T HE T RANSFORMATION OF J APAN Unit 6 Day 4

Japanese Society in 1853  Between 1560 and 1603, Japanese society was led out of a long period of civil war by the Tokugawa family, who established themselves as shoguns (generals) – hence the title Tokugawa Shogunate given to the period of their dominance  Tokugawa shoguns succeed in establishing a social/ political/economic system strikingly similar to that of feudal Europe  In 1588 peasants bound to the land and forbidden to own weapons  Society governed by a network of daimyo (lords) supported by warriors (samurai)  Technically emperor and court still rule, but hold a more or less symbolic status – all real power rests in the hands of the shogun

Gunboat Diplomacy Commodore Matthew Perry ( ) U.S. naval officer responsible for the development of the “steam fleet” – steam powered naval ships 1853 – sent on diplomatic mission to Japan to open trade relations with Japan Japan had declared itself a “closed nation” since the seventeenth century Arrives with a small fleet of four ships most of them steam powered Over the course of two visits Perry brings to Japan both a carrot and a stick - a host of technological marvels and a demonstration of American military technology

Gunboat Diplomacy Screen of drawings done before and after Perry’s visits to Japan (1853, 1855)

Gunboat Diplomacy The “Black Ship” Fleet

Gunboat Diplomacy Cannon, Telegraph, Tuba, French Horn, Clarinet

Gunboat Diplomacy Locomotive Steam Engine

Gunboat Diplomacy Perry’s Troops at Yokohama

Gunboat Diplomacy Gifts - Guns, Whiskey, Camera, Farm Implements, Uniforms, Instruments

Xenophobia and Civil War  The opening of Japan to foreign trade and a limited degree of foreign settlement sparked a wave of reaction against foreigners and the Tokugawa shogunate  Samurai who opposed the opening began a wave of attacks on foreign merchants and led a coup against the Tokugawa  Slogan – “Revere the emperor and expel the barbarians” Tokugawa Yoshinobu (1867)

Xenophobia and Civil War Woodblock image of the Namamugi Incident (Sept. 14, 1862) depicting the attack on British merchant Charles Lennox Richardson.

Xenophobia and Civil War The body of Charles Lennox Richardson (1862)

Xenophobia and Civil War  The Nagamugi incident quickly inspired Western nations to send a combined fleet to bombard Japanese fortifications.  These attacks set off a reaction against the Tokugawa that culminated in the Meiji Restoration. Combined fleet shelling the city of Kagoshima (1863)

Meiji Restoration  1867 radical samurai oust the Tokugawa rallying around the figure of the young emperor.  While the emperor continues to maintain a symbolic importance, real power merely shifts from the shogun to the coalition known as the “Meiji Oligarchs.”  Although the Restoration was based on a rejection of the West and foreign influence, by 1868 the Meiji government began its own campaign of Westernization.

Emperor Meiji

Meiji Reforms  Question: What reforms did the Meiji Oligarchs take to strenghten Japan after 1868?  Emulation of French and Americans Social: end privileges of samurai class Economic: Develop industry in Japan Military: Build modern military Institute mandatory military service for all males Create War College  Consolidation of power Confiscation of Tokugawa lands Confiscation of Samurai Lands

Entry into International Politics  Korea  1876 – force open trade relations with Korea  1894 – Korea becomes protectorate of Japan  1910 – Formal annexation of Korea  China  – Japan defeats China in Sino-Japanese War Gains Taiwan  1900 – Sends ships in response to Boxer Rebellion  Russia  1904 – Japan defeats Russia in Russo-Japanese War