So I decided to stray a way from the historiography this week and focus on Japan a little, since I have a midterm coming up in a class which is dedicated to the modernization of Japan from the time of the shogunates, to now. Japan went through many changes from the 1700’s to the 1800’s due to the push of American trade, and the cry for power of its citizens. For the longest time Japan was set up as a feudal system with Japan being divided into sectors or clans. Each clan had a daimyo in charge. That daimyo was dedicated to only his people and would abide by the law of the shogunate who were the military leaders. Now there was an emperor but he had no real authority over the people.
For some time they had decided to seclude themselves from the rest of the world in order to secure their traditions. The only group they stayed in contact with were the dutch, who were not a threat. It wasn’t until the west sent Commodore Perry over to Japan with a note inscribing the interest of trade with Japan. If they did not open up their doors to them, they would be fired upon. Seeing as how they could not afford an attack from the U.S. they signed any treaty given to avoid war. This caused uproar from the citizens because many of the treaties were found to be embarrassing to Japan and caused them to be subordinate to every nation. The Meijji Revolution was then put into play.
The Meiji Revolution was the rise of the Emperor Meijji, (who was only 16 at the time), over the shogunate. This uprising was started by the Samurai and was widely supported by the people. In putting the Emperor at the head of Japan, they would then have a central power and establish a parliamentary government to run with a constitution. In doing this they hope to strengthen Japan and get them out of the position the original shogunate put them in.
pharaohsofchaos 