged crow, he founds the state and takes the throne in 660 BCE. All later emperors descend from him in an unbroken line.

    The rest is history

    The story comes from the Kojiki of 712 and the Nihon Shoki of 720, compiled over a thousand years after the supposed date. Historians regard Jimmu as legendary, and the date 660 BCE was worked out in the early medieval period. The Meiji government made the tale central to state ideology. In 1872 it fixed 11 February 660 BCE as the founding date, and the 1889 Constitution was promulgated on that day, National Foundation Day.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryNihon Shoki (Chronicles of Japan). Japanese court chronicle in classical Chinese, 720 CE.
    2. PrimaryKojiki (Record of Ancient Matters). Japanese chronicle, 712 CE.
    3. BookGluck, Carol. Japan's Modern Myths: Ideology in the Late Meiji Period. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1985.

  10. The Last Samurai

    Popular belief

    The legend

    The last samurai, Saigō Takamori, makes a final stand against the modern army with swords and honour, defeated by guns. In a popular version he dies as a noble warrior, wounded and ending his own life as Meiji Japan casts away tradition.

    The rest is history

    Saigō was a real Restoration leader who helped overthrow the shogunate and then broke with the government over policy. Many of his rebels did use rifles and artillery, so the war was not swords against guns. Saigō was probably killed at Shiroyama in September 1877, and accounts of his last moments differ. He was later pardoned posthumously in 1889 and became a folk hero. The 2003 film The Last Samurai borrows from his story but is fiction.

    Sources

    1. BookRavina, Mark. The Last Samurai: The Life and Battles of Saigō Takamori. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2004.
    2. BookMorris, Ivan. The Nobility of Failure: Tragic Heroes in the History of Japan. London: Secker & Warburg, 1975.

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