The Meiji Restoration: Major Reforms

Key Terms

• Saigō Takamori 西郷隆盛 (1827-1877) Satsuma
• Ōkubo Toshimichi 大久保利通 (1803-1877) Satsuma
• Yamagata Aritomo 山縣有朋 (1838-1922) Chōshū
• Itō Hirobumi 伊藤博文 (1841-1909) Chōshū
• Iwakura Tomomi 岩倉具視 (1825-1883)
• Etō Shinpei 江藤新平 (1834-1874) Saga
• "Japan house" 倭館 (J. wakan/K. waegwan)
• Meiji Restoration (Meiji ishin 明治維新)
• revolution (isshin 一新)
• Return of Ancient Kingly Rule (ōsei fukko 王政復古)

Centralization of Political Authority

• Daimyo "voluntarily" surrender their investitures to emperor (1869)
• Made compulsory in 1871 - "birth of modern Japan"
• Daimyō are reappointed as prefectural governments, but gradually replaced by central government officials
• Daimyō received lifetime pensions equal to 10% of their domain's tax revenue

Reform/Eliminated of Samurai Estate

• Samurai are allowed to convert stipends into bond in 1873
• 1876
  • Stipend conversion is compulsory
  • Samurai lose right to wear swords in public

Tax reform

• Announced 1872, not fully implemented until 1880
• Key features
  • Taxes are now national and go to a national treasury
  • Land is now fully alienable
  • Tax is NOT on yield, but 3% of value
  • No relief for bad harvests
  • Owner is taxpayer

Military Reform and Conscription

• Formation of National Imperial Guard (1871) by Saigō Takamori
• Announcement of Conscription (1872)
• Army officer core is monopolized by former samurai from Chōshū (Yamagata Aritomo), but navy is largely Satsuma

Education

• Basic education
  • Plans announced in 1872, not fully implemented until late 1890s
• one primary school for every 600 people
• compulsory BUT local communities must pay for schools
  • initial plan is for eight years of schooling
  • shortened to 4 in 1879
  • increased to 1907 goes to 6 yrs.
• Progress of schools
  • By 1880 there are 28,000 primary schools with 2 million students
  • Enrollment is 40% in 1880
    • 46% in 1886
    • 60% by 1895
    • 90% by 1900
• Practical problems
  • Shortage of skilled teachers
  • Available staff is suspect
    • Political radicals
    • Buddhist monks
  • in 1879 the Emperor condemns indiscriminate emulation of Western way
  • in 1886 it extends control over curriculum
• Higher education
  • Japan was to be divided into 8 educational districts
  • each with one university and 32 secondary schools
  • this works out to one secondary school for every 117,187 people
  • MIDDLE SCHOOL IS AS ELITE AS A UNIVERSITY

Industrialization

• Government invests in railroads, telegraph, modern factories
• Major projects lose money, but are sold to well-connected entrepreneurs
• By the 1880s, government has sold its interest in textiles and light industry, but remains committed to essential industries, such as shipbuilding and steel

Reform of Customs

• Bans on traditional haircuts
• Change of calendar
• Introduction of state Shintō

Legal Reforms

• For civil code, move to translate Napoleonic Code
• For criminal code, work on Tang, Ming, and Qing codes
• Both are abandoned for case law
• No new civil code until 1898

Foreign policy and the Iwakura mission

• Common goal is revision of unequal treaties
• Iwakura mission 岩倉使節団 (December 1871 to September 1873)
  • Goals are preparation for treaty renegotiation
  • Study mission
  • High ranking officials as well as researchers and translators
  • Visit US, UK, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Prussia, Russia, Italy -- part of the mission visits Egypt, Ceylon, Singapore, Shanghai
• Mission requires government split
  • Members of the mission
    • Ōkubo Toshimichi
    • Kido Kōin
    • Itō Hirobumi
    • Iwakura Tomomi
  • Members of the "caretaker" government
    • Saigō Takamori
    • Yamagata Aritomo
    • Etō Shinpei
    • Sanjō Sanetomi
    • Itagaki Taisuke
    • Inoue Kaoru
• Experiences of the mission
  • Disappointed - despite high hopes, the mission realizes that treaty renegotiation will take years
  • Impressed by depth of industrialization
  • Struck by diversity of models of power -- Berlin vs. Washington
  • Internal dissent -- angry with each other, some members (Ōkubo) return early
• Experiences of "caretaker" government
  • Continue program of radical reform laid out in 1871 including
    • national conscription
    • national taxation
  • Extremely ambitious and fiscally irresponsible
    • Education minister wants ¥2M
    • Justice minister (Etō Shinpei) wants ¥1M for immediate revision of civil law and new court system
    • Inoue (finance minister) says this will destroy Japan's ability to develop a stable currency
    • Yamagata gets ¥8M for army but is tainted by scandals
  • Domestic stand-off and Sanjō asks mission to hurry home (Jan 1873)
    • Ōkubo arrives in May 1873
    • Kido visits Russia, Italy, Austria, arrives July 1873
    • Iwakura does not arrive until September 1873
• Foreign policy crisis
  • How to deal with Korean court (Yi dynasty 李王家) when it refuses to recognizes Meiji government
    • Problem of 倭館 (J. wakan/K. waegwan) in Busan
    • Changes in clothing and manners
  • Saigō insists that he will go to Korea as special envoy -- will either resolve the problem or be killed. The later will give Japan causus belli
  • Council votes in favor of Saigō in August, but agree to revisit question once the rest of the Iwakura mission returns
  • Ōkubo argues this is rash, forces change, Sept 1873
  • Saigō and his allies resign in outrage
    • Saigō Takamori
    • Etō Shinpei
    • Itagaki Taisuke

Domestic rebellions and dissent

• Violent rebellion
  • Leaders are often members of "caretaker" government
    • Saga Rebellion 佐賀の乱 (1874) led by Etō Shinpei
    • Satsuma Rebellion 西南戦争 (1877) led by Saigō Takamori

• Non-violent dissent
  • Samurai dissidents like Itagaki turn to popular assembly as means of pressuring government