meiji japan, 1868-1912
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This teacher's guide provides an overview of the Meiji period in Japan, which lasted from 1868 to 1912.TRANSCRIPT
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.