The Meiji Restoration
(By William Gerald Beasley)
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| Author | William Gerald Beasley |
Was the Restoration essentially a matter of throwing off Tokugawa rule and reuniting Japan under the Emperor? Was it simply the political form taken by the rationalization of Japan's outmoded economic system along modern industrial lines? Or did it reflect an unholy alliance between a declining feudal class and a growing bourgeoisie at the expense of the Japanese people? Which was the key ingredient—social ferment from within, economic and diplomatic pressure from without, a desire to redistribute the nation's wealth and power, or an eagerness to marshal Japan's strength more effectively against the threat of Western domination?
This book, the first modern, full-scale account of the origins, development, and immediate aftermath of the Meiji Restoration in any Western language, sees its origins not in any economic distress or class struggle, but in a growing sense of national danger and national pride spurred by Japan's contacts with the West. Nationalism provided the impetus for overthrowing the Tokugawa. Only when the Tokugawa were gone did their successors turn of necessity to the making of modern Japan, seeking strength and stability in new social patterns.”
