Meiji Japan (1868-1912)

Teacher Resource Guide

East Asia National Resource Center

By Kelly Hammond

The Iwakura Mission

The Iwakura Mission was a Japanese

diplomatic trip around the world in 1871.

The purpose of the mission was for

Japanese elites and policymakers to

observe and learn from the West, bringing

back knowledge and ideas with them in

order to implement reforms in Japan.

Around fifty staff and sixty students

formed a delegation, with statesman

Iwakura Tonomi at the head of the

mission. Several students remained in the

countries that they visited to complete

their education there, including five

women who stayed in the United States.

The leaders of the Iwakura Mission.

Source: Geordie Japan

Many of these men and women came from

prominent and progressive Japanese

families, and contributed to creating

strong bonds between top policymakers in

foreign countries and those in Japan. The

mission left Yokohama in December 1871

and headed to San Francisco. From there,

they made their way to Washington D.C.,

then moved onto Britain, France, Belgium,

the Netherlands, Russia, Germany,

Prussia, Denmark, Sweden, Bavaria,

Austria, Italy, and Switzerland. The

mission continued on to Egypt, Ceylon,

Singapore, Saigon, Hong Kong, and

Shanghai. This grand mission took over a

year and a half to complete, returning to

Japan in September 1873.

The delegation meets with the French president

Thiers in 1873.

On their trip, the delegates visited

manufacturing plants and construction

sites, observed municipal and federal

politics, and toured other industrial

complexes in the United States and

Europe. They also visited schools and

universities to audit classes. The purpose

of the mission was two-fold: 1) to

renegotiate unequal treaties and 2) to

gather information on education,

technology, culture, military, social and

economic structures of other countries to

implement reforms in Japan under the

Meiji government. The first goal failed

completely and the unequal treaties stayed

in place until the Japanese claimed victory

in the Sino-Japanese War. The failure to

meet the first goal reminded those at

home the importance of the second goal; if

Japan was to be taken seriously on the

global stage, they needed to modernize,

and do so quickly and effectively.

The Imperial Rescript on

Education and the Nationalization of

Education in Japan One of the markers of modernity is the

way that a nation approaches education.

Until the Meiji Restoration, most elite

young men in Japan were educated in

Confucian tradition that focused on

memorizing the Confucian Classics.

However, in their quest to create young

imperial citizens, the Meiji government

quickly realized that a complete overhaul

of the education system was needed and

that the new education system would have

to embrace universal ideas. Some

governmental officials resisted the

changes, arguing that the fundamental

essence of Japan was a strong grounding

in the Confucian Classics. However, the

reformers won out and they pushed for a

more liberal, inclusive education that

emphasized math, science, foreign

languages, and physical exercise.

Following the establishment of the new

education system, the Meiji Emperor

issued the Imperial Rescript on Education

on October 30, 1890.

The Rescript was designed to promote

students’ understanding of their place in

the new state-system. They were asked to

advance public good, pursue common

interests, respect the constitution, be

lawful and, most importantly, revere the

emperor. Although the rescript was a new,

modern creation, it ironically drew on the

idea that the Japanese nation had a strong

historic bond between the emperor and

his subjects. The purpose of the Rescript

was to teach youths to cultivate the virtues

of loyalty and filial piety and to use their

education as a mechanism to promote the

interests of the Japanese Empire. The

Rescript is a 315-character document that

students were required to study and

memorize. Students were often called

upon to recite it while looking at the

portrait of the Meiji emperor.

Women in Meiji Japan: Creating

Imperial Mothers and Citizens

An elite Japanese Woman in modern dress.

Source: Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

Tied into this notion of creating modern

citizens through universal education was

the changing role of women and mothers

in Meiji Japan. Although women were not

given the vote, the nineteenth century did

witness some proponents of and steps

forward for women’s rights in Japan. The

main issues that these early Japanese

feminists were concerned with were

working conditions in factories and the

state of women’s education. The idea

behind women’s educational reform was

that young girls needed to be educated in

order to be effective and capable wives and

to produce diligent, patriotic sons. This

emphasis on education opened the door

for further advancements for women in

Japanese society. Many women went to go

work in factories and for the first time

earned their own wages. However, the

working conditions in many of these early

factories were atrocious. Women were also

involved with new charity societies that

were funded by Christian missionaries,

such as the YWCA. These societies created

communities for women and provided

them with a way to see themselves as

active contributors to the strengthening of

the Japanese nation.

As they became more educated and more

independent, women began to realize the

importance of their place in the empire as

both mothers and wives, yet they were not

full citizens like men because they could

not vote or have any involvement in

politics. In 1890, the first session of the

new Imperial Diet issued a decree banning

women for joining political parties. This

was overruled in 1921, but women would

not get the right to vote until after WWII

when the Americans re-wrote the

Japanese constitution during the

occupation.

The Meiji Constitution of

1889 The promulgation of the Meiji

Constitution in 1889 was the result of

popular disaffection with the way that the

oligarchs had managed to gain control of

Japanese politics directly after the Meiji

Restoration. The constitution, which

provided for a form of constitutional

monarchy based on the Prusso-German

model as well as the British model,

established a bicameral legislature and

guaranteed a range of rights and duties in

theory. In essence, however, the

constitution was a way for the emperor to

retain political power and keep the public

happy, while the new parliament became

an advisory board for the Meiji emperor

and his advisors.

Meiji Constitution promulgation.

Source: Toyohara Chikanobu

Since the Meiji Restoration restored direct

political power to the emperor, the

constitution was established to place

check on his power. Civil rights and civil

liberties were guaranteed in practice and

they established an Upper House and a

Lower House. The Upper House consisted

of members of the Imperial family

appointed by the Emperor (much like the

House of Lords in Britain). The Lower

House was an elected body that was voted

in by men that owned a certain amount of

property. This meant that in theory Japan

was a democracy, but in reality only a

small percentage of the population was

allowed to vote.

Unlike the current constitution of Japan,

the Meiji Constitution was founded on the

principle that sovereignty resided in the

Emperor rather than in the people.

According to the Constitution, the

Emperor had the sole right to exercise

executive authority and to appoint and

dismiss all government officials. He had

the sole right to declare war and make

peace. He was also commander of the

Imperial Japanese Army and Navy.

In practice, then, the Parliament became a

rubber-stamp institution and anything

that the Meiji Emperor and his advisors

put forward passed in both the Upper and

Lower houses. This strong autocratic

system was far from a true democracy but

some argue that it was the sort of guidance

and authority that was needed in Japan at

the time to make the decisions necessary

for the country to modernize quickly.

The Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War, and the Triple Intervention

The First Sino-Japanese War (August

1894-April 1895) was fought between Qing

forces and Meiji Japan, primarily over

control of Korea. The Meiji forces defeated

the Qing, and the war was a clear

indication of the successes of Meiji

modernization. The war ended with the

signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki and

as a result of the treaty, the Qing conceded

large territories and agreed to pay a huge

indemnity. The victory shifted the balance

of power in East Asia and alerted the other

colonial powers in the region to Japan’s

growing naval and military capabilities.

The loss was humiliating for China, who

lost Korea, an important vassal state. But

the war clearly showed that Japan was a

newly emerging power in East Asia and

allowed the Meiji government to turn its

attention to colonizing the Korean

peninsula. Japan saw the peninsula as a

buffer zone that will protect the main

Japanese islands from possible attacks.

Moreover, Japan realized that having

access to Korea’s coal and iron ore

deposits would benefit its growing

industrial base. Korea was also seen as a

source of agricultural imports to Japan,

helping to feed the growing Japanese

population.

Japanese soldiers fighting in the first Sino-

Japanese War. Source: Ozawa Kenshin

Japan’s defeat of China sent waves of

shock through the international

community. Great Britain quickly and

quietly revoked the unequal treaties after

the Japanese victory. Soon after the terms

of the Treaty of Shimonoseki between

China and Japan were made public, the

governments of Russia, France, and

Germany demanded that the Japanese

retrocede the Liaodong peninsula in an

ultimatum known as the Triple

Intervention. Russia had the most to gain

from the Triple Intervention. Over the last

hundred years, the Russians have

gradually increased their influence in East

Asia seeking for a deep water port on the

East Coast that did not freeze in the winter.

The loss of Port Arthur to Japan was thus

a severe blow to their plans for the region.

Battle of Pyongyang.

Source: Sinojapanesewar.com

The Triple Intervention essentially forced

Japan to relinquish part of their war spoils

from the Sino-Japanese War. The

Japanese government reluctantly agreed

to the intervention since they were in no

position to take on three European

military powers. They quietly withdrew

their troops from the Liaodong peninsula

and other recently acquired territories.

Russia quickly moved to occupy the

Liaodong Peninsula and fortified Port

Arthur. Other European powers took

advantage of the weakened Qing to target

port cities, such as Qingdao. In Japan, the

population was outraged and called out

the Europeans for being racist. They felt

that they had proved themselves and met

all the criteria for being considered a

modern nation, but the Europeans would

not take them seriously. The humiliation

led to increased support for

industrialization and militarization.

In addition to the Sino-Japanese War, the

major event that was pivotal in shifting the

world’s view of Japan was their decisive

victory in the Russo-Japanese War of

1904-1905. Still upset with Russia’s

participation in the Triple Intervention,

Japan was determined to build up its army

and navy so that this type of humiliation

would never happen again. Because of its

interests in Korea, Japan became

increasingly alarmed by Russian

encroachment in Manchuria. As tensions

escalated between the two empires, Japan

launched a surprise attack against the

Russian ships docked in Port Arthur. The

war went on for over a year with serious

casualties on both sides, but in the end

Japan was victorious. The Treaty of

Portsmouth formally ended the war ceding

Korea and other territories to the

Japanese.

All these events presented Japan with a

conundrum: their new power position in

East Asia provided them with the

opportunity to free the region from

western imperialism, but in order to

achieve this goal they themselves would

need to colonize and expand their sphere

of influence through the same techniques

that they condemned the west for using.

Wartime propaganda and nationalism

played a large role in the public perception

of the wars and colonial expansion back in

Japan. One of the reasons for the Hibiya

Incident (see below) was that Japanese

propaganda presented the victories over

the Qing and the Russians as complete

annihilations, when, in fact, it was not as

clear cut as that. This fuelled public

outrage against the European imperialists

in the region and validated the Japanese

ideology of “Asia for the Asians.”

The Hibiya Incident of 1905

The Hibiya Incident was a large riot that

broke out in Tokyo on September 5, 1095

in protest to the terms of the Treaty of

Portsmouth. Citizens of the Japanese

Empire found the terms of the treaty to be

unfair and condescending.

Although the Imperial Japanese Navy

defeated the Imperial Russian Army

decisively, and the Japanese took Port

Arthur and extended their forces into

Manchuria, they were completely

overextended in their capacities on the

mainland. Unclear of the actual situation

on the ground, Japanese activists rallied at

Hibiya Park in Tokyo over what they

imagined to be humiliating terms of the

treaty that had been agreed to by the

Japanese. The protesters were particularly

upset that Japanese territorial gains on

the Liaodong Peninsula and the northern

half of Sakhalin Island were to be returned

to Russia and that the Russians would not

pay any reparations to Japan.

Demonstrators during the Hibiya Incident.

Source: Mainichi Newspapers Co.

The crowd gathered and quickly grew to

30,000 turning their attention to the

Imperial palace and then they rioted

throughout the city. Before order was

restored, the mobs had destroyed about

400 buildings. Hundreds were arrested

and seventeen people died. The news of

the riots in Tokyo sparked off similar riots

in Kobe and Yokohama and led to

hundreds of nonviolent rallies in Japan

over the next few months. This unrest

contributed directly to the collapse of

Prime Minister Katsura Tora’s cabinet in

January 1906. The Hibiya Incident was

one of the first large riots in Meiji Japan

and marks the beginning of the “era of

popular violence” in Japan. Over the next

thirteen years, Japan would be rocked by

similar violent protests culminating the in

Rice Riots of 1918 (see Taisho module for

more on the Rice Riots).

Imperial Ambitions: The Annexation of Korea in 1910

The Japanese were eager to expand their

influence in Asia. After defeating Qing

China, they proved to the outside world

that they were capable of doing so. The

annexation of Korea in 1910 is seen as the

culmination of a process that began in the

1870s with the debates over whether to go

to war with Korea and the signing of the

Japan-Korea Treaty in 1876. During this

time, Meiji officials sought to subjugate

Korea both politically and economically

with the use of soft power. In reality,

Japan forced Korea into unequal treaties

much like the ones that had been imposed

on it by the Western powers

approximately twenty-five years before;

Japan demanded concessions and

extraterritoriality for its citizens and

forced the Koreans to open ports for trade.

Korea was officially declared an imperial

protectorate in 1905 after the Russo-

Japanese War eliminated Russia as a

threat in the region, and full annexation

and incorporation of Korea into the

Japanese empire was completed by 1910.

However, by 1910 Japan had already

established hegemony over Korea’s

foreign and domestic policy, much to the

chagrin of many elite Koreans (one official

even committed suicide at the Hague in

1907 after negotiations about Korea’s

status).

Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty of 1910.

The Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty of

1910 stipulated that:

1. His Majesty the Emperor of

Korea concedes completely and

definitely his entire sovereignty

over the whole Korean territory

to His Majesty the Emperor of

Japan.

2. His Majesty the Emperor of

Japan accepts the concession

stated in the previous article and

consents to the annexation of

Korea to the Empire of Japan.

The annexation of Korea and the

broadening of Japanese interests on the

mainland were instrumental to Japan’s

colonial ambitions because Japan lacked

the natural resources needed to fuel

industrialization on the home islands.

Although they presented their motives as

altruistic, claiming that they were saving

Koreans and other Asians from European

imperialists, they were no different from

the European powers in the ways they

treated their colonial possessions.

Fukuzawa Yukichi, the Discourse of Civilization, and

Social Darwinism in East Asia

Fukuzawa Yukichi (1835-1901) was an

important political thinker who—like

many of his contemporaries—lived

through the Meiji Restoration and was

deeply in favor of the transformative

changes in Japanese society. Fukuzawa

was also an author, teacher, entrepreneur,

journalist, and translator. He is regarded

as one of the most important political

actors in modern Japanese history. As

testament to his importance, he appears

on the 10,000 Yen note of Japanese

currency.

Fukuzawa was born into an impoverished

low-ranking samurai family in Osaka. He

had a traditional Confucian education.

When Commodore Perry arrived in Japan,

Fukuzawa was nineteen years old. He

started to learn Dutch (remember: the

Dutch were the only foreigners allowed in

Japan at the time, so much of the

knowledge from the West was mediated

through them) to help his family out of

poverty by translating for his domain. He

had a gift for learning languages and was

appointed the official Dutch teacher of his

family’s domain.

Fukuzawa Yukichi. Source: Hirokun

After Japan opened some ports to

Westerners, Fukuzawa was shocked to

discover that most of the traders spoke

English, not Dutch. He began to study

English on his own. Because of his English

language skills, he was selected to go on a

mission to San Francisco in 1860. Upon

his return to Japan with a new Webster’s

dictionary in tow, he became the official

translator of the Tokugawa Bakufu. He

then traveled to Europe with the first

envoy of Japanese officials to visit Europe.

Upon his return, he began publishing

prolifically about the West and Western

culture. He also wrote numerous

textbooks that were used extensively in

the new school system—a testament to his

stature and his emphasis on the need for

modern education in Japan.

Beyond his campaigns for education and

his translation projects, Fukuzawa

published many influential essays and

critical works. In 1875, he published “An

Outline of a Theory of Civilization,” which

stipulated his view of the place of Japan

within the world order according to social

Darwinist theory. This idea was very

influential in Japan at the time and

essentially reinforced the notion that in

order for Japan to succeed, the Japanese

people needed to become as “civilized” as

those in the West. This, he argued, could

be done through the acquisition of

knowledge and cultivating young minds

through rigorous, modern education.

Fukuzawa is recognized as one of the most

influential modernizers in Japan. He

never went into politics, but was respected

by many of his contemporaries. He is also

remembered as a man who helped Japan

transition through the Meiji Restoration

into the modern era.

Meiji Religion: Shinto and Buddhism

Shinto is a polytheistic religion with many

gods who perform many different tasks.

Unlike Christianity or Islam, Shinto is not

about salvation. Rather, it is about

fostering community, worshiping, and

celebrating. Kami—or the gods—can be

found in many places; in trees, beautiful

flowers, shamans, and even in the

emperor. People make offerings to the

gods at shrines in hopes that their desires

will be fulfilled and depending on what

was needed—to do well on an exam, to get

pregnant, to be successful, etc.—different

shrines and temples are visited.

Itsukushima Shinto Shrine on Miya-Jima Island,

Japan. Source: MatiaStella Photography

There are Shinto shrines all over Japan

and they are often built in very

picturesque locations with a strong

attachment to the natural surroundings.

The most famous and impressive Shinto

Shrine is the Meiji Shrine in Tokyo. It is a

sprawling complex that also serves as a

public park, where people are often seen

picnicking with their families and enjoying

the scenery. This recreational aspect of

many Shinto shrines demonstrates that it

is a place of worship, but also a place for

communities to use and enjoy.

Shinto has many festivals but unlike

Christianity and Islam, there are no

weekly services. For example, in February,

there is a bean-throwing festival during

which people toss hard beans on the

temple grounds in an effort to scare away

demons. Shinto also focuses on the notion

of purity and impurity. The first thing you

do when you walk through the arches of a

Shinto shrine is wash your hands as a

purifying gesture.

During the Meiji Era, Shinto became the

state religion of Japan. Until then, Shinto

had been more of a local religion. Under

Meiji, Shinto was institutionalized and

formalized in ways that it had not been

before. From the Meiji Restoration

onward, the participation in Shinto rituals

and worship became part of the way that

people marked their relationship to their

communities and also to the nation as a

whole. The Meiji Era also restored the

importance of numerous imperial rites

that had been suppressed by the shoguns.

This reinforced the notion that the

government, the emperor, and Shinto

were inseparable. In this way, Shinto

became a part of the state policy on an

ideological level and remains an important

part of state policy to this day.

Kinkaku-ji Temple in Japan. Source: BBC

Buddhism was institutionalized in Japan

for centuries and in many ways

overlapped with Shinto traditions until the

Meiji period when it was forcefully

separated from Shinto with a state policy

that called for the further institution and

codification of both religions. Unlike the

monotheistic religions, it is not a problem

for people to practice both Shinto and

Buddhism. Because Shinto became more

ingrown and aligned to growing national

sentiment during Meiji, Buddhism found a

place for itself with a growing connection

to the international community of

Buddhist believers. Japanese schools of

Buddhism—such as Zen Buddhism—were

exported to the west and gained many

followers in places outside of Japan. This

internationalization of Buddhism is seen

as a reaction to the ways that the Meiji

government placed a new emphasis on

Shinto as the state religion of Japan.

The Death of the Meiji Emperor

For many, the death of the Meiji Emperor

marks the end of an era in Japanese

history. Japan changed quickly from the

time of the Meiji Restoration to his death

in 1912. By 1912, Japan had legitimized

itself on the international sphere, but

many of the successes and advances of the

Japanese had come at the expense of the

freedom of their newly emerging citizens.

When the Taishō Emperor took the throne,

the citizens of Japan demanded change

and wanted many of the things that had

been promised to them in the constitution.

This next era—often called the era of

Taishō democracy—is the focus of the next

module.

Although the Meiji Era did witness

enormous changes in the cultural and

social—as well as the physical—landscapes

of Japan, many of the processes that put

these changes in motion continued into

the Taishō Era. The Meiji Era was

exceptional in many ways, but portraying

the death of the emperor as a watershed

moment in Japanese history misses the

point: change happens through time, not

in an instant or because of a single event.

Looking for continuities with the past

between the Tokugawa and the Meiji, and

from Meiji into Taishō provides the

opportunity to look for patterns of change

rather than focusing momentous events as

drivers of historical change.

Useful Websites MIT Visualizing Cultures—Images of Meiji http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/beato_places/index.html http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/beato_people/index.html http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/gt_japan_places/index.html http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/gt_japan_people/index.html The Treaty of Portsmouth from the US Department of State Office of the Historian http://history.state.gov/milestones/1899-1913/PortsmouthTreaty http://www.portsmouthpeacetreaty.com/ Primary Source Newspaper Articles about the Russo-Japanese War hosted by the Library of Congress http://www.loc.gov/rr/news/topics/russojapanesewar.html MIT Visualizing Cultures—Yokohama Boom Town: Foreigners in Treaty-Port Japan http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/yokohama/index.html

MIT Visualizing Asia Project—Throwing off Asia http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/throwing_off_asia_01/index.html http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/throwing_off_asia_03/toa_vis_01.html http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/throwing_off_asia_02/index.html MIT Visualizing Asia Project—Asia Rising: Postcards from the Russo-Japanese War http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/asia_rising/index.html http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/yellow_promise_yellow_peril/index.html MIT Visualizing Asia Project—The Hibiya Rice Riot of 1905 http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/social_protest_japan/index.html Russo-Japanese Research society

http://www.russojapanesewar.com/ Resources for History Teachers—The Meiji Restoration https://resourcesforhistoryteachers.wikispaces.com/WHII.14 Imperial Rescript on Education http://www.danzan.com/HTML/ESSAYS/meiji.html http://chnm.gmu.edu/cyh/primary-sources/136 Hosting from Princeton about the First Sino-Japanese War http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/First_Sino-Japanese_War.html Woodblock Prints from Meiji Japan http://www.artelino.com/articles/meiji_prints.asp Historical Events—the Meiji Emperor http://www.kyotodreamtrips.com/2012/02/historical-events-today-1867-prince-

mutsuhito-14-becomes-emperor-meiji-of-japan-1867-1912/ Japanese Government site hosted about the Meiji Restoration http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2130.html Columbia University Asia for Educators—the Meiji Restoration http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/special/japan_1750_meiji.htm http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/main_pop/kpct/kp_meiji.htm http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/ps/japan/charter_oath_1868.pdf http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/tps/1750_jp.htm#edo The Japan Society Teacher Resources about the Meiji Restoration http://aboutjapan.japansociety.org/essays_1/the_meiji_restoration_era_1868-1889 Columbia University East Asia Curriculum Project—the Meiji Constitution http://www.iun.edu/~hisdcl/G369_2002/meijiconstitution.htm Japan Foundation series about the Meiji Restoration available on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BQr5nRn_Cw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XN3ujvsM67U http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJnXcYRjYN8 Six part documentary about Japanese history from the Edo period to the Meiji Restoration http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQlxcz9U2x0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3V5gVLPEvI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOGyzGWW7j4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRrDg0uDJWQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPMZ4suRSjY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vHvmAVSyUI Encyclopedia Britannica—the Meiji Restoration http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/373305/Meiji-Restoration British Museum—Meiji Prints http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/article_index/j/japan_prints_and_paintings_of.aspx Princeton University Art Museum—Asian Art Collection: Prints and art from the Meiji Restoration http://etcweb.princeton.edu/asianart/timeperiod_japan.jsp?ctry=Japan&pd=Meiji

Suggestions for Further Reading

General history of the Meiji

Restoration Akita, George. Foundations of Constitutional

Government in Modern Japan, 1868-1900. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1967.

Beasley, W.G. The Meiji Restoration.

Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1972.

Craig, Albert M. Choshu in the Meiji

Restoration. New York: Lexington Books, 2000.

Jansen, Marius, B., ed. Sakamoto Ryoma and

the Meiji restoration. New York: Columbia University Press, 1994.

Kazuhiro Takii. The Meiji Constitution: The

Japanese Experience of the West and the

Shaping of the Modern State. Tokyo: International House of Japan, 2007.

Ravina, Mark. The Last Samurai: The Life and

Battles of Saigo Takamori. Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons, 2004.

Swale, Alistair. The Meiji Restoration:

monarchism, mass communication and conservative revolution. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.

General history of the Meiji Era Clement, Ernest Wilson. A Short History of

Japan. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1915.

Cortazzi, Hugh. Modern Japan: a concise

survey. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1993.

Duke, Benjamin. The History of Modern

Japanese Education: Constructing a National School System, 1872-1890. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2009.

Duus, Peter. Modern Japan. New York:

Houghton Mifflin, 1998. Ericson, Steven J. The Sound of the Whistle:

Railroads and the State in Meiji Japan. Cambrdige: Harvard University Asia Center, 1996.

Fogel, Joshua A. Late Qing China and Meiji

Japan: political and cultural aspects. Norwalk: EastBridge, 2004.

Fujitanai, T. Splendid Monarchy: Power and

Pageantry in Modern Japan. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996.

Gluck, Carol. Japan’s Modern Myths:

Ideology in the Late Meiji Period. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1985.

Goto-Jones, Christopher. Modern Japan: a

very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.

Hane Mikiso. Modern Japan: a historical

survey. Boulder: Westview Press, 2013. Huffman, James L. Modern Japan: an

encyclopedia of history, culture, and

nationalism. New York: Garland Publications, 1998.

Huffman, James. Modern Japan: a history in

documents. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.

Jansen, Marius. The Making of Modern

Japan. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2000.

Keene, Donald. Emperor of Japan: Meiji and

his World, 1852-1912. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002.

Masselos, Jim. ed. The Great Empires of Asia.

Berkeley: University of California Press, 2010.

McClain. James. Japan: A Modern History.

New York: W.W. Norton, 2002. Sims, Richard L. Japanese political history

since the Meiji Renovation. London: Hurst, 2001.

The Meiji Period: 1868-1912. (Video). New

York: Films Media Group, 1989. Thomas, J.E. Modern Japan: A social history

since 1868. London, Longman, 1996. Tipton, Elise. Modern Japan: a social and

political history. London: Routledge, 2008.

Cultural and Social history of the Meiji

Era Ashkenazi, Michael. Matsuri: Festivals of a

Japanese Town. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1993.

Doak, Kevin Michael. A history of nationalism

in modern Japan: placing the people. Leiden, Brill, 2007.

Figal, Gerald. Civilization and Monsters:

Spirits of Modernity in Meiji Japan. Durham: Duke University Press, 1999.

Hardcare, Helen. Shinto and the State, 1868-

1988. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989.

Irokawa Daikichi. The Culture of the Meiji

Period. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1985.

Lublin, Elizabeth Dorn. Reforming Japan: The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union in the Meiji Period. York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2000.

Mohr, Michel. Buddhism, Unitarianism, and

the Meiji Competition for Universality. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2013.

Nornes, Abe Mark. Japanese Documentary

Film: The Meiji Era Through Hiroshima. Minneapolis: Minnesota University Press, 2003.

Patessio, Mara. Women and public life in

early Meiji Japan: the development of the feminist movement. Ann Arbor: Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan Press, 2011.

Plutschow, Herbert. Matsuri: The Festivals of

Japan. Shrewberry: Roundwood Books, 1996.

Tseng, Alice Y. The Imperial Museums of

Meiji Japan: Architecture and the Art of the Nation. Portland: University of Washington Press, 2007.

Wachutka, Michael. Kokugaku in Meiji-period

Japan: the modern transformation of ‘national learning’ and the formation of scholarly societies. Leiden: Global Oriental, 2013.

Foreigners and Meiji Japan Hoare, James. Japan’s treaty ports and

foreign settlements: the uninvited guests, 1858-1899. Kent: Japan Library 1994.

Militarism and technology in Meiji Japan Drea, Edward J. Japan’s Imperial Army: its

rise and fall, 1853-1945. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 2009.

Low, Morris, eds. Building a modern Japan:

science, technology, and medicine in the Meiji era and beyond. New York: Palgrave Macmillian, 2005.

Shimazu, Naoko. Japanese Society at War:

Death, Memory and the Russo-Japanese War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011.

Wittner, David G. Technology and the culture of progress in Meiji Japan. New York: Routledge, 2008.

Further readings Beasley, W.G. Rise of Modern Japan:

Political, Economic and Social Change since 1850. New York: Weindenfeld & Nicolson (3rd edition), 2000.

Gordon, Andrew. A Modern History of Japan:

From Tokugawa Times to the Present. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.

Jansen, Marius. The Making of Modern

Japan. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2000.

Gluck, Carol. Japan’s Modern Myths:

Ideology in the Late Meiji Period. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1985.

Jansen, Marius. Sakamoto Ryōma and the

Meiji Restoration. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1961.

Pyle, Kenneth. The New Generation in Meiji

Japan. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1990.

Wilson, George. Patriots and Redeemers in

Japan: Motives in the Meiji Restoration. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992.