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The Tokugawa Shogunate In Japan

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The beginning of the Meiji Era and the road to Japan modernization, all began when Emperor Mutsuhito chose the name “Meiji” meaning “enlightened ruler” for his reign. This era emerged with the fall of the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1868 and was a period of historic social, political and economic changes leading to Japan’s conversion from a medieval nation to a modern and western nation, that we know of today (Tsutsui, 152). Preceding the 1868 Restoration, Japan was ruled by feudal lords, with a feudal agrarian society and a weak military. At the end of the Meiji Era with the death of the Emperor in 1912, Japan was a well-advanced nation with a constitutional monarchy, a democratically elected parliament, a strong modern military, a thriving economy …show more content…

For instance, the agricultural production gradually weakened in contrast to the trading and mercantile subdivisions, therefore, the sellers earned more than the samurai and daimyo. Intensifying antagonism weakened the Tokugawa shogunate as a result of a long-lasting period of famine, leading to a growth in peasant uprisings. Furthermore, the increasing regular arrivals of foreign ships off the coast, which most brought unwanted proposals for trade, fueled apprehensions about Western imperialism, mainly after news from China of the First Opium War (1840–1842) reached Japan (Howell, …show more content…

The people of Japan now had the right to participate in politics along with numerous other liberties (Sumikawa, 6). In 1890, a national assembly, the bicameral Diet, was assembled along with the formation of a constitutional government. The Meiji Constitution, copied specific details from other constitutions of the European countries, mainly the German states. Ito Hirobumi, a Choshu man studied the Constitution in Europe and it was understood that such was necessary for Japan to reach the same level as the Western powers. According to Sumikawa, the emperor had full sovereignty, he ordered the military, made peace and declared war. Despite any troubles the government had, the genro other known as an oligarchy, determined the organizations work, for national pride, foreign approval, and political stability. However, once the war with China became foreseeable, national unity was more important than political

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Japanese emperors had courts and capital cities like the ancient imperial centers of China. The rulers wanted to build a peasant army and use legal codes and a landholding system which was similar to what was used in

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In the late 19th and early 20th centuries industrialization was a big thing in Japan. This industrialization had economic, political and social effects on Japan. According to document 1, “The Constitution of the Empire of Japan: The Meiji Constitution (1890-1947)one political change was a written constitution was formed. In 1868 this constitution was created to show how Japan is a capable of deserving respect while keeping their own power.

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Before this industrialization in 1968, was the Boshin war, which was directly responsible for the Meiji Restoration, due to the fact that after the war, Japan wanted to have one central power, which resulted in Japan’s government wanting to become like an already successful government with one central power, America, however they did not want America’s culture, but merely the style of government, which resulted in Japan becoming much more western. Then after the war, the Meiji Restoration started, which was the new government taking over Japan, this started a westernization movement in Japan, and during this westernization, industrialization started, and then it settled all throughout Japan, building factories, and machines. Similar to this, Russia experienced the Crimean war, which was essentially a wake-up call for Russia to industrialize after it’s terrible loss to both Britain and France, to add to the losses, after that, Japan and Russia fought, and Russia lost horribly, which shocked the entire

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In the Tokugawa period Ogyu Sorai and Dazai Shundai realized Samurai were in financial trouble because of alternative attendance. Sorai and Shundai were scholars during the Tokugawa period. Sorai was known for applying the Way of the Ancient Sages to government and social order. According to Sorai in Tokugawa Political Writing “the term “Way” encompassed all things created by the Ancient Sages, such as ritual, music, the law, and statecraft” (4). Shundai was known for his political economy.

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The Opium Wars came from China 's attempts to suppress the trade and consumption f Opium. The first war took place from 1839 to 1842 and the second war was from 1856 to 1860. The Opium wars marked a new beginning in terms of China’s relationship with the west. Regular trade had been going on with the British since the arrival of the Portuguese in the 1600’s. As European economic power rose, Chines goods such as silk, porcelain and tea became highly sought after.

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Before WW2 Japan had two simple goals “rich nation, strong military” (Gerteis, 205), following the war the nation defined goals of doubling GDP and improving its international standing, and following the 1991 bubble “acceptance that Japan’s global role and importance might shrink to the point where the nation ignored” (Gerteis, 206). Following the bubble of 1991 the faith of the Japanese citizenry in their government fled and increasingly Japan fell into a state of retrospection desiring again the golden years of the 60’s, 70’s, and early 80’s. Unfortunately for Japan this dreaming of past times did nothing to improve their economic condition “imagined golden ages can never be recovered” (Confucius,

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Tokugawa Bakufu, founder and the first shogun of Edo Bakufu, unified Japan after a long period of internal wars and power shifts ruled by samurais, the warrior class, from late 12th to 16th century and country maintained domestic peace for around 250 years. Tokugawa adopted the centralized feudal system from the old government which he held the national authority and allowed daimyo rule the feudal domains. This is known as the BakuHan system (Bakufu, the central government and Han, the local government). Under the feudal structure, Bakufu gave Han the land to rule and in return imposed heavy expenses on Han including levying taxes, giving logistical support, providing military aid and helping with public building projects. Bakufu came up with

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The Charter Oath promulgated in 1868 outlined the Meiji government’s central goals. One of these goals was a pledge to seek wisdom throughout the world in order to strengthen the foundation of the Imperial State. The writers of this Oath understood that in order for the Japanese to compete with the western world, they must be as educationally advanced. The only way for this to happen, was to see first hand what westerners were studying. The Meiji government sent 50 high officials and students to study the western world.

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“To guard against external influence, they also worked to close off Japanese society from Westernizing influences, particularly Christianity. When the Tokugawa shogunate grew increasingly weak by the mid-19th century, two powerful clans joined forces in early 1868 to seize power as part of an “imperial restoration” named for Emperor Meiji.” This restoration was the beginning of the end of feudalism, or the way of structuring society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour, in Japan. The Tokugawa regime acted to exclude missionaries because of suspicion of foreign intervention and colonialism. Eventually, they issued a complete ban on Christianity in Japan.

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But also change within the military occurred with the replacement of Samurai authority. Trying to be equal competitors in world power as their Western neighbors. Japan had gotten imperialist ideas from 1853 when the U.S. black ships steamed

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It is thus prevalent to ask why Japan saw a period modernisation and economic growth at the close of the Century, whilst China remained stagnant. Thus, herein this dissertation will seek to explain how China and Japan’s

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