In all but name, Japan faced a revolution in 1867. Between then and 1905, Japan experienced the restoration of Imperial rule, the creation of a new Constitution, the introduction of foreign industrial techniques, several uprisings and rebellions, two wars, and the end of a seven-hundred-year-old rule. The world saw the rise of a major economic and colonial power. By the end of the period, the cultures, economies, societies, and political organizations of Japan and the world would be changed forever.

Before the Restoration, a military government called the Bafuku ruled Japan. Under this feudal-like system, the emperor was reduced to a figurehead, local lords (daimyo) controlled the fief-like han, and a leader called the shogun ruled over all. But by the time of the Restoration, the Bafuku had lost significant power in the eyes of both the Japanese and the world. Class distinctions lost relevance, han superseded the Bafuku’s foreign policies, and peasant, not samurai, grew in military service. Most crushing was the signing of the Empire of Japan and Harris Treaties. These United States documents, followed by several European treaties, opened Japan to foreign trade for the first time since 1639. To the Japanese, so adamant about keeping foreigners away, this proved the downfall of the shogun and Bafuku.

Although the Japanese placed personal loyalty as their highest honor, many han could and did choose higher loyalty to the Emperor and nation without being disloyal. So great was the shift in public sentiment that han Satsuma and Choshu, once enemies, united in rebellion and successfully destroyed the Bafuku, restoring the Emperor to power. Shortly afterwards, on April 9, 1868, the newly restored Emperor Meiji issued his Charter Oath, calling for public decision on government and for equality among classes. Such ideas had been likely put forth not only as goals for the nation but also to appease watching Western eyes.

Three years later, Japan sent an embassy to the United States and Europe to plea for a revision of their previous treaties, wanting particularly the return of its tariff rights. Although the embassy met with several national leaders, including President Grant of the United States, Queen Victoria, and Alexander II, no country had been willing to alter the treaties. Undaunted, Japan used industrial observations made by the embassy to start its own industrial revolution.

The Meiji Administration began creating reforms early in the period. Between 1868 and 1871, every han was absorbed back into imperial hands and ultimately replaced with taxable prefectures governed by persons selected by the central authority. While paying the former daimyos a permanent yearly salary for their lost position, the government dismantled the old feudal system with little protest and further distanced itself in the public eye from the Bafuku. During this period, the Administration also created the positions of Prime Minister and the ministerial staff; the creation of civil service exams in 1887 both improved this new bureaucracy and opened civil offices to commoners. Giving yet more power to the common person, starting respectively in 1872 and 1873, the government required four years of public education for all children and seven total years of military service from all males over twenty. The people reacted to these last policies with riots, but within three or fewer decades, the Japanese had accepted these national requirements. With these new policies, the basis of Japanese societal values shifted from heredity to merit.

In another step to eliminate hereditary class distinction, the government reduced samurai stipends by up to seventy-five percent and forbid all but police officers and soldiers from wearing swords. This latter had been most damaging, for the sword had been the symbol of samurai pride and honor. Rejecting these and other Meiji period changes, forty thousand samurai led by Saigo Takamori attacked Tokyo in the Satsuma Rebellion of 1877. The rebellion lasted for three weeks before being put down by the drafted army, and the end of the rebellion signaled the true end of the samurai and rise of imperial power to the nation.

However, the Satsuma Rebellion did not end without harm to the country. The cost of putting down the rebellion severely depreciated the value of paper money, a problem aggravated by the inability to convert paper money into reserve silver. To reverse the situation, Financial Minister Matsukata Masayoshi organized what would be known as the Matsukata Deflation, in which the government would reduce spending, remove paper money from circulation, and buy more silver for its reserve. At the same time, Masayoshi established the Bank of Japan and, after adequate silver reserves were created, began printing fully convertible silver certificates. During the Matsukata Deflation, numerous business owners and farmers fell into poverty, some organizing into protest against the government, but by 1885, Japan finally achieved a stable economy.

Four years afterwards, and after previous decades of clamoring from the people, the Meiji Administration ratified a constitution. Based on European models, the Meiji Constitution established legislative, executive, and judicial bodies, as well as the rights of subjects. Unlike the similarly modeled United States government system, the Emperor was given not executive but legislative authority, for a body called Imperial Diet held the former power. The Imperial Diet comprised a House of Peers (containing appointed nobility) and a House of Representatives (elected by the people) that significantly reduced the impact of the Japanese subjects on government; subjects voted only for members of the House of Representative, creating in the Imperial Diet a system somewhat similar to that of a Greek republic. The Constitution had been as much a “gift” to the old nobles as to the people, for it guaranteed the nobility a place in the government.

By this time, Japanese industrial work was finally succeeding. The country made particular advances in cotton yarn manufacturing, creating about one-fourth of the world’s export by 1913, in primary electric motors, used for over half of Japan’s power capacity, and in mining. However, to achieve these advances, the nation subjected its workforce to strenuous, monotonous, low-income jobs, often demanding work from women and children. Mines and textile mills were the most notorious work environments not only for their demanding tasks but also for their poor working conditions. Miners were looked down upon, and textile workers often faced years of indebted work. Many textile workers died of tuberculosis from the lint-choked air. Still, in a society that viewed work as a show of loyalty to family and the nation, the dangers of these workplaces were largely ignored. Work trends continued, production quality remained high, and Japan’s industrial revolution continued unabated.

In the wake of the Meiji Restoration and an industrial revolution, Japan set its sights on Korea. Japan had been interested in Korea since the 1870s, slowly trying to wrest the region from Chinese control. A Korean rebellion (against elites and foreigners) gave Japan the opportunity it desired. After China refused to allow Japan into Korea’s internal affairs in 1894, Japanese forces took the Korean palace and force Korea to declare war against China. In this First Sino-Japanese War, Japan defeated China in April of the following year, and through victory, Japan won control of Taiwan and the Liaodong peninsula as well as railroad construction rights in southern Manchuria and enough gold for Japan to change its national reserve from silver to gold. More importantly, Japan won the respect of the world. Europe and the United States renegotiated their economic treaties with Japan, and Great Britain, then world leader, formed an alliance with Japan recognizing each other’s respective interests in India and Korea. China had been crushed by defeat from its former colony, and the country’s subsequent questioning of long-assumed superiority and its Confucian-based government perhaps led the nation to adopt Communism later.

Korea gained independence after the First Sino-Japanese War but still fell under Japanese influence. In an effort to gain true independence, Korea sought aid from Russia, who eventually took Manchuria and the Liaodong peninsula in 1898. Japan offered to negotiate control of Manchuria for control of Korea, but neither side had any desire to give up either territory. Impatient, the Japanese declared war for the entire region in 1904 (the Russo-Japanese War). Again, Japan gained a quick victory, and in the Treaty of Portsmouth, 1905, Russia relinquished part of Manchuria (the rest had been returned to China) and exclusive rights in Korea. Although Japan gained little new in the way of territory, a sore point for the Japanese public, the nation had once again proved its strength to the world. After annexing Korea in 1910, Japan proved itself an imperial power.

Between 1868 and 1910, Japan overthrew its former government, created internal stability, and established itself as a major military and imperial power. In time, Japan’s victories in the First Sino-Japanese and the Russo-Japanese Wars as well as economic successes and the imperial trend of the West encouraged greater conquests. Japan would eventually face defeat and devastation with World War II, but until then, the nation seemed constantly on the rise.

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Author's Note: I would have included citation and an annotated bibliography, but the site ruined the bibliography page. E-mail me if you want to find out what works I used to write this document.