Meiji Restoration

The inception of the Tokugawa Shogunate around 1600 would reduce the impact of foreign relations throughout Japanese society. This bulwark helped resist change and development in Japan, although it continued throughout the western world. Following two hundred years of self imposed seclusion from the rest of the world, the forceful re-entry of the foreigner brought about considerable change in Japan. While managing the foreign threat, there was also an imbalance of power in the current feudal system of the Tokugawa Shogunate. This imbalance created uncertainty for Japan and the imperialistic foreigners. This imbalance and uncertainty would lead to the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the emergence of the Meiji Restoration. However, to understand the transition between the current Shogunate government and the modernization through the Meiji Restoration, it is imperative to realize not only the necessity of modernization but also difficulties modernizing presented. To achieve modernization, Japan would have to abandon or modify various traditional cultural institutions and ideologies which were weakening the Japanese Nation.

This core concept of abandoning or modifying traditional Japanese culture was a daunting task for the Meiji reformers. These socioeconomic traditions were instilled in the Japanese people over generations, reinforced by the philosophical teachings of Confucius via the Shogunate, and practiced through strict punishment. The mention of Confucianism is particularly important because of the depth and value in which the Tokugawa Shogunate employed his teachings to their samurai. Further understanding the moral education provided through Confucianism becomes a key element to realizing the difficulties present in ...

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...moving the Shogun for overstepping his boundaries.

Works Cited

Harootunian, Harry. Toward Restoration: The Growth of Political Consciousness in Tokugawa Japan. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1970.

Fukuzawa, Yukichi. The Autobiography of Yukichi Fukuzawa. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007.

Confucius, . The Analects. New York: Penguin Books, 1979.

Beasley, William . The Meiji Restoration. California: Stanford University Press, 1972.

Creel, Herrlee. Chinese Thought from Confucius to Mao Tse-tung. New York: University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

Earhart, H. Byron. The Religious Life of Man. Religion in the Japanese Experience: Sources and Interpretations. Edited by Frederick J. Streng. Encino, California: Dickenson Publishing Company, 1974.

Jansen, Marius. The Making of Modern Japan. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2000.