346 Chapter 19 Japan in Turmoil (1800-1867) CHAPTER TWENTY this unprecedented threat, the shogunate blinked. in 1868 resulted in a clear-cut victory for the forces Rather than make a unilateral decision, it opened fighting under the banner of the Meiji emperor. foreign policy to public discussion by asking mon­ What changed between 1800 and 1868? Long be­ arch and daimyo for input, only to discover that few fore the Meiji Restoration, the commercial economy, agreed on what to do. opportunities for travel, and information networks Debates over how to deal with the foreign threat led eroded the status and geographical divisions that to repression, reform, and resistance. In 1858-1859 kept people in their place. Reforms by shogun and Meiji the shogunate tried to silence its critics, only to have daimyo to shore up their authority and fill govern­ the tables turned with the assassination of its chief ment coffers could not conceal the gap between real­ Transformation minister. It then tried to conciliate daimyo and court ity and their ideal of the proper relations between The Meiji State (1868-1900) by giving them more autonomy while radical samu­ rulers and commoners. Debates over how to deal Material Culture: New Food rai assassinated individuals who, they thought, had with the foreign threat added further strain to the for a New Nation (1868-1900) shown disrespect to the monarch. Commoners too system by drawing more people into the public expressed their outrage at political paralysis and for­ political sphere. When the shogunate collapsed in Biography: Deguchi Nao, eign trade that disrupted existing markets in a variety 1867, it left behind a dynamic economy, a pool of Founder of a New Religion of popular movements from dances to riots. Fear of able administrators, and a population well educated Conservative Resurgence aking the Meiji (MEH-e-g) emperor the head of state (called a foreign intervention may have kept Japan from ex­ for its time. Also passed on to the new government (1880s-1900) restoration because the new regime claimed to restore the em­ ploding into civil war, but when the shogunate tried was a set of treaties with Western powers that recast peror to the power his ancestors had exercised in the eighth century) Imperialism and Modernity to rebuild its military along modern lines and reassert Japan's relations with the outside world and opened marked the beginning of profound changes (1870s-1895) in Japanese politics, culture, its authority, powerful daimyo from the southwestern the country to foreign trade, though not on terms and society. A small group of self-selected men (called oligarchs be­ favorable to Japan. domain forced the shogun to step down. A brief war Documents: Fukuzawa cause they monopolized power), who had led the drive to overthrow Yukichi's "Leaving Asia" the shogun, abolished status distinctions that had put social groups into separate compartments and centralized government. Fearful of the West, they understood the need to import Western military technol­ ogy, industry, legal norms, constitutional thought, science, dress, and food. (See Material Culture: New Food for a New Nation.) They built railroads, shipyards, and schools; created a new ideology to rally the citizens; colonized the Ryukyu Islands and Hokkaido; projected Japan's power abroad in Taiwan and Korea; and renegotiated treaties. They faced much opposition, often from within their own ranks. Farmers ri­ oted against new state policies that threatened their livelihood; samurai rebelled at the loss of their traditional identity; local notables promoted democracy. Intellectuals, novelists, and essayists hammered out new identities that refused to fit a single pattern. By the end of the century, modernity had arrived. To what extent did changes in the latter half of the nineteenth century build on what had gone before? Did the Meiji Restoration herald a revo­ lution in politics and society, or simply a transition? Did modernization mean westernization?

THE MEIJI STATE (1868-1900) Oligarchs who created the new centralized government had little idea of what they hoped to accomplish and disagreed on what to do. A loose group of samurai from Satsuma and Choshu, plus a few activist Kyoto aristocrats and imperial loyalists from other domains, they had varied interests and

347 (1868-1900) The Meiji State (1868-1900) 349 348 Chapter 20 Meiji Transformation

Empire.",. The Five Injunctions issued to commoners then confirm their holdings as governors. The gov­ -IMATERIAL CULTURE the next day had a different message. They were to ernment put all the retainers above the level of foot practice the Confucian virtues of loyalty, filial piety, soldiers into a single category called former samurai (shizoku, New Food for a New Nation chastity, obedience, and harmony; stop demonstra­ SHE-zo-ku). To streamline local adminis­ tions and protests; shun Christianity; conform to tration and centralize tax collection, in 1871 the oli­ sell. Although rice had been grown in Japan since the Vegetables, fruits, and breads had a harder international public law; and stay in Japan. Emigra­ garchs abolished some 270 domains and established eighth century B.c.E., it did not become a staple of Asparagus, cabbage, cauliflower, and tomatoes tion to Hawaii began almost immediately. prefectures. (See Map 20.1.) They started the process the average Japanese diet until imported from Korea did not blend easily into Japanese cuisine. Import­ Ambiguities in the oath speak to the oligarchs' of consolidating 170,000 towns and villages into and and China starting in 1873. Before that, most peo­ ing apples and grapes stimulated the cultivation lack of agreement on national goals. The nation's larger administrative units with new local officials as persimmon, Satsuma ple ate wheat, barley, and millet. Between 1869 and spread of native fruits such well-being could justify both a national land tax and and created a household registration system where­ tangerine, and Asian pear. Bread and cakes be­ 1900, the per capita consumption of rice went from universal military conscription as well as private en­ by each household head had to establish a place of year. Rice balls came popular only after they were modified to suit 3.5 bushels a year to 5 bushels a trepreneurs and compulsory education. None of the legal residence and inform the government of births, common in lunch boxes, and except for the Japanese taste. became men present expected public discussion of national deaths, marriages, and divorces in his family. poor, steamed rice replaced rice gruel for breakfast. By selectively adapting Western foods, Japanese affairs to include anyone but themselves. In contrast Daimyo readily accepted the loss of their hereditary The Meiji government officially promoted the people developed a much more varied diet than eating of meat because it was thought to produce they had in the past. They ate more, and what they to the past, when each daimyo had set policy for his lands. The most important became prefectural gover­ stronger workers and soldiers. In 1869 it established ate was generally more nutritious, although overly domain, it meant that decisions and power were to nors controlling a larger territory than they had before the Tsukiji beef company. In 1871 a butcher shop in refined rice caused beriberi in soldiers. An improved be centralized. It did not mean parliamentary democ­ because the number of prefectures was a mere seventy­ Tokyo's Asakusa district became popular by selling diet made most people stronger and healthier racy, although it was later interpreted that way. By two, later reduced to fifty. All daimyo benefited by no beef for sukiyaki, a Meiji period invention, as well as while increasing life expectancy and childbearing implying that hereditary status distinctions would be longer having responsibility for their domains' debts milk, cheese, and butter. In the 1880s butcher shops rates. A population of approximately 33 million at abolished, the third clause held out the promise of and being guaranteed a substantial income for their million by the end of started selling horse meat. It was cheaper than beef midcentury had grown to 45 social mobility. Abolishing old customs acknowl­ personal use without having to support standing armies the nineteenth century. or pork and redder than chicken. edged the reality of cultural imperialism inherent in of retainers. In place of their former titles, they received international law and unequal treaties. The purpose court rank. In return for giving up their already limited of gaining knowledge was to serve the state. autonomy, they received wealth and prestige. At first, oligarchs looked to eighth-century models Abolishing domains disinherited roughly 2 million for a new government. The Council of State became shizoku. All they received were small stipends later the highest deliberative body, assisted by a board of changed to government bonds. Oligarchs urged them 106 advisers, the activists in the Meiji Restoration, to find another line of work, in agriculture, forestry, who made the real decisions. The Council of Shinto business, and the colonization of Hokkaido. Some Affairs enjoyed a brief existence equal to the Council of succeeded; many did not. The shogun's former State. This structure was reorganized four times in the bureaucrats staffed the new government, but most next four months. Most daimyo remained in control of domain samurai remained in castle towns. Political their domains, leaving the oligarchs who spoke in the power had become sufficiently bureaucratized over emperor's name only the former shogun's lands. Mon­ the course of the Edo period that neither samurai ey offered to the emperor from daimyo, the shogun's nor daimyo became landed gentry. former retainers, merchants, and rural entrepreneurs Having taken the first steps toward a more cen­ staved offfiscal crisis in the short run, while the need tralized state, in 1871, one faction of oligarchs left to find tax revenues to fund the government forced the for the United States and Europe in a delegation of oligarchs to take hesitant steps toward centralization. forty-nine officials and fifty-eight students plus five Centralization required convincing the daimyo to girls. Headed by Iwakura Tomomi (E-wah-ku-rah give up their domains. Some daimyo hoped to play TOE-moe-me), a former court noble, their goal was Aguranabe. This flyer advertising Aguranabe, a butcher shop, linked eating a larger role in national affairs; some concentrated to convince the Western powers to revise the unequal beef to "civilization and enlightenment." their efforts on strengthening their domains. Most treaties that infringed on Japanese sovereignty. In­ stayed aloof from government and isolated from formed by President Ulysses S. Grant that Western each other. In 1869, the daimyo of Satsuma and powers would never consent to treaty revision unless Choshu agreed to make a formal declaration of re­ Japan reformed its laws and institutions along West­ goals. Their first pronouncement came in the Oath of be decided through public discussion, all would be turning their land and population registers to the ern lines, the diplomatic mission became a study mis­ 1868, offered by the emperor in the company of court allowed to fulfill their just ambitions, "the uncivilized emperor, with the understanding that he would sion. Officials inspected prisons, schools, factories, nobles and daimyo to the gods of heaven and earth. In customs of former times shall be broken through," and government agencies, trying to learn the secret of it he promised that everyone was to unite in promot­ and "intellect and learning shall be sought throughout Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World, wealth and power that the West had created through "Donald L. Keene, They ing the nation's well-being, government policy was to the world in order to establish the foundations of the 1852-1912 (New York: Columbia University Press, 2002), p. 139. industrialization and centralized government. ,. 350 Chapter 20 Meiji Transformation (1868-1900) The Meiji State (1868-1900) 351

and foreign enemies. They hired Western experts to to attend school for only a few months. Over time, transform government, economy, infrastructure, and the number of children in school increased, reaching education. Drawing on Western models, they issued 90 percent in the twentieth century. civil and criminal codes that replaced different regula­ The slogan of the day was "Rich Country, Strong 0 tions for samurai and commoners with rule by law Army." In January 1873, the government issued a that considered only the nature of the crime. They conscription ordinance crafted by Yamagata Arit­ built telegraph lines and railroads to improve commu­ omo (YAH-mah-gah-tah Ah-re-toe-moe) based nications and foster unity. On January 1, 1873, they on German and French models that summoned all replaced the lunar calendar that farmers had used as males over the age of twenty to serve on active duty a guide to planting and harvesting with the Western in the armed forces for three years, followed by Sea of calendar. They outlawed traditional hairstyles for men four years in the reserves. Heads and heirs of fam­ and suppressed village festivals. Having received these ily farms and businesses received exemptions, and Japan directives without warning or explanation, farmers ri­ exemptions could be purchased. This ordinance put oted in defense of time-honored custom. Japan's defense on the shoulders of the masses and FUKUSHIMA Religious practices also provoked strife. In the third provided a way to educate conscripts and their fami­ month of 1868, the oligarchs ordered the separation lies in the goals of government leaders. By revoking of Shinto and Buddhism and the changing of what had the samurai's monopoly of force, it did more than been shrine-temple complexes into shrines by getting any other reform to eliminate status distinctions and rid of Buddhist statues, rituals, and priests. In some create equality of opportunity. regions, officials infected with Hirata Atsutane's doc­ Both farmers and shizoku opposed conscnpt1011. trines destroyed Buddhist temples where the farmers' The ordinance used the term "blood tax," meaning ancestral tablets were kept. Building Y asukuni (YAH­ that all citizens should willingly sacrifice themselves su-ku-knee) shrine to house the war dead in 1869 used for their country. Farmers who took it literally as­ Shinto to promote national goals while the creation of sumed that the government wanted their blood. Even State Shinto in the 1870s consolidated local shrines those who understood the message believed that they and placed them under the Ise shrine to the sun god­ could best contribute to the nation by growing crops. dess. Rather than shrines containing only gods par­ Commoners opposed to conscription led demonstra­ ticular to their region, people also had to accept gods tions in sixteen localities in the months after the or­ of national significance. New religions founded in dinance's announcement. Samurai opposition took the Edo period received official recognition as Sect longer to develop but cost more lives. Conservative 100 200 Km. KAGOSHIMA w Shinto, but Meiji-period new religions were viewed oligarchs such as Saigo Takamori had already insisted 100 200 Mi. rn ro rn w with suspicion and often persecuted. (See Biography: that the national army be composed of the men bred u '------'--'------�@ Deguchi Nao, Founder of a New Religion.) Farmers to military service. When Iwakura and his faction out­ Map 20.1 Modern Japan protested the destruction of their familiar temples, voted Saigo on whether to invade Korea, he left the and Buddhist priests fought back by using Buddhism government. In 187 6, the government ordered shizoku as a weapon against Christianity, recalling ties to the to stop wearing the two swords that distinguished expected their absence to prevent any initiatives Restoration. This, they felt, would usher in new pros­ imperial house and helping immigrants in Hokkaido. them from the rest of the population. Between 1874 by the leaders left behind. In 1873, when Saigo perity and social justice. Instead, village officials con­ Directives that had immediate effects and aroused and 1877, more than thirty rebellions erupted in de­ Takamori (SAH-e-go TAH-kah-moe-re) proposed to tinued to collect taxes, rents remained the same, and the strongest opposition dealt with education, the mili­ fense of samurai privilege. The largest and last, in Sat­ invade Korea for having insulted the emperor in the moneylenders charged high interest. Disappointment tary, and taxes. In 1872, the government decreed eight suma and led by Saigo, required the mobilization of first diplomatic exchange following the restoration, fueled the rage with which people punished what they years of compulsory education for all children (short­ sixty-five thousand troops and took eight months to they rushed home to stop him. They opposed not the saw as wrongdoing. When the new government re­ ened to four in 1879 and then increased to six in 1907) suppress. Saigo committed suicide. In 1878, samurai use of force but its timing. Domestic reform had to placed familiar faces in domain administrations with to fit them for their responsibilities as productive citi­ counterrevolution ended with the assassination of the precede the use of military force abroad. men from foreign parts, this too led to protest, as zens in a modern nation, but communities had to pay oligarch Okubo Toshimichi (OH-ku-bow TOE-she­ did the official end to discrimination against outcasts for schools themselves. Outraged at the cost, farmers me-che), also from Satsuma, because he had opposed when status distinctions were erased and the outcasts destroyed or damaged nearly two hundred schools invading Korea and arbitrarily initiated reforms. Reforms and Opposition became "new commoners." The first ten years of the between 1873 and 1877. Pre-Meiji teachers contin­ Satsuma rebels also had reason to oppose the 1873 The abolition of domains took place during social Meiji period saw more protest and more violence ued their unlicensed schools and talked parents out of tax law. Applied nationwide to agricultural land, reforms that did not suit everyone. For many farm­ than at any time during the Edo period. sending their children to new ones. Needing their chil­ its aim was to provide a steady flow of income for ers, the emperor's progress from Kyoto to Edo (re­ Bureaucrats initiated reforms and technological in­ dren's labor or unable to afford tuition, many parents the government by replacing the old hodgepodge of named Tokyo in 1869) in 1868 symbolized the Meiji novations to strengthen the state against its domestic never enrolled daughters or even sons or allowed them domain taxes on fluctuating harvests with a single, , 352 Chapter 20 Meiji Transformation (1868-1900) The Meiji State (1868-1900) 353

A H Deguchi Nao, Founder of a New Religion Composition of Tax Revenues, 1872-1940 (%) Fiscal Land Liquor Customs Income Corporation Business Sugar Inheritance Other As one of the women who played a death in 1887 freed her to work in a silk-spinning Year Tax Tax Duties Tax Tax Tax Excise Tax major role in creating Japan's new factory as well. 1872 90.l 1.5 3.3 5.1 religions, Deguchi Nao (DEH-gu-che One winter morning in 1892 while she was out 1880 72.3 14.9 4.4 NAH-oh) (1836-1918), an illiterate collecting rags, Nao became possessed by a god. 8.4 1890 58.l 22.9 6.9 1.6 commoner, became a prophet. The experience transformed her personality and her 10.5 1900 34.6 Nao was born in a castle town near outlook on the world. Instead of being gentle and 38.0 10.9 4.3 1.2 3.9 1.3 5.8 Kyoto to a family on its way down. Her humble, she became dignified, filled with divinely 1910 23.8 26.2 15.3 10.0 2.9 7.0 5.1 0.9 8.8 grandfather had the privilege of wear­ inspired authority. She rejected the social order be­ 1920 10.2 22.6 11. l 23.5 11.8 6.6 6.8 l. l 6.3 ing a sword and using a surname as cause it rewarded vice and valued money, and she 1930 7.9 26.4 15.l 22.l 6.6 6.2 9.6 3.5 2.6 an official carpenter. Her father squan­ claimed that because the oligarchs and the emperor 1940 0.9 8.9 2.9 34.0 11.7 2.6 3.2 1.6 33.9 dered his life on drink and died when were responsible for these conditions, they exempli­ Nao was nine. Nao went to work for a merchant fied absolute evil. They would soon be destroyed and Source: Based on Minami Ryoshin, The Economic Development of Japan: A Quantitative Study, who provided her with room and board; her earn­ replaced by a divine order of harmony and equal­ trans. Ralph Thompson and Minami with assistance from David Merriman (New York: St. Martin's Press, ings went to her mother. Nao helped with the cook­ ity. Under the spell of her god, this formerly illiter­ 1986), p. 340. ing and cleaning; she spun thread and strung coins, ate woman wrote hundreds of texts that spelled thereby gaining a reputation for diligence and hard out what was wrong with the world and what was While dealing with opposition from outside the on the government in the name work. In her third year of service, the domain award­ to come. She also became a faith healer. In 1899, of human rights. government, oligarchs also quarreled among them­ A woman ed her a prize for being a filial daughter. her adopted son Deguchi Onisaburo (OH-knee­ who held property demanded to be selves. They created and abolished Nao hoped to marry the man she loved, but her sah-bu-row) organized a sect called Omoto-kyo ministries to con­ allowed to vote in prefectural elections (she was widowed aunt Yuri insisted that she accept an ar­ (OH-moe-toe-keyo) based on her revelations. Under solidate their power or deny rivals and argued over denied). Kishida Toshiko (KEY-she-dah Toe-she-co) ranged marriage and be adopted into the Deguchi his leadership, the group grew rapidly and suffered what kind of government Japan was to have. In the and Fukuda Hideko (Fu-ku-dah HE-deh-co), both family as Yuri herself had done. Yuri drowned herself repeated government persecutions. Nao quarreled early 1870s, Kido Takayoshi (KEY-doh TAH-kah­ women, gave public lectures at which they demanded after Nao repeatedly rejected her offer. A few days lat­ with him over his interpretation of her writings and yo-she) and Okubo advocated some popular repre­ rights, liberty, education, and equality for women. er, Nao developed a high fever and lost consciousness. his refusal to reject all that was modern. She died sentation in government lest arbitrary rule generate Baba Tatsui (BAH-bah TAH-tzu-e) drew on Social Upon her recovery, she attributed her illness to Yuri's frustrated that she had not been able to reconstruct unrest. Their proposal contained a veiled attack on Darwinism to argue that because democracy based vengeful spirit. To placate it and care for the Deguchi the world in accordance with her beliefs. Ito Hirobumi (E-toe HE-row-bu-me) and Yamagata. on an egalitarian society was the most advanced ancestral tablets, Nao agreed to marry the man Yuri Angry at having been shut out of power, Itagaki form of government, it should come immediately. had selected for her and continue the Deguchi house. Questions for Analysis Taisuke (E-tah-gah-key Tah-e-su-keh) left the gov­ Local notables drafted model constitutions. Nao's husband was no better than her father. By 1. How did Nao become a prophet? Activists ernment in 1874, joined with disaffected shizoku who 1872 she had borne five children and was living 2. What was Nao's message? criticized the oligarchs for blocking channels from his home domain of Tosa in a rented house in Ayabe. She opened a small 3. How does Nao fit within the context of Japanese to form the Patriotic between emperor and people argued that a represen­ religious beliefs? restaurant, and when it failed, she sold sweet-bean Party, and petitioned the government to establish an tative government would harmonize imperial and buns. She continued to have children-eleven in elected national assembly. He disbanded the party popular will by providing a forum for the free ex­ all, three of whom died in infancy. When her hus­ Source: Emily Groszos Ooms, Women and Millenarian when he was invited back into the government in pression of popular opinion, thereby strengthening band became paralyzed from a fall off a roof in Protest in Meiji Japan: Deguchi Nao and Omoto-kyo (Ithaca, 1875 at the Osaka Conference where the oligarchs the nation. Drawing on French and British N.Y.: East Asia Program, Cornell University, 1993). natural 1885, Nao collected rags to support her family. His agreed to establish prefectural assemblies (done in rights theories, Ueki Emori (U-eh-key EH-moe-re) 1878) and plan for a national assembly. Four months crafted a theory of popular sovereignty and right of later, the emperor announced that he would promul­ revolution. gate a constitution after due deliberation. Oligarchs responded to the Popular Rights Move­ uniform property tax. In most regions of Japan, land government's revenues came from tax on agricultural ment by issuing increasingly severe peace preserva­ surveys that accompanied the new tax simply con­ land through the 1880s. Farmers with market access Constitution and National Assembly tion laws. Press censorship began in 1875; the 1880 firmed the property rights farmers already enjoyed. for their products benefited; those who misjudged the Ordinance on Public Meetings stationed policemen Satsuma domain had allowed goshi (GO-she) (rustic market or suffered a crop failure had to sell their land Publicity generated by the promise of a national as­ at assemblies to ensure that the speakers did not de­ warriors) to assign land to cultivators and treat them to pay taxes. In some areas, officials imposed the new sembly and constitution helped create the Popular part from texts that had been approved beforehand. like tenant farmers. Faced with loss of income as tax while requiring farmers to continue to pay the Rights Movement. Shizoku, village officials, rural Excluded from audiences were soldiers, off-duty well as hereditary status and privilege, goshi became additional taxes it was supposed to replace. Farmers entrepreneurs, journalists, intellectuals, and pre­ police, teachers, and students. Demonstrations in the shock troops for the Satsuma rebellion. petitioned for help; they killed officials suspected of fectural assemblymen held meetings and circulated Fukushima opposed to a particularly arbitrary gov­ Even though Meiji oligarchs tried to promote in­ being corrupt. In 1876, widespread, if uncoordinated, petitions for an immediate national assembly signed ernor in 1882, the Chichibu uprising of 1884 that dustry and demanded loans from merchants, they opposition to the tax forced the government to reduce by hundreds of thousands of people. Radicals and mobilized tenant farmers in demanding debt relief, had an agrarian mindset. Nearly 80 percent of the it from 3 percent of assessed value to 2.5 percent. poverty-stricken farmers rioted and planned attacks and other violent incidents met with mass arrests Chapter 20 Meiji Transformation (1868-1900) 354 The Meiji State (1868-1900) 355 and executions. Having learned the cost of direct ac­ Subjects had rights and duties to: political parties to get tion, local notables organized • present petitions, provided that they observe for the national assembly ready for the first election the proper form of respect 1890. promised in • enjoy freedom of religious belief within limits The Meiji Constitution defined institutions created not prejudicial to peace and order and not In 1878 the military General Staff before it was issued. antagonistic to their duties as subjects was made directly responsible to the emperor, by­ • enjoy freedom of speech, within the limits set passing the War Ministry run by bureaucrats. A new by law'' peerage destined to fill the upper house of the two­ chamber national assembly, known as the Diet, was Subjects had to serve in the military, a clause that announced in 1884. First made up of oligarchs, former excluded women from the category of "subject." daimyo, and Kyoto nobility, over time it expanded to Japan's first experiment with parliamentary de­ include entrepreneurs and academics. The lower house mocracy nearly did not work. Although Ito and was to be elected by commoners. The cabinet, which Yamagata had assumed that party politics had no made policy, replaced the Council of State in 1885. place in an institution directly responsible to the em­ It was filled with ministers in charge of education, fi­ peror, they had to deal with opposition parties head­ nance, foreign affairs, and other bureaucracies under ed by Itagaki and other men who had been ejected the prime minister appointed by the emperor. from the oligarch's inner circle. Suffrage (the right Ito Hirobumi drafted the constitution in great se­ to vote) was limited to men paying at least fifteen Triptych Showing Inauguration of the First Diet. Members of the upper house dressed in uniform are in the foreground; lower house members crecy. He traveled to Europe in 1882 where for nine yen a year in property taxes, a qualification met by sit farther back. The emperor is in the box at upper left. [Goto Yoshikage, Japanese, 1858-1922 Publisher: Yoshida Ichimatsu, Japanese The Imperial Diet of Japan months he studied in Berlin under the most respected only 1.1 percent of the population, most of them in (Dai Nihon teikoku gikai no zu) Japanese, Meiji era, 1890 (Meiji 23), printed November 13, published constitutional theorists of his day. Ito and his brain rural areas. Once elected, members discovered that November 14 Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper. Vertical ban triptych; 35.8 X 73.1 cm trust then created a document that defined the em­ the Diet had more power than the oligarchs had in­ (14 1/8 X 28 3/4 in.) Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Jean S. and Frederic A. Sharf Collection, 2000. 535a-c. © peror in terms of his descent from the gods and em­ tended. Diet members could criticize the cabinet in Photograph 2012 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston] ployed Western notions of the rights and obligations memorials to the emperor; they could make speech­ of citizens. Once the constitution was finished, the es, published in newspapers, that outside the Diet in the military budget. A few months later, Yamaga­ laws; they set up banks and issued paper currency. Privy Council, a new institution headed by Ito, met might have landed them in jail. They had the power ta became prime minister for the second time. To They made their first investments in advanced and to discuss it. On February 11, 1889, the date cho­ to approve the budget. If they refused, the previ­ increase military autonomy, he made it a require­ expensive technologies, the kind needed to build sen to be the anniversary of Jimmu's enthronement ous year's budget remained in effect, but it seldom ment that all army and navy ministers be active-duty railroads and shipyards. Although building support 2,349 years earlier, the Meiji emperor bestowed the covered the government's needs. When the Diet op­ officers. To weaken the power of political parties industries for the military constituted their main pri­ constitution on the prime minister. Three days of fes­ posed the cabinet, the prime minister dissolved it, and their resistance to higher taxes, he expanded the ority, they also worried about the effects of unequal tivities announced to people across the nation that forcing members into a costly reelection campaign. suffrage to 2.2 percent of the population and gave treaties on the balance of payments and unemploy­ they were now citizens of a state founded on prin­ Campaign finance scandals and vote buying tar­ more representation to urban districts. In 1900, Ito ment. To maintain social stability and to compete ciples enshrined in a constitution. nished the reputations of politicians and oligarchs responded by forming and becoming president of with foreign products, they built cotton-spinning Oligarchs wanted a constitution that secured the alike. Twenty-five men died during the 1892 elec­ a new political party, the Friends of Government. and weaving factories to make cloth for the domestic governing bodies and protected the imperial house tion, most at the hands of the police. His compromise with politicians dramatized the oli­ market and imported French silk-spinning technol­ through which they exercised power, and they Divided by personality and self-interest, oligarchs garchs' difficulty in controlling the institutions they ogy to produce thread for export. They founded a distrusted "ignorant" masses. After its promulga­ had to seek political support outside their narrow had created. sugar refinery to help growers market their crop and tion, they designated themselves genro (GEHN-row), circle. In so doing, they enlarged the realm of politi­ compete with Chinese sugar. By bringing the state's elder statesmen, charged with picking cabinet min­ cal action to include bureaucrats, military officers, resources to bear on industry, oligarchs squeezed out isters for the emperor. The constitution defined the and politicians. In 1898, Ito had the sometime oli­ Industrialization private capital. emperor as sovereign and sacred. The emperor: garchs Okuma Shigenobu (OH-ku-mah SHE-geh­ Oligarchs promoted economic reform and industri­ Agriculture supported industrial growth. Agricul­ no-bu), head of the Progressive Party, and Itagaki alization. They took over the arms-related industries tural development groups, seed exchange societies, • exercises executive power through the cabinet Taisuke, leader of the Liberal Party, participate in a already established by the domains and the shogu­ journals, and lecture circuits taught farmers about • exercises legislative power with the consent of coalition cabinet as prime minister and home minis­ nate, placing some under state control to supply the new seed varieties, commercial fertilizers, and equip­ the Imperial Diet ter, respectively. Horrified that Ito had caved in to military; others were sold to cronies at favorable ment, leading to growth rates in annual agricul­ • has supreme command of the army and navy politicians, Yamagata Aritomo sabotaged their cabi­ terms. Iwasaki Yataro (E-wah-sah-key YAH-tah-ro) tural productivity of between 1.5 and 1.7 percent • declares war, makes peace, and concludes net by having the army minister refuse to accept cuts founded Mitsubishi (ME-tzu-be-she) enterprises on in the late nineteenth century. Because the land treaties the maritime shipping line he acquired from Tosa tax remained fixed, the increase put more income • determines the government's organization ''·Hugh Borton, Japan's Modern Century (New York: Ronald and expanded it with low-interest government loans. in the hands of rural entrepreneurs for use in pro­ • convokes the Diet and dissolves the lower house Press Co., 1955), pp. 490-507. The oligarchs had foreign experts write banking moting small-scale industry. Farmers were already 356 Chapter 20 Meiji Transformation (1868-1900) The Meiji State (1868-1900) 357 accustomed to producing handicrafts; eliminating the same worked longer hours to increase produc­ ordinary citizens in a conflict that was to play out internal restrictions on trade made it easier for them tion. Bad loans bankrupted banks started with repeatedly in Japan's modern history. to market their goods. samurai capital while small businesses collapsed. Entrepreneurs and artisans developed intermedi­ The ranks of tenant farmers and factory workers Civilization and Enlightenment ate technologies that adapted Western machines to swelled. By 1886 key industries had become concen­ Japanese circumstances. They modified the manu­ trated in the hands of a few wealthy capitalists with Local notables who had responded enthusiastically facture of new daily necessities such as matches to excellent government connections. The government to the Popular Rights Movement wanted to bring suit the domestic and Asian markets and undersold had rid itself of drains on its income, the budget was a cultural revolution to their villages. In place of Western brands. The metric system, the new calen­ balanced, and prices were stable. hidebound customs, they wanted "Civilization and dar, and Western timepieces brought the standard­ By the 1890s Japan had a substantial work force Enlightenment," a slogan promoted by urban intel­ ization and regularization modeled by military or­ in light and heavy industry. Silk-spinning factories lectuals and by oligarchs bent on modernizing com­ ganization to ordinary work practices. Local clubs employed single farmwomen who worked eighteen­ munications, hairstyles, and education. The Meiji tried to preserve handicrafts in the face of foreign hour days when demand was high. When they con­ 6 Society founded in Tokyo in 1873 published a imports and sought national and international mar­ tracted tuberculosis, as many did, they were returned journal in which the members debated representa­ kets for specialty products. They pooled capital to to their families. The spread of the disease made it tive government, foreign affairs, modernizing the upgrade local skills, brought in foreign technology modern Japan's most severe epidemic. The women Japanese language, ethics, religion, and roles for when it fit their needs, and hosted industrial exhibi­ who worked twelve-hour shifts in cotton mills were women. That same year, local notable Ida Bunzo tions to spread technological knowledge and stimu­ often married. Factory owners assumed that because (E-dah BOON-zo) bought a copy of Samuel Smiles's late competition. In the mid-1870s, small water­ women did not maintain households independent of Self Help. In a local magazine, he explained the vir­ powered silk-spinning factories spread throughout fathers or husbands, they could keep wages low. The tues of sticking to a task and frugality, competition the mountain valleys of central Japan, close to the first strike in Japan's industrial history occurred at a and progress, moral responsibility and the national silk-producing regions and a work force of young silk-spinning factory in Kofu in 1885 where women interest. Other local notables used informal discus­ women. By 1900, silk thread accounted for one­ protested a proposed increase in hours and decrease sion groups to promote better hygiene and social third of the value of Japan's commodity exports, and in pay. Women unable to find factory work turned improvement through hospitals, new foods, better textiles totaled more than half. to prostitution. Poor women from Kyushu lured to roads, and technological innovation based on West­ Another model for private enterprise was brothels in Southeast Asia remitted money to their ern models. They tried to overcome their neighbors' Shibusawa Eiichi (SHE-bu-sah-wah EH-e-e-che). families that helped Japan's balance of payments. opposition to the government-mandated schools that Son of a rural entrepreneur, he used his connections Male factory workers in heavy industry earned they saw as the best way to improve conditions for with oligarchs to become president of First National Spinning Mill. Established by the government in 1873, up to five times the wages of women. They worked rural people and raise Japan's standing in the world. this spinning mill in Tomioka relies on the latest oyakata Bank and provided capital for the construction of technology imported from France housed in a modern under bosses called (OH-yah-kah-tah) who The man who coined the phrase "Civilization and a privately owned shipyard at the mouth of Tokyo brick building with glazed windows where rows of contracted for specific jobs. Because workers ran the Enlightenment" was Fukuzawa Yukichi (FU-ku-zah­ Bay. In 1880 he started the Osaka Spinning Mill, young women happily work away, overseen by a French factory floor, they were able to retain a measure of wah YU-key-che), a leading member of the Meiji the first of more than one hundred companies. supervisor who guides visitors through the plant. autonomy that gave them pride in their work. Those 6 Society. In 1868 he founded Keio (KEH-e-oh) Thanks to investments like his, by the beginning of who possessed skills in high demand moved at will University for the study of Western science and the twentieth century Japan's imports were of raw From an economic point of view, Japan faced the from one factory to another. Despite these advan­ business. His multivolume Western Matters described materials; it exported manufactured goods. Other most serious crisis of the Meiji period. tages, wages barely covered the rent for a shack in modern institutions-schools, hospitals, newspapers, entrepreneurs built equipment for railroads, mines, After bitter debate, the oligarchs decided on the slums and a dismal diet of rice and vegetables. libraries, and museums-and Western ideas regard­ and factories. Many thrived with the government a deflationary policy of retrenchment. Finance In 1898 railroad workers launched the largest strike ing the importance of entrepreneurship and achieve­ as their biggest customer, justifying their immense Minister Matsukata Masayoshi (MAH-tzu-kah-tah of the nineteenth century with demands for respect, ment. In the bestseller Encouragement of Learning, wealth by insisting that they worked for the good MAH-sah-yo-she) balanced the budget, reduced higher status, and an increase in overtime pay. he criticized Japan for its backwardness and urged of the nation. government spending until it fell within revenues, Conditions for miners were worse. The low wages, citizens to seek learning for its practical value in In 1880 the government faced financial disaster. and established a sound currency backed by gold and dangerous work, and prison-like barracks made it the modern world. He also served as adviser to It had printed money recklessly during the 1870s to silver. Except for railroad, telegraph, and military­ so difficult to attract workers that the owner of the Mitsubishi and Mitsui, destined to become the larg­ finance its projects, and private banks issued their related industries, he sold at a loss all industries that Ashio copper mine contracted for convict labor. By est conglomerates in Japan. Although he advocated own notes. It spent heavily suppressing shizoku re­ the government had tried to develop. He recalled the end of the nineteenth century, the mine's demand equality, freedom, and education for women, he kept bellions and other police actions; most of the indus­ students sent abroad on government scholarships, for timber had stripped surrounding hills, leading to his daughters ignorant and arranged their marriages. tries it built operated at a loss. Inflation that doubled fired foreign experts, enacted sin taxes on tobacco deadly floods. Toxic wastes from the mine had killed Civilization and enlightenment also pertained to the price of rice in Tokyo between 1877 and 1880 and sake, and increased old taxes. Between 1881 marine life in the Watarase River, devastated farm­ personal appearance. To use Western technology, reduced the value of property tax revenues, taxes and 1885, he reduced the quantity of currency by land, and caused premature deaths. Dealing with it was more efficient to wear Western-style clothes. did not cover spending, and the negative balance of 20 percent and stifled commerce. Farmers who saw environmental damage pitted proponents of "Rich Replacing distinctive styles of samurai armor with stan­ payments sucked gold and silver out of the country. the price of rice fall 50 percent while taxes remained Country, Strong Army" against the well-being of dardized military uniforms submerged the individual 358 Chapter 20 Meiji Transformation (1868-1900) Imperialism and Modernity (1870s-1895) 359 in the ranks. Uniforms also distinguished policemen wrote Essence of the Novel, which tried to define rituals. For the few who could afford to go beyond maintained in law, the legal scholar Hozumi Yat­ from civilians. Changing appearances might help a new realistic literature. Floating Clouds (1887- compulsory schooling, the Educational Code of suka (HOH-zu-me YAH-tzu-kah) warned, reverence Japan gain the respect of foreigners who flaunted their 1889) by Futabatei Shimei (FOO-tah-ba-teh-e SHE­ 1872 had specified that a rigorous examination sys­ for the ancestors, loyalty, and filial piety would per­ cultural superiority. The government issued directives meh-e) is deemed Japan's first modern novel because tem would qualify students for middle schools, and ish. The Civil Code upheld legal equality, individual to men to stop shaving the tops of their heads and to it tried to get inside the leading character's head and the best would then take examinations for university. choice, and personal ownership of property for all women to stop blackening their teeth and shaving used language close to everyday speech. Perhaps the Founded in 1877, Tokyo University remained the men and single women, regardless of their former their eyebrows, with the emperor and empress lead­ most subtle and gifted writer was Higuchi Ichiyo only public institution at that level until 1897. Private social status. Succession was to follow the male line, ing the way. At his first public performance, the Meiji (HE-gu-che E-che-yo), who gained fame in the male universities such as Keio and missionary schools with all assets to go to the eldest son. A husband had emperor had dressed in the court robes of his ances­ world of letters only at the end of her short life. provided lesser avenues for educational advance­ authority to dispose of his wife's lands and build­ tors while wearing cosmetics and powder with false Dominated at the end of the century by the medi­ ment. In 1886 the Ministry of Education established ings, though not her personal property (her trous­ eyebrows smudged on his forehead. Within two years cal doctor Mori Ogai (MOE-re OH-gah-e), who had specialized higher schools above the middle schools. seau); he decided when and whether to register a he had changed to Western-style uniforms, cut his studied in Germany, and Natsume Soseki (NAH-tzu­ The First Higher School funneled students into Tokyo marriage and their children. As in the Edo period, hair, and grown a beard. The empress too appeared meh SO-seh-key), who had studied in Britain, this University for positions in the most prestigious min­ divorce by mutual consent freed both partners for in Western-style clothing and hairstyles. world embraced modernity while questioning the istries. Some higher schools offered degrees in liberal remarriage. The Civil Code thus balanced a concern The new nobility and educated elite followed the im­ superiority of Western civilization. arts for students going on to universities and then to for social stability and modern Western norms with perial family's example. In 1883 the foreign minister careers in the bureaucracy or business world. Others an understanding of customary practice. built a modern two-story brick building called Deer­ were vocational schools, military schools, teacher's Cry Pavilion that contained a restaurant, billiard colleges, and women's colleges. Each socialized room, and ballroom. Invitations to garden parties, CONSER VATIVE RESURGENCE the students by crafting character suitable to their charity balls, and receptions went to Japanese and (1880s-1900) station in life. IIVIPERIALISIVI Af\lD IVIODERf\llTY foreigners, husbands and wives, a startling innovation By the middle of the 1880s, many people thought Education prepared citizens to serve the nation; (1870s-1895) because samurai women had not previously socialized that aping Western customs had gone too far. They it also provided a stepping stone for personal ad­ When Japan appropriated and adapted Western in­ with their husbands. Western-style dancing by couples tried to hold onto traditional values while accept­ vancement. Oligarchs opened the ranks of govern­ dustrial technology, legal institutions, constitutional was customary, even at parties far from Tokyo spon­ ing the need for Western rationalism in scientific ment service to men who had demonstrated talent theory, and culture, it also studied Western impe­ sored by prefectural governments. The late 1880s gov­ inquiry and Western technology. In 1882 Kano and ability measured through academic achieve­ rialism. Social Darwinism taught that nations had ernment became known as the "dancing cabinet." Jigoro (KAH-no G-go-row) began the transforma­ ment, but only men from families wealthy enough to conquer or be conquered. Seeing what had hap­ Newspapers, journals, and other mass media ex­ tion of martial arts into judo through the scientific to support them through years of schooling had any pened to China and India, Fukuzawa Yukichi urged emplified and promoted civilization and enlighten­ selection of techniques from earlier schools special­ chance of success. Women were to serve the state Japan to "leave Asia" for fear that it too might be ment. Woodblock prints used chemical dyes to depict izing in unarmed combat. He emphasized that judo as wives and mothers. Class and gender thus placed conquered. (See Documents: Fukuzawa Yukichi's the marvels of westernization. Prints of horse-drawn built character in a way that complemented devel­ limits on equality, and the promise of social mobility "Leaving Asia.") carriages, steam engines, new schools, and red brick opments in the study of ethics by religious figures concealed an economically stratified society. The connection between modernity and imperial­ buildings illuminated by gaslight in Tokyo's down­ and Western-trained philosophers. By establishing Education trained citizens in civic virtues per­ ism appeared early in the Meiji period. As part of town Ginza district inspired progressive youths to an absolute standard for "the good," they sought sonified by the emperor. In the 1870s and 1880s Japan's overtures to China in 1870 it tried to im­ seek modernity. (See Color Plate 28.) Magazines for to use community values to suppress socially dis­ he toured Japan to unite the people under his gaze. pose an unequal treaty because having taken steps women urged them to become educated in modern ruptive thought. The head of the Hygiene Bureau, Newspaper reports of his diligent work habits and toward a modern centralized state made it the more modes of thought to help them fulfill their roles as Goto Shimpei (GO-toe SHEEN-peh-e), claimed that concern for his subjects' welfare made him into a civilized. A treaty negotiated in 1871 granted mutual "good wives and wise mothers." the only way to get people to respond to public symbol of national unity and progress. He moved his extraterritoriality. In 1874 Japan used the murder of The professional journalist Fukuchi Gen'ichiro health initiatives was to work through established headquarters to Hiroshima during the Sino-Japanese Ryukyuan fishermen by Taiwanese three years ear­ (FU-ku-che GEHN-e-che-ro) covered Saigo's rebel­ community structures and appeal to community War (1894-1895); celebrated war victories; and ap­ lier as an excuse to send an expeditionary force to lion in 1877 and later became chief editor of the influ­ values. Bureaucrats tried to promote social welfare peared at imperial funerals, weddings, and wedding Taiwan. The pretext was to punish the Taiwanese; ential Tokyo Daily Newspaper. It was a so-called big and a collectivist ethic through factory laws, tenancy anniversaries. Given pride of place in every school a covert aim was to bring civilization to the natives paper written in a style only the highly educated could laws, and agricultural cooperatives for fear that a and public building, his portrait had to be treated by establishing a colony. The war dragged on for read, with a focus on politics and serious editorials. social revolution might undo their efforts to build with utmost respect. In 1890 he issued the Imperial five months before a settlement reached in Beijing Founded in 1874, the Yomiuri Newspaper aimed at a strong state. In 1890 the revised Police Security Rescript on Education. It urged students to practice acknowledged China's claims to Taiwan and Japan's the barely literate. Like other "small papers," it cov­ Regulations forbade women to participate in poli­ filial piety, harmony, sincerity, and benevolence; to claims to the Ryukyus. The expeditionary force ered scandals and titillating stories of sex and murder. tics. The intent was to eliminate the need for selfish respect the constitution; to obey the laws; and to be withdrew, though not before Japanese newspapers Hawked on street corners, it exploited the growing and unpatriotic competition and conflict. loyal to the kokutai (CO-ku-tah-e) (national polity). had celebrated its victory over barbarism. market for information and entertainment. The educational system bore the brunt of the The 1898 Civil Code adjusted the norms of The Ryukyus and Hokkaido became internal Modern newspapers serialized modern novels. conservative resurgence. In the 1870s it provided Western legal systems to the conservative concern colonies. In 1871 the Ryukyus were made part of In 1885 the fan of kabuki and student of English liter­ strictly utilitarian knowledge; in the mid-1880s it for civic morality. Unless the primacy of the house Kagoshima prefecture. In 1879 the king was invited ature Tsubouchi Shoyo (TZU-boh-u-che SHOW-yo) added Confucian ethics, Shinto mythology, and civic and the male authority of the household head were to reside in Tokyo and become a member of the 360 Chapter 20 Meiji Transformation (1868-1900) Imperialism and Modernity (1870s-1895) 361

Fukuzawa Yukichi's "Leaving Asia" inent intellectual and promoter of westernization of Meiji , ose views on domestic policy were decidedly liberal, Fukuzawa among their peoples. If that could happen is always buried under the ugliness of his here takes a hard-line approach to foreign affairs. His ruthless criticism of they would indeed be fortunate. However, it neighbors' activities. When these incidents is more likely that would never happen, and Korea and China, published on March 16, 1885, can be read as justifying are multiplied, that can affect our normal within a few short years they will be wiped off conduct of diplomatic relations. How unfor­ colonialism, while at the same time he urges his readers to reject the the world with their lands divided among the tunate it is for Japan. civilization they had to offer. In 189 ten years after writing this call to 5, civilized nations. What must we do today? We do not have action, he rejoiced at Japan's victory over China. From the perspectives of civilized time to wait for the enlightenment of our Westerners, they may see what is happen­ neighbors so that we can work together to­ Japan is located in the eastern extremities of their minds. Their love affairs with ancient ing in China and Korea and judge Japan ac­ ward the development of Asia. It is better for Asia, but the spirit of its people has already ways and old customs remain as strong as cordingly, because of the three countries' us to leave the ranks of Asian nations and cast moved away from the old conventions of they were centuries ago. In this new and vi­ geographical proximity. The governments of our lot with civilized nations of the West. As Asia to Western civilization. Unfortunately for brant theater of civilization when we speak China and Korea still retain their autocratic for the way of dealing with China and Korea, Japan, there are two neighboring countries. of education, they only refer back to Con­ manners and do not abide by the rule of law. no special treatment is necessary just because One is called China and another Korea. These fucianism. As for school education, they can Westerners may consider Japan likewise a they happen to be our neighbors. Any person two peoples, like the Japanese people, have only cite precepts of humanity, righteousness, lawless society. Natives of China and Korea who cherishes a bad friend cannot escape his been nurtured by Asiatic political thoughts decorum, and knowledge. While professing are deep in their hocus pocus of nonscien­ notoriety. We simply erase from our minds our and mores. It may be that we are different their abhorrence to ostentation, in reality they tific behavior. Western scholars may think bad friends in Asia. races of people, or it may be due to the differ­ show their ignorance of truth and principles. that Japan still remains a country dedicated ences in our hereditary or education: signifi­ As for their morality, one only has to observe to Yin-Yang and the five elements. Chinese Questions for Analysis cant differences mark the three peoples. The their unspeakable acts of cruelty and shame­ are mean-spirited and shameless, and the 1. In Fukuzawa's eyes, what was wrong with Korea Chinese and Koreans are more like each other lessness. Yet they remain arrogant and show chivalry of the Japanese people is lost on and China? and together they do not show as much simi­ no sign of self-examination. Westerners. Koreans punish their convicts 2. Why did Fukuzawa think it important for Japan larity to the Japanese. These two peoples do In my view, these two countries cannot sur­ in an atrocious manner, and that is imputed to turn its back to these countries? not know how to progress either personally vive as independent nations with the onslaught to the Japanese as a heartless people. There 3. What did Fukuzawa mean by "leaving Asia"? or as a nation. In this day and age with trans­ of Western civilization to the East. Their con­ are many more examples I can cite. It is no portation becoming so convenient, they can­ cerned citizens might yet find a way to engage different from the case of a righteous man Source: David J. Lu, Japan a Documentary History: not be blind to the manifestations of West­ in a massive reform, on the scale of our Meiji living in a neighborhood of a town known the late Tokugawa period to the present. Armonk, ern civilization. But they say that what is seen Restoration, and they could change their gov­ for foolishness, lawlessness, atrocity, and New York: M.E. Sharpe, 1997, pp. 351-353, or heard cannot influence the disposition of ernments and bring about a renewal of spirit heartlessness. His action is so rare that it modified.

new Japanese nobility while a Japanese governor and imposed a treaty that replicated the unequal Pressure brought by domestic public opinion to re­ (See Chapter 18.) Fought over Korea, it lasted only took his place. Japanese fishermen and settlers had treaties Japan had signed in the 1850s. The follow­ vise the unequal treaties affected Japan's diplomatic nine months; Japanese troops expelled the Chinese already spread as far north as Sakhalin and the ing years saw successive incidents as factions at the relations with its Asian neighbors. When negotiations army from Korea, defeated the north Chinese navy, Kuril Islands, territory that Russia claimed. In 1874 Korean court supported by Japan and China col­ for revision stalled in the face of Western opposition, captured Port Arthur and the Liaodong peninsula Japan evacuated Sakhalin and negotiated a treaty lided over the country's future course. In Japanese clamor intensified for an aggressive stance toward in south Manchuria, and seized a port on the ceding it to Russia in exchange for Japanese control eyes, Korea was a weak, backward nation, easy prey China and Korea on the part of patriotic Popular Shandong peninsula. The Treaty of Shimonoseki in of the Kurils. Hokkaido became a Japanese prefec­ for aggressive Western powers. A German military Rights advocates as much as conservatives. In 1886 April 1895 gave Japan Taiwan and the Pescadores, ture, and a modern definition of property owner­ adviser warned that were Korea to be controlled by Britain and Germany proposed the partial abolition Port Arthur and the Liaodong peninsula, an indem­ ship resulted in land the Ainu had customarily used any other power, it would become a dagger pointing of extraterritoriality in exchange for allowing unre­ nity, and a promise by China to respect Korea's au­ for hunting and fishing being sold to Japanese de­ at the heart of Japan. In 1890 Yamagata Aritomo stricted travel by foreigners. The strength of domes­ tonomy. Japan's victory took Western powers by velopers. Without material support, Ainu culture linked parliamentary politics with a militant interna­ tic opposition to this compromise was so strong that surprise. In their eyes, it threatened peace and stabil­ lost its meaning. tional stance by telling the first Diet that for Japan to the foreign minister had to resign. Finally, in 1894 ity in East Asia. A week after the treaty was signed, Japan's relations with Korea also illustrate the maintain its independence, it had to protect its terri­ Western powers promised to abolish extraterritorial­ Russia (with its own designs on Manchuria), France relationship between modernity and imperialism. torial boundary, the line of sovereignty, and an outer ity and to give Japan tariff autonomy in 1899. (Russia's ally), and Germany (hoping to steer Russian The diplomatic mission sent to "open" Korea in perimeter of neighboring territory, a line of interest. Treaty negotiations took place in the context expansion toward what was now referred to as the 1875-1876 imitated Perry's tactics in 1853-1854 Korea fell within Japan's line of interest. of the first Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. Far East) collectively advised Japan to surrender its 362 Chapter 20 Meiji Transformation (1868-1900) C H A P T E R T W E N T Y-O N E

claim to territories in China. Despite popular outcry made a contribution: a sense of national identity at the "Triple Intervention," the government had no that could unite factory owners with factory work­ choice but to obey. Russia then grabbed control of ers demanded imperialist enterprises to divert atten­ Port Arthur and the Liaodong peninsula. tion from their differences. Japan did to its Asian neighbors what the Western powers had done to it by imposing unequal trea­ ties. In the process of demarcating its boundaries, SUMMARY it turned the Ryukyu Islands and Hokkaido into Korea in the Building a state capable of confronting domestic internal colonies. Having negotiated an end to the and foreign challenges proved difficult for the unequal treaties, it fought a war with China that Politics and Society Under Turbulent oligarchs-the men who had appointed themselves to would have given it significant territory on the Asian Child Rulers (1800-1864) be its leaders. They had to buy off the former ruling mainland had Western powers not pressured it to Nineteenth Century class of daimyo and samurai, centralize administra­ back down. Material Culture: Gimchi tion, develop a tax base, create a national education How should we assess the changes that Japan ex­ Documents: Donghak Beliefs (1800-1895) system, and reform the military, all the while facing perienced in the latter part of the nineteenth centu­ criticism from within their own ranks and opposi­ ry? Historians who note that ordinary people's lives Attempts at Reform and tion from outside. The Constitution of 1889 and changed only gradually if at all prefer to speak of a External Pressure ( 1864-1894) the Diet (national assembly) tried to balance the Meiji "transition." Others who point to the official Biography: Queen Min ineteenth century Korea faced many challenges: three rebellions oligarch's desire for stability and control with the abolition of status distinctions and restrictions on caused largely by the state's failure to solve long-standing institution­ promise of parliamentary democracy. mobility as well as new opportunities for political The Donghak Rebellion N al and economic problems, intermittent persecution of Catholics, a series Industrialization too got off to a rocky start. Al­ action talk about revolution. Comparing 1868 with and the Sino-Japanese War of young kings whose wives' relatives dominated the government, and though a few entrepreneurs used connections to the end of the nineteenth century makes it hard to (1894-1895) the threat to national survival by foreign imperialism. The last half of the government to their profit, others found that state­ deny that Japan had been transformed from a de­ Making Comparisons: operated enterprises were squeezing them out before centralized, largely agrarian regime into a central­ Slavery century saw the birth of Korea's first new religion, failed attempts at reform the oligarchs divested the government of everything ized industrializing nation. Molded by schools and followed by conservative Confucian anti-foreignism, and unprecedented but control over transportation, communications, the military, informed by newspapers and journals, Chinese interference in Korean affairs. Domestic rebellion and a strength­ and industries related to the military. Businessmen the peoples of Japan had become citizens. They ened Japan brought Chinese influence to an end in the Sino-Japanese War grew wealthy; the ranks of male and female workers had learned to ride on trains, wear Western-style of 1894-1895 and seemingly opened a path for serious reform. swelled. To protest inhumane working conditions clothes, and be self-reliant in striving for success. In What were the reasons behind the rebellions and the state's lack and demand better wages, they went on strike. dealing with the outside world, they had discovered of response to them and foreign aggression? What changed in the lives of To counter the destabilizing effects of increased that economic development and national defense people outside of government? What was Korea's role in the Sino-Japanese social mobility, new ideas, and changing industrial required expansion abroad. Adaptation of Western War and how does that war speak to Korea's relations with its neighbors? relations, the oligarchs and other conserva­ models to local circumstances meant that Japan did tives promoted unity and harmony. They had the not simply undergo a process of westernization. emperor model the man of character; they used After all, the effects of modernity on community education to promote civic virtues; they reinforced life, family relations, and definitions of individual POLITICS AND SOCIETY UNDER CHILD the authority exercised by the male head of house­ identity required wrenching changes in Western RULERS(1800-1864) hold through legal codes. Even foreign adventures nations as well. King Jeongjo's (J UNG-joe) death in 1800, leaving an heir of only eleven years old, marked the beginning of politics dominated by relatives of the king's wife, a situation that lasted to the end of the century. One reason was that all four nineteenth-century kings came to the throne as children under regencies established by the eldest living dowager (widowed) queen or were selected by such dowager regents when there was no crown prince. The dowager regent retained power until she resigned voluntarily or the king decided that it was time for him to rule on his own. Male relatives of dowager regents and queens benefited from this system in that they received appointment to high office. Conflict between clans for control of the king turned on which had ties to the eldest living dowager and which supplied the king's wife. When King Cheoljong (CHEOL-jong) died without an heir in 1863, Queen Sinjeong (SHIN-jung) of the PungyangJo (POONG-yangJOE) clan, whose 363