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Historical background

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 February 2010

Norio Tamaki
Affiliation:
Keio University, Tokyo
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Summary

Restoration government troops finally, in July 1868, swept away the remnants of the bakufu. Edo was renamed Tokyo, becoming the new eastern capital, and the Japanese name for the era was changed from Keio to Meiji, or ‘Enlightenment’, in the autumn of 1868. Following the example of the Taika Restoration in 645, lands and people heretofore ruled separately by nearly 250 daimyo under the Shogunate were returned to the Emperor in 1869. The huge change started a kind of political Darwinism. Qualification for survival was without doubt an understanding of western experiences enabling one to comprehend the exact position of Japan in the world and her most urgent needs. In 1871, after the return of a small delegation to America, the abolition of han was carried out, and former daimyo were denied an active part in politics. In 1873, the return of the Iwakura Mission from their long western tour resulted in the exclusion from power of those who wished to wage war on Korea. The most prominent of the dissentients was Takamori Saigo, who had been supreme commander of the restoration army but who had no western experiences. There followed a series of uprisings of former samurai dissentients culminating in the Satsuma Rebellion of 1877 led by Saigo. Even after, power struggles continued and in 1881 Shigenobu Okuma was ousted from government. Okuma had tried various financial experiments which, despite his courage and enterprise, had been disastrous for Japan. He was outclassed by Masayoshi Matsukata whose mind was filled with western ideas.

Type
Chapter
Information
Japanese Banking
A History, 1859–1959
, pp. 21
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1995

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  • Historical background
  • Norio Tamaki, Keio University, Tokyo
  • Book: Japanese Banking
  • Online publication: 03 February 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511586415.009
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  • Historical background
  • Norio Tamaki, Keio University, Tokyo
  • Book: Japanese Banking
  • Online publication: 03 February 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511586415.009
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Historical background
  • Norio Tamaki, Keio University, Tokyo
  • Book: Japanese Banking
  • Online publication: 03 February 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511586415.009
Available formats
×