Suitable for IB DP History higher level, East Asia. Overview of the main personalities of the Meiji Restoration, and historiography on the Meiji Constitution

1. +
The Genro and the Meiji Constitution
notes from Beasley, Borthwick, Gluck, Najita, Tinios

2. +
The Meiji Emperor (1852 – 1912)

Mutsuhito

16 years old in 1868

Meiji is the title of the
reign, it means
“enlightened rule”

3. +
Growing up in Public 1872, 1873, 1888
Idea Taken from Andrew Gordon,
A Modern History of Japan

4. +
Fukuzawa Yukichi (1835 – 1901)

„The Teacher‟

Learned Dutch, then English

Travelled to Europe and the
USA

Helped to set up Tokyo
University (1877)

Wrote „Conditions in the
West‟ and „An
Encouragement of Learning‟
Fukuzawa Yukichi with Theodora Alice in
San Francisco, 1860 (wikimedia commons)

5. Kido Takayoshi aka Kido Koin
(1840 – 1900)

“The Pen”

In charge of government
structures, reforms, and replacing
the daimyo with prefectures and
governors

6. +
Okubo Toshimichi (1830 – 1878)

“The Despot”

In charge of finance, and
confiscating the assets of
the old ruling class

He is known as “Japan‟s
Bismarck”
Okubo Toshimichi (wikimedia commons)

7. +
Saigo Takamori (1828 – 1877)

“The Sword”

In charge of the reorganization
of the armed forces. Conscripts
were to replace the samurai

Eventually Saigo disowned the
reforms and led the Satsuma
rebellion, 1877

Featured loosely, in “The Last
Samurai”

8. +
Yamagata Aritomo (1838 – 1922)


He was impressed with the
strength of the conscript armies
in France and Germany

(wikimedia commons)
Organized a volunteer army in
war against the shogun
Introduced the Conscription
Ordinance, 1873, which
replaced the samurai with a
modern army

9. A masterpiece classical Japanese garden. Designed by Yamagata Aritomo

10. +
Matsukata Masayoshi (1835 –
1924)

Designed the land reforms of
1871

As finance minister 1881-1885
he implemented Matsukata
Economics

Slashed government
spending, increased taxes and
sold government enterprises

Promoted private enterprise –
helped founding of zaibatsu

11. +
Zaibatsu

Japanese business
conglomerate

Characterised by family
ownership, high degree of
diversification

„political merchants‟ like Iwasaki
Yataro (Mitsubishi) grew
powerful businesses as a result
of ties to the Meiji government.
Artist Yoko Ono (wikimedia commons)

12. +
Ito Hirobumi (1841 – 1909)

Ito toured Europe in search of a
suitable constitution for Japan

In 1889 the new constitution
was announced – “Constitution
Ito”

Ito was the first prime minister
(1885 – 1888) and on three
further occasions (between
1892 and 1901)

Ito was assassinated by a
Korean nationalist in
Harbin, China (1909)

13. Stepping Stones* to the Constitution
+
Gradual
elevation of
the emperor
to „above the
clouds‟
Consultative
assemblies of
governors in
Tokyo (1875)
Prefectural
Assemblies
(1878)
The Imperial
Promise(1881)
The creation
of a cabinet
system
(1885)
Meiji
Constitution
(1889)
* A key feature of Japanese garden design

14. +
Responses to the
Meiji Constitution
Your thoughts, please

15. +
Responses to the Meiji Constitution
Frank Gibney (quoted in Pacific Century)

Constitution represents a forward step

Male suffrage based on property rights

Basic individual freedoms

Bicameral legislature

Many prerogatives left to Emperor

Military control in hands of Emperor
Amazon.ca

16. +
Responses to the Meiji Constitution
Tetsuo Najita
Japan: The Intellectual Foundations of Modern
Japanese Politics (pp 82 – 86)

The political settlement following the restoration was
characterised by great tension and turmoil, resulting
from a struggle between rival forces strongly
committed to different modes of achieving national
greatness

Meiji Constitution not aimed at a democratic ethic „but
was an embodiment of the restorationist aspiration for
a comprehensive and predictable legal system that
would provide a final justification for the dissolution of
the old order and the ushering in of a new and strong
Japan‟
Picture: University of Chicago

17. +
Responses to the Meiji Constitution
Tetsuo Najita
Japan: The Intellectual Foundations of Modern
Japanese Politics (pp 82 – 86)

Violence against the „new order‟
was unconstitutional

Loyalism now an unassailable
virtue

„The privileges just
mentioned…were not aimed at
supporting the ideal of human
liberty…but the prerogative of all
to participate in the creation of a
strong society‟
http://www.bibliovault.org/thumbs/978-0-226-56803-4frontcover.jpg

18. +
Responses to the Meiji Constitution
Walter Beasley
Cambridge History of Japan (pp 664 – 665)

Constitution contains no „social
contract‟

Role of the Emperor formulated in
terms of „mystical absolutism‟ and
no constitutional procedure by
which the Emperor could „act‟

19. +
Responses to the Meiji Constitution
Carol Gluck
Japan's Modern Myths: Ideology in the Late Meiji Period


http://ajw.asahi.com
„…what is now called the Emperor system
did not emerge in earnest until around 1890‟
The Oligarchs promised a constitution in
1881…then „spent much of the next nine
years making…provisions to ensure that the
beginning of parliamentary government
would not mean the end of their
bureaucratic dominance.‟

20. +
Responses to the Meiji Constitution
Carol Gluck
Japan's Modern Myths: Ideology in the Late Meiji Period

The Constitution only provided the legal
framework… ‟It was the first general
election and opening of the Diet in 1890
that marked political change‟

Ito: assert the authority of the sovereign
against political parties. The Imperial
House as the „axis of the nation‟ (1888)

Emperor‟s role „strictly ceremonial‟
Amazon.co.uk

21. +
Responses to the Meiji Constitution
Andrew Gordon
A Modern History of Japan (p.70)

Obligations: military service,
school attendance, payment of
taxes

Rights: suffrage for the few

Constitution would contain the
opposition but an elected
national assembly now
existed…and may be a source
of future change

22. +
Yamagata Aritomo, 1880
“It is true that the Meiji Restoration‟s
achievements are outstanding…[but these
gains] are nothing compared to the question of
Japan‟s relationship with other
countries, which in turn is tied to Japan‟s rise
and fall”