Meiji Restoration in Japan - a set of state events held in 1868-1889. It is associated with the formation of the system of government of the new time. The events made it possible to break the traditional way of life of the population and to introduce the achievements of the West at an accelerated pace. Consider further how the Meiji Restoration took place.
Formation of a new government
After the shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu returned power to the emperor, a new government was formed. At the beginning of January 1868, he proclaimed a decree on the beginning of administrative changes. According to the document, the Tokugawa shogunate ceased to exist. The administration of the state thus passed to the emperor and his government. At the meetings, it was decided to deprive the former shogun of most of the land, titles and ranks. Supporters of the former government opposed such a decision. As a result, the state split into two parts. A civil war broke out in the country.
Resistance
At the end of January, supporters of the former shogunate werean attempt was made to seize Kyoto in order to restore his rule. The few, but modernized forces of the emperor came out against them. On January 27-30, 1868, the rebels were defeated in the battle of Toba-Fushimi. The imperial army moved to the northeast. In May 1868, Edo capitulated. During the summer and autumn, the troops fought in the northern part of the state against the Northern Union, which also sided with the former shogunate. But in November, the resistance army was finally defeated with the surrender of Aizu-Wakamatsu Castle.
After the overthrow of Yoshinobu, most of the state recognized the imperial authority. However, the core of the former shogunate, led by the Aizu clan, continued active resistance. There was a battle that lasted a month. As a result, on September 23, 1868, Aizu admitted defeat, after which most of the young samurai of the White Tiger detachment committed suicide. A month later, Edo was renamed Tokyo. From that moment began the history of Meiji.
Structure of Government
In the course of civil resistance, the imperial government set its own political standards. In February 1868, the government declared its legitimacy to representatives of foreign states. As the head of the country acted, respectively, the emperor. He had the right to carry out foreign policy activities, to establish diplomatic relations. In early April, the Five Point Oath was issued. It outlined the basic principles by which the Meiji Restoration in Japan was to take place. In these five pointsprovided for:
- Collegial governance.
- Participation in decision-making by representatives of all classes.
- Rejection of xenophobia.
- Compliance with international legal norms.
- Opening the state to the world to gain the knowledge needed to strengthen governance.
In June 1868, a new government structure was approved by decree on the state structure. It became known as the Chamber of the Grand Council of State. From the United States Constitution, the government borrowed the principle of the formal division of power into representative, judicial, and executive branches. Officials were required to be re-elected to their posts every 4 years. Senior services were approved in the structure of the central office. They performed the tasks of the ministries. In the regions, junior services were formed, representing the central government in administrative-territorial units. After capturing Edo and renaming it Tokyo, the new Meiji motto was adopted in October. Japan got a new capital.
Announcements for the public
Despite the fact that the management system was significantly updated, the government was in no hurry to carry out socio-economic reforms. At the beginning of April 1868, 5 public notices were published for the citizens. They outlined the principles traditional for the previous era of government. They were based on Confucian morality. The government urged citizens to obey their superiors, to be faithful spouses, and to respect elders and parents. Together with thatthere were also restrictions. So, rallies and protests, public organizations, the confession of Christianity were not allowed.
Administrative changes
As one of the conditions for the formation of a unitary state, the liquidation of the former device was performed. The administrative-territorial units were autonomous principalities, which were ruled by daimyo. During the civil war, the government confiscated the possessions of the shogunate and divided into prefectures. Along with this, there were territories that the emperor did not directly control.
Meiji-rule offered the monarch to resubordinate the four principalities-khan. The daimyō of Satsuma, Hizen, Choshu and Tosa agreed to this. They returned their lands along with the people to the state. Now they were owned by the emperor. The Meiji government ordered the other principalities to do the same. In most cases, the transfer of possessions to the state took place quickly and voluntarily. Only 12 princes resisted. However, they were forced to hand over land registers and populations by order. In exchange for this, the daimyo became heads of regional offices and began to receive state salaries.
Despite the formal transfer of land to the government, the khans themselves were not liquidated. Their daimyo retained the right to collect taxes, to form troops in the territories entrusted to them. Thus, these administrative territories remained semi-autonomous.
However, such half-hearted Meiji reforms caused discontent among the people. For the final transition tounitary form of the device at the end of August 1871, the government proclaimed the widespread elimination of khans and the establishment of prefectures. Former daimyo were transferred to Tokyo. In their place, the government appointed governors of prefectures dependent on the center. Until 1888, the number of regions was reduced from 306 to 47. Hokkaido was defined as a special district. Major cities were also equated to prefectures: Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo.
Changes in government
The executive branch was based on the 8th century government structure. As a result of the Meiji reform, the government was divided into three chambers: right, left and main. The latter played the role of the cabinet of ministers. It included state, right and left ministers, as well as advisers. The left chamber acted as the legislature. The right branch included 8 ministries, which were led by ministers and deputies. Most of the posts in the government were occupied by people from pre-existing principalities. They formed "Khan factions". The main positions belonged to the capital's aristocrats.
Army modernization
This was one of the key tasks of the government during the Meiji period. The troops of the pre-existing principalities consisted of samurai. However, these territories were liquidated, and the armies came under the control of the Ministry of War. In January 1873, at the initiative of Yamagata Aritomo and Omura Masujiro, the government introduced compulsory military service. From now on, all menthose who had reached the age of twenty were required to serve in the army, regardless of their social status. Exemption from military duty was granted to the heads and heirs of families, students, officials and persons who paid a ransom of 270 yen. Mostly peasants went to the new army.
The Meiji Revolution was not only accompanied by changes in the state's troops. Separately from the army, police units were formed. They were subordinate to the Ministry of Justice until 1872, and from the next they were transferred to the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The metropolitan law enforcement units were organized into a separate Tokyo Police Department.
Conditions
The Meiji Revolution also affected the population of the state. By the end of June 1869, the government formed 2 privileged nobility: kazoku (titled) and shizoku (non- titled). The first included directly the capital's aristocrats, along with the daimyo of the liquidated principalities-khans. The non- titled nobility included small and medium samurai. The Meiji estate restoration was aimed at eliminating the eternal confrontation between aristocrats and samurai. The government sought to eliminate the division in society and eliminate the medieval model of building relations "master - servant". At the same time, the Meiji estate restoration was accompanied by the proclamation of the equality of peasants, merchants and artisans, regardless of their positions and occupation. All of them became known as heimin (common people). In the same estate in 1871, pariahs who were discriminated against during the Edo period entered. Allthe common people had to have surnames (previously only samurai wore them). Un titled and titled nobility received the right to inter-class marriages. The Meiji Restoration also included the abolition of restrictions on changing professions and travel. In early April 1871, the government issued a law on the registration of citizens. The following year, they were entered in the registered family books in accordance with the estate.
Problems of the country's economy
The nobility was fully supported by the state. Representatives of this estate annually received a pension, which amounted to 30% of all budget funds. To ease this government burden, in 1873 the government passed a law that returned pensions to the monarch. According to its provisions, the nobility had to refuse the previously established payments in favor of a one-time bonus. This, however, did not solve the existing problem. The state debt on pension payments has been constantly increasing.
In this regard, in 1876, the government finally abandoned this practice. Since that year, samurai were forbidden to wear katanas. As a result, the Meiji restoration led to the disappearance of the legal inequality between the samurai and the common people. To ensure their lives, part of the privileged class went to the civil service. Citizens became teachers, policemen and government clerks. Many began to engage in agricultural activities. Most of the class went into business. However, many of them quicklywent bankrupt because they had no commercial experience. To support the samurai, subsidies were allocated by the government. The authorities also encouraged them to explore semi-wild Hokkaido. But the measures taken by the government did not bring the desired effect, which served as a prerequisite for future unrest.
Enlightenment
School education has also undergone dramatic changes. In 1871, a central institution was formed that was responsible for the policy of education. The following year, in 1872, this ministry adopted a resolution approving school education following the French example. In accordance with the established system, eight university districts were formed. Each of them could have 32 schools and 1 university. Separate districts were created in the middle link. Each of them was supposed to operate 210 primary schools.
The implementation of this resolution in practice was fraught with a number of problems. For the most part, the ministry did not take into account the real possibilities of citizens and teachers. In this regard, in 1879, a decree was issued, according to which the system of districts was abolished. At the same time, primary education was limited to a German-style school. For the first time, educational institutions began to appear in which boys and girls studied together.
Universities
The state made great efforts for their development. So, in 1877, the University of Tokyo was formed. It employed many foreign specialists who were invited by the government. Pedagogical institutes and universities for women were formed in the prefectures. Public figures actively supported the state initiative in the field of education. So, for example, Fukuzawa Yukichi founded the Keio private school and the future university. In the 1880s, separate government regulations were passed regarding university, higher, elementary and secondary education.
Cultural transformations
The government was aimed at modernizing the state in all spheres of life. The authorities actively contributed to the introduction of innovative Western ideas and models. The majority of representatives of the intellectual part of the population positively perceived these changes. Thanks to the efforts of journalists, new ideas were widely promoted among the public. A fashion for everything Western, progressive and fashionable has appeared in the country. Cardinal changes have taken place in the traditional way of life of the population. The most progressive centers were Kobe, Tokyo, Osaka, Yokohama and other large cities. The modernization of culture by borrowing the achievements of Europe began to be called by the then popular slogan "Civilization and Enlightenment".
Philosophy
In this area, Western individualism and liberalism began to act as the dominant ideologies. Traditional moral and ethical principles based on Confucianism began to be considered obsolete. Translations of the works of Darwin, Spencer, Rousseau, and Hegel began to appear in literature. Based on these works, Japanese thinkers began to develop the concept of natural rights to happiness, freedom, equality. These ideas were spreadNakamura Masanao and Fukuzawa Yukichi. The works created by these authors have become bestsellers. Their work contributed to the destruction of the traditional worldview and the formation of a new national consciousness.
Religion
After the course to restore the ancient statehood was proclaimed in 1868, the government decided to make the local pagan religion Shinto the state. In that year, a decree was approved delimiting Buddhism and Shinto. The pagan sanctuaries were separated from the monasteries. At the same time, many Buddhist temples were liquidated. An anti-Buddhist movement was formed in the circles of officials, philistines and intellectuals. In 1870, a declaration was proclaimed, according to which, Shinto became the official state religion. All pagan sanctuaries were united into a single organization. Its head was the emperor as a Shinto high priest. The birthday of the monarch and the date of the founding of the new state were declared as public holidays.
Life
General modernization has greatly changed the traditional way of life of the population. Short hairstyles and western clothes began to be worn in the cities. Initially, this fashion spread among the military and officials. However, over time, it entered the broad masses of the population. Gradually, prices in Japan for various goods were equalized. In Yokohama and Tokyo, the first brick houses began to be erected, and gas lamps were built. A new vehicle has appeared - the rickshaw. The development of industries began. In steel productionintroduce Western technologies. This made it possible to make prices in Japan affordable not only for privileged strata, but also for ordinary common people. Transport and publishing were actively improved. With their development, the fashion for Western goods entered the provinces.
However, despite significant positive changes, the modernization has caused serious damage to the traditional spiritual values of the population. Many cultural monuments were taken out of the state as trash. They settled in museums and private collections in the UK, France, USA.
Meaning
Japan's economic development took place at a rapid pace. The state actually entered the New Age. Cardinal changes affected not only the army and law enforcement agencies. The creation of a full-fledged fleet began in the country. Changes in the management structure, in public and economic life, the rejection of self-isolation have formed fertile ground for the creation of a competitive state. All this, on the one hand, made it possible to eliminate the danger of falling into political dependence on the United States or European powers. Of the latter, Russia is the closest to Japan. However, her government did not use colonial foreign policy methods. On the other hand, Japan, having joined the race with Europe, was able to go far ahead in comparison with other Eastern European states.
Conclusion
The Meiji Restoration was the transition from the samurai administrative regime in the face of the shogunate to a direct monarchical system in the face of Mutsuhito and his government. This policy had a significant impact on legislation, the political system, and the structure of the court. The changes affected the provincial administration, the financial system, diplomacy, industry, religion, education and other areas. The complex of measures taken by the government destroyed the traditional worldview that existed for a long time, brought the state out of isolation. As a result of this activity, a radically new national state was formed. The accelerated introduction of innovations from the West made it possible to stabilize the financial and economic sphere, to begin their expansion and improvement. The reform period was a unique time for the state. It allowed not only to stabilize the internal state of almost all spheres of life, but also to successfully enter the world stage and fight for primacy with other advanced powers.
