World History: Meiji Japan

Throughout the nineteenth-century various states tried to 'modernise' themselves, but many looked to Japan for guidance. Within a space of a decade Japan turned itself from a primarily rural and feudal state, to a capitalist and industrialised one. A British observer called Basil Hall Chamberlain wrote that:

From Andrew Gordon

The last time we discussed Japan we looked at the Tokagawa Shogunate, the last samurai-led government, bakufu, to rule Japan. Even before the arrival of US Commodore Matthew Perry in 1853, which caused Japan to end its isolationist policy towards Europe the year after, the bakufu was facing serious challenges to its authority. The strict social system was becoming blurred with many samurai having to marry their daughters to wealthy merchants, the rise of money undermined the rice-based economy, and with the government in Edo becoming impoverished two hostile domains, Choshu and Satsuma, started to rise in power. Despite strict isolationist policies Choshu and Satsuma had been secretly trading with the Dutch outside of the official port in Nagasaki bolstering their wealth, and the two domains had never forgiven the Tokugawa for seizing power in 1600. Japanese nationalism started to emerge as European and American powers started signing with the bakufu, albeit through coercion, treaties granting them special privileges just as they had done in China, the subject for the next World History post. Angered Japanese nationalists, of various classes, attacked foreigners and those perceived to be aiding them, and issued the cry sonnō jōi (revere the emperor, expel the barbarian). This caused foreign powers to force the bakufu to sign more treaties, which, in turn, inspired more attacks. Meanwhile, the mismanaged economy led to widespread inflation, food shortages and unemployment causing riots countrywide. The people said Ed ja nai ka?, 'Who Cares Anymore?' Thus, this set the stage for the Meiji Restoration.

The Meiji Restoration, or Revolution?

Satsuma samurai during the Boshin War

The southern domains of Choshu and Satsuma had long standing grievances thanks to their defeat by the Tokugawa all the way back in 1600, and the political crisis brought them together in 1866. After decades of secret trading with Western merchants, most recently with Scottish merchant Thomas Blake Glover, they started to build up their force to resist Edo rule. Then in 1867 two major events happened changing the face of Japan forever. The first, the bakufu army was quickly defeated by Choshu; fires breaking out in Edo and Osaka took a portion of the government's army to try and put it out, so the remains were no match against the better equipped Choshu forces. That same year the emperor died bringing his 14-year old son, Mutsuhito, to the throne as the Meiji Emperor. With Satsuma, Choshu, and another domain Tosa putting pressure on the bakufu to grant the new emperor more power this forced the shogun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu, to resign. In early-1868, young samurai from these domains took control of Kyoto, where the emperor lived, and declared the 'Meiji Restoration.' They issued the Charter Oath declaring: the creation of assemblies, the seizure of Tokugawa lands, all classes being united in carrying out state affairs, the banning of 'evil customs', and 'knowledge shall be sought throughout the world so as to strengthen the foundation of imperial rule.' The shogunate and its supporters did not take this laying down - after the fall of the capital Edo they moved to the northernmost island of Ezo in what has been called the Boshin War. Meiji forces won, being supported by Britain, using an army combining samurai and European methods. While the generals wore British uniforms, rank-and-file soldiers wore their older samurai uniforms.

There has been debate about whether to describe the events as a 'Restoration' or a 'Revolution.' Chris Harding described it as a 'coup' as the events of 1868 replaced a system ruled by samurai with one comprised of samurai - just this time they were from Choshu, Satsuma and Tosa and of a younger generation. Meanwhile, others, such as Andrew Gordon, argue that we can refer to it as 'Revolution' as it facilitated the end of Japanese feudalism. Although the ruling class might be the same as pre-1868, the economic and social changes caused by the Restoration, he argues, can only be described as 'revolutionary.'

Building the Meiji State

Iwakura Mission officials - Iwakura is in the centre

The next stage of the Meiji period has often been described as 'emulating' the West, but in reality it can best be described as 'adapting' the West. To centralise power the emperor was moved to the capital of Edo which was renamed Tokyo. Tax, decentralised and originally paid in rice based on harvest size, was replaced by a centrally assessed land tax paid in cash. To curb the power of a resurgent samurai class the hundreds of domains were replaced by fifty prefectures. In order to break the traditional power of the samurai, and to allow wealthy merchants into the hegemony of power, in 1871 samurai/commoner marriage was allowed, and soon after 'samurai' were abolished. These policies were guided by a principle, similar to the Chinese self-strengthening movement, called fukoko kyōhei (enrich the state, strengthen the military). It was no coincidence that one of the major politicians of the Meiji era was the 'Father of the Military' Yamagata Aritomo. Although the bakufu had sent pupils abroad in the early-1860s to study in Europe and the US, a large scale programme was enacted by minister Iwakura Tomomi from 1871 to 1873 in what has been called the 'Iwakura Mission.' The children of Meiji samurai were sent to Europe and America to study engineering, economics, military, politics, and sciences as a way to produce the next generation of rulers who could use their knowledge they acquired elsewhere. Britain, as another island nation and as a heavily industrialised state, was initially the nation to emulate. Some reformers suggested that adoption of Christianity and even more beef dishes could help Japan become more like Britain. However, German unification under Prussia made Germany the state to learn from. German conscription, schooling, and military training were adapted for Japanese means. The German constitution would come to heavily inspire the 1889 Constitution as it placed the monarch in the centre of politics; the new class were keen to limit the power of democracy. When visiting Chinese minister Li Hongzhang in 1885 one of Japan's leading figures, Mori Arinori, was questioned how he could abandon his culture in favour of the West. Mori replied saying that he and Japan were just doing what they had always done - adapt from other nations what suited them. 

The Rokumeikan

As stated by Mori, the new Meiji class did not simply adapt policies and ideas from the West. Following 1853 Japanese communities were looking at themselves to understand why they had easily been humbled by Matthew Perry. This was soon followed by the promotion of Shinto over Buddhism, and attacks on Buddhist temples with it being seen as an alien faith which hindered Japan. If you are in Europe and the US and see Japanese Buddhist artefacts from the 1850s and 1860s it is likely from a temple pillaged during this period. Even though some Japanese ministers advocated converting the nation to Christianity, this was roundly rejected, such as by one of the key political figures Ito Hirobumi, of rejecting Japan. Andrew Gordon has also highlighted the push and pull about the adoption of industrial capitalism. Some, like Kido Koin who in 1872 described industrialism in the US as being 'astonishing' and 'indescribably', saw it as the best way to stop Japan from being dominated by imperial powers, whereas others warned against this. Far from being socialists, several Meiji ministers warned against the adoption of industrial capitalism as they saw the exploitation of workers and ruthless competition as rupturing Japan's Confucian social order. One of the Meiji era's most important figure, Ito Hirobumi, used the phrase kokutai (national body) to describe how Japan should function - the nation was a family with the emperor as the father, and anything which could disrupt the family should be discouraged. The Rokumeikan, finished in 1883 at ruinous cost, is the perfect example of this. Designed by British architect Josiah Conder, it combined European architecture with Japanese lanterns, ponds, and pines where the elite, and middle classes, could interact with foreign dignitaries. This was commissioned by Ito and Inoue Kaoru to put Japan on the world stage. It was not uncommon for dancers to combine kimonos and suits, and the masquerade ball of 1887 caused rumours that etiquette was abandoned - Ito is rumoured to have had an affair with a married woman that night. These scandals, and satire by the West, caused these balls to be abandoned.

The Emperor Meiji in Western guard - this was issued to show that Japan and its rulers were a new power

There was also a keen urge to create a centralised state with a strong army. We have already mentioned conscription, but education was seen as also being of vital importance. The Fundamental Code of Education in 1872 was released which set out to make a break from the Tokugawa era, and began building more schools out of the hands of religious institutions. A 1875 survey of 20,000 schools found that 18% were in new buildings, and this continued to grow. Elementary education was pushed above all - in 1892 it was found that 27% of conscripts were illiterate and that figure vanished by the start of the First World War. The big push for education began under Mori Arinori from 1885 who stated that it was for 'the sake of our country.' Setting the stage for an authoritarian and nationalist state, Mori had elementary education stress devotion to the state and founded the Imperial University in Tokyo. In 1937 it was found that 73.6% of high civil servants and 49.7% of judicial officials had attended Imperial. Centralisation took many forms. During the 1850s and 1860s loosening restrictions on print allowed a boom in newspapers, and soon they were centralised to prevent regional loyalty. Furthermore, to avoid regional loyalties prefecture governors were prevented from serving in the prefecture they were born in, and were often moved around. A key part of centralisation was industrialism. Building railroads and telegraph lines linked even the most rural areas creating a sense of national unity - by 1877 2,827 miles of telegraph lines had been installed.

The 1889 Constitution and Politics

In 1889, largely drafted by Ito Hirobumi and other Meiji conservatives, Japan's first constitution was promulgated. Inspired by the German constitution it created a top-down state where power, in theory but not practice, rested on the emperor. The concept of kokutai placed the emperor as the father of the nation and his subjects as his children. This Constitution would remain in place until 1947, and would serve as a way to unite the nation - the nation was one large family. However, this concept was used to silence calls for democracy, republicanism, and women's rights, and Japanese fascists and militarists later would use it to justify their own take over. As described by Chris Harding, the 1880s up to the 1900s can be described as a 'dancing cabinet' where the role of prime minister regularly shifted between several figures - notably Ito Hirobumi, Yamagata Aritomo, and Matsukata Masayoshi. A big reason for this was that the office of Prime Minister was by the Diet which had a very small franchise; only 5% of the male population could vote and the first election of 1890 saw 450,000 people vote, or 1% of the population. It took until the 1920s for universal male suffrage to be passed, and women could not vote until the 1940s. This veneer of democracy allowed a safe way for opinions to be debated without harming the ruling power, and allowed policies to be easily transmitted to the public. This is shown in which parties were elected to the first Diet - the Jiyuto, Itagaki Taisuke brought samurai together to campaign for a national assembly, and the Kaishinto, capitalists who wanted to bring about a British style government. Until the 1940s Satsuma-Choshu controlled the government - Ito was prime minister four times, and Yamagata twice. More radical demands could, therefore, be easily barred from government. A 1909 Press Law allowed 'dangerous' publications to be banned, and the 1894 Peace Preservation Law was used to curb the extra-parliamentary support of the Jiyuto Party.

Japanese Capitalism

Women working in a textile factory

As when we looked at the history of capitalism, Japanese capitalism had its origins far into the past. By the end of the Tokugawa shogunate the wealth divisions between merchants and samurai had become increasingly blurred, and in the 1850s had funded anti-bakufu movements. Angered by the bakufu excluding them from power, so they threw themselves behind the Meiji reformers. Many of these merchant families would evolve into zaibatsu, or conglomerates, which would hold monopolies over the Japanese economy until the Second World War. Even then, they still exist under a different name. The 'Big Four' zaibatsu, (Mitsui, Mitsubishi, Sumitomo, and Yasuda), would hold great influence over Japan, and many politicians were practically in their pockets. By the 1920s they owned 70% of the stock exchange, 30% of mining and chemicals, and 50% of machinery. A reason why they became so powerful was due to the Meiji state relying on them to industrialise. Fearful that contracts with Europeans to industrialise the state would open the door for Euro-American domination, they instead relied on zaibatsu. Soon enough politicians and capitalists became inseparable - a common story was how politicians would order a bento box, and in one of the slots was a wad of cash from a zaibatsu. As in the rest of the world capitalism would drastically shape the demographics of Japan. The cities grew exponentially as people moved to the docks and urban factories to work. E. Patricia Tsurumi has highlighted how it was socially accepted for young rural women to move to the cities to work in textiles until they married when they would move back to the countryside. Furthermore, as expected, capitalism was entwined with empire.

The Japanese Empire

Photos like these were taken to show the difference between the Japanese colonisers and colonised Ainu

Japan answered threats of colonialism with colonialism. As stated by Mori Arinori, the reformers had the view of a 'lips and teeth' policy - Japan was the 'teeth' and needed 'lips' to protect it. One of the first acts of the reformers was to 'incorporate' the island of Ezo into Japan, which they renamed Hokkaido. The Ainu were the indigenous peoples of Hokkaido and had traded with northern Japanese for centuries, but the fear of imperial domination by Russia made Tokyo want to dominate the region. The Hokkaido Colonization Program was set up where former samurai were granted Ainu land, declared terra nullis, and open for distribution. Meanwhile, the Ainu were forced to adopt farming in reservations like Chitose. Like other colonial powers Japan viewed the Ainu as children and tried destroying their culture - their language was banned (in 1993 less the 1% can speak Ainu), the Hokkaido wolf (important to their faith) was driven to extinction, and their home design was also changed. To the south, the Ryukyu Kingdom was annexed and turned into Okinawa prefecture; just as in Hokkaido Ryukyuan identity was attacked. Despite calling Ainu and Ryukyuans 'Japanese' this was far from the case - Ainu in schools were called 'Ah! Inu!' (Ah - A dog), Ainu villages were turned into tourist attractions, and Ryukyuan visitors were horrified at the Osaka Industrial Exhibition of 1903 for being presented as 'savages' in the 'Hall of Mankind.' This was particularly insulting for Ryukyuans as the Japanese state had declared them 'Japanese' even before the annexation; a 'civilising' raid, funded by shipping zaibatsu Iwasaki Yatarō, on Taiwanese indigenous peoples was done in 1874 in revenge for the killings of Ryukyuan fishers.

Japanese Troops arriving in Seoul in 1905

The best known aspects of Japanese imperialism was its actions in China, Taiwan, and Korea. This was supported by both the military and capitalists - it was a way to bolster the military's strength, 'defend' Asia from Euro-Americans, and open up markets and resources for capitalist growth. During the 1880s and 1890s Japan started intervening in Korean affairs - something which caused an uprising as early as 1882. A peasant rebellion called the Donghak Revolution rose up against the Joseon Dynasty in 1894 which brought in both China and Japan. Using this as a way to extend its influence in Korea Japan went to war against China in 1894, and the industrialised military of Japan quickly wiped out the Chinese opponents. Japan took over Korea's politics and economy, and directly annexed Taiwan and Liaodong. Japanese militarists and capitalists pushed for the outright annexation of Korea, which happened in 1910, despite nationalist opposition in Korea. In 1909 Ito Hirobumi, then president of the privy-council, was assassinated by Korean nationalist An Jung-geun for discrimination against Koreans in Japan, having members of the royal family killed, and for dismantling Korean independence. Regardless, the following year Korea lost its independence; even its royal family was brought into the Japanese royal family. During the Meiji era, Koreans were considered 'fellow Asians' but 'requiring' education by Japan - this would soon change to attempts to eradicate Korean culture. Korean land was given to pro-Japanese Koreans and Japanese landowners, and ordinary Koreans became a source of cheap labour for factories. It was under this period that Japan's Korean diaspora began to emerge. Following 1894 Japan joined Euro-American powers in partitioning China, Japan sent troops to put down the Boxer Rebellion as an example. The 1904 Russo-Japanese War began due to competing Russian and Japanese efforts to exercise hegemony in Manchuria (a point we shall discuss soon).

Women in Meiji Japan

We have yet to mention many female voices so far, and this is due to Meiji Japan enforcing intense patriarchy. Meiji reformers argued, partially inspired by Western attitudes, that women's space was in the home with the family. Restructuring the nation as being a family headed by the male emperor meant that women were often sidelined. The state was keen to regulate women's lives, going as far as to regulate hair and clothing in 1872, and women being brought into education was done to ingrain domesticity. This does not mean that women were entirely excluded from Japanese life. Several reformers did campaign for increased women's rights - Mori Arinori ignored conservatives and sent five women to study in the US, and in 1885 Iwamoto Zenji published Women's Education where he equated civilisation with women's rights. Women themselves also challenged the idea of domesticity. In 1876 women comprised 60% of the workforce, and this ratio continued up to 1914. Of course, women were treated horribly in factories being subjected to sexual abuse, poor working conditions, 15 hour work days, and being kept in prison-like housing. However, E. Patricia Tsurumi has shown how women tried to resist this ranging from songs insulting overseers, running away, and wild-cat strikes. Japan's first strike occurred in the Amamiya Silk Factory in Kofu in 1886 when 100 women walked out in response to a dock in wages and an increase in work hours. After four days they succeeded in having this reversed. 

The first issue of Bluestockings

A burgeoning feminist movement further developed in Japan. In the 1870s Itagaki Taisuke's Movement for Freedom and Popular Rights emerged, eventually forming the Jiyuto party, to campaign for expansion of the franchise. Thanks to Kusunose Kita, who received her husband's property and tax liabilities after he died, in 1872 started pressuring the Movement to adopt women's rights. She argued that why should women be taxed like a man, if they lacked the rights of a man? Similarly, Kishida Toshiko in the 1880s became influential by travelling across Japan doing speeches attacking patriarchal systems - in 1883 she was arrested for giving a speech called 'Daughters Confined in Boxes.' This has been seen as the first direct attack on Japan's patriarchal system by a woman. Due to the rising influence of women in politics in 1890 a law was passed barring women from partaking in political activism; this curtailed the growing feminist movement but did not stop it. Socialists like Fukuda Hideko and Sugaya Iwako participated in the underground socialist movements, and in 1911 the influential feminist magazine Bluestockings began publishing.

Resistance

A depiction of the Satsuma Rebellion

Many figures and movements resisted aspects of the Meiji movement - so far we have discussed just a few of them. In the 1870s there were a series of anti-Meiji movements ranging from an attempt by firebrands in Hizen to invade Korea in 1873 as they were angered by the government not doing so, and a few years later in Kumamoto a zealous group tried to reverse the Restoration failed as they refused to use firearms. In 1877 the Satsuma Rebellion broke out under Saigo Takamori, who was angered at inaction over Korea, which lasted for six months and cost over 32,000 casualties. Saigo professed loyalty to the throne, wore his Imperial Army uniform, and declared that ministers were leading Japan down the wrong path. As it was limited to samurai and geographically isolated the rebellion was crushed, and Saigo commit suicide. Not all rebellions were by disgruntled elites. Peasants refused to answer the 1873 Conscription Edict calling it a 'blood tax' as the wealthy could avoid conscription based on a payment. Grassroots rioters attacked government offices, moneylenders, and wealthy merchants and farmers. A similar movement emerged burning down schools in protest of the new tax laws.

Some of the most unique forms of resistance emerged as well. In 1884, Kageyama Hideko had her school for women closed when some pupils attended a political meeting, so the next year she tried to smuggle bombs to Korea to encourage an armed uprising to bring democracy to Korea and Japan. Another female school teacher, Miura Momonosuke in Gunma prefecture in 1884 started recruiting gangsters, farmers, and even sumo wrestlers to take prisoner key imperial officials during an official visit; in neighbouring Saitama 3,000 teachers, artisans, and farmers formed the Poor People's Army to prepare for an armed uprising. As mentioned earlier, the anarchist and Christian inspired socialist movement was quickly oppressed - the first official socialist party was formed in 1906 and lasted two days before being banned. In May 1910 the 'High Treason Incident' was discovered - this was a plot to assassinate the emperor resulting in the execution of 12 leftists (of whom not all were actually involved). One was feminist Kanno Suga who said during her trial 'I think the Emperor as an individual may be deserving of sympathy, but he heads the system that oppresses us and...is politically responsible...The person I consider most abominable as an individual is Yamagata. I think, given the opportunity, I would try to throw a bomb at him.' 

The Russo-Japanese War and Conclusion

As mentioned earlier, when Russia completed the Trans-Siberian railway Japan clashed with it over influence in Manchuria, northern China. In 1904 this sparked a war which saw the Russian navy roundly defeated at the Battle of Tsushima seeing two-thirds of the Russian navy being destroyed. This turned out to be a turning point in history. Japan, who less than forty years before had been a rural and feudal state, roundly defeated what had been considered one of the world's great powers. What is more telling was how it influenced how race and empire were considered. Japan, a non-white nation, had defeated a white power - some in Europe tried to downplay it by saying that Russia was not a 'true' white nation, but its impact was immense. Even in nations it was oppressing Japan became a hero uniting the colonised peoples of the world. From Tibet to America colonised peoples praised Japan. Chinese nationalist Sun Yat-sen said 'We regarded that Russian defeat by Japan as the defeat of the West by the East. We regarded the Japanese victory as our own victory' and Indian nationalist Jawaharlal Nehru said it was a sign that Europe could be defeated. Although the Japanese public were disappointed with the result of the war, the war was a shift in how the world viewed Japan. However, it started a dangerous precedent. Japan would use the war to position itself as the defender of Asia, which it would use to commit atrocities and exploit peoples across Asia until the defeat of the empire in 1945.

When the Meiji Emperor died in 1912 Japan had evolved from a feudal state to a capitalist empire. While inspiring colonised peoples to try and resist colonial domination, the Japanese Empire would go on to become a repressive state. The Constitution would be used to censor pro-democracy and feminist movements, and the rise of the empire would lead to the intense abuses in the wider empire. However, this period also saw the rise of movements which could resist this oppression, and this resistance existing under the surface continues to shape Japan today.

The sources I have used are as follows:

-Marius Jansen, The Making of Modern Japan, (Cambridge, MA: 2000)

-Chris Harding, Japan Story: In Search of a Nation, 1850 to the Present, (London: 2018)

-Janet Hunter, The Emergence of Modern Japan: An Introductory History since 1853, (London: 1989)

-Marius Jansen, (ed.), The Cambridge History of Japan: Vol. 5, The Nineteenth Century, (Cambridge: 1989)

-Andrew Gordon, A Modern History of Japan, (Oxford: 2014)

-D. Howell, 'Ainu Ethnicity and the Boundaries of the Early Modern Japanese State,' Past and Present, 142, (1994), 69-93

-E. Patricia Tsurumi, Factory Girls: Women in the Thread Mills of Meiji Japan, (Princeton, 1990)

-E. Patricia Tsurumi, "Problem Consciousness and Modern Japanese History: Female Textile Workers of Meiji and Taisho", Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars, 18:4, (1984), 3-27

-Kumari Jayawardena, Feminism and Nationalism in the Third World, (London: 1986)

Our next World History post will look at the collapse of the Qing and Chinese between two revolutions, we have a list of other World History here. For other blog posts see our Facebook or catch me on Twitter @LewisTwiby.