Lecture reading 1 - The Meiji Restoration

Question 1

Who was Ii Naosuke?

Answer 1

The shogunate’s chief policy maker.

Question 2

When was Ii Naosuke assassinated and what was this incident known as?

Answer 2

Third Month of 1860, Sakuradamon incident.

Question 3

Explain the ‘naiyū gaikan’

6 nai, 1 yu

Answer 3

‘Troubles from within and without’

Within:

• samurai impoverishment and declining martial spirit
• merchants living beyond status and financial means
• famine and death
• peasant uprisings and riots
• ideological ferment and mystical religions
• failed reform

Without:

Matthew Perry arrival in 1853

Question 4

Why was Ii Naosuke assassinated?

Answer 4

Ii signed treaties establishing diplomatic relations and trade with US/European nations in 1858 believing that trade would benefit Japan and that Japan was not strong enough to say no.

Viewed as a coward and a traitor for submitting to outside pressure.

First of many acts of violence towards ‘foreign barbarians’ and shogunate officials who tolerated them.

Question 5

When and why did samurai families in Kanazawa turn to commercial pursuits?

Answer 5

Early nineteenth century, because their standard of living was declining.

Question 6

What economic problems did warrior families face and who were they jealous of?

Answer 6

Warrior families were no longer enjoying a lifestyle appropriate to their status, and blamed the merchants for living above their means.

Samurai stipends were cut, most daimyo were spending three quarters of their revenue on alternate attendance system.

Question 7

When was the Tenpō famine?

Answer 7

1833-1838

Question 8

Which text was considered to capture the essence of original Japanese personality and what was it ‘corrupted by?

Answer 8

Man’yōshū, corrupted by foreign neo-doctrines such as Buddhism and Confucianism.

Question 9

Who believed Japan to be superior to other countries and why?

Answer 9

Motoori Norinaga, due to divine linkage with Amaterasu.

Question 10

Name two foreign studies that came into Japan.

Answer 10

Rangaku (Dutch studies) - important works such as mathematics, anatomy, botany.

Chinese translations of western books.

Question 11

Which three things were the new generation encouraged to debate in the mid-nineteenth century?

Answer 11

• utility of Confucian-based social heirarchy
• rule of shogunate in troubled country
• dangers and advantages of foreign cultures

Question 12

What set Satsuma and Chōshū domains apart from the others?

Answer 12

They were successful in reforming during the Tenpō period between 1830-1844.

Question 13

Which country was denied the establishment of commercial relations with Japan and launched raids against Japanese settlements?

Answer 13

Russia.

Question 14

When did Russia launch raids against Japanese settlements and which settlements were they?

Answer 14

Sakhalin and southern Kuril Islands in 1806 and 1807.

Question 15

Which country did Japan not want to end up like?

Answer 15

China after the Opium War.

Question 16

Which country demanded supplies from Japan and when?

Answer 16

Britain in 1808.

Question 17

What happened after Britain demanded supplies from Japan?

Answer 17

Local city magistrate provided supplies and then committed suicide for failing to protect Nagasaki.

Question 18

What did Japan become fearful of after Hong Kong was ceded to Britain?

Answer 18

That Britain or any other powerful nation might use gunboat diplomacy to extent treaty port system across East Asia.

Question 19

What did Aizawa say Japan should do and how should it do it?

Answer 19

Rediscover its ‘kokutai’ (national essence).

Shogunate had to revive the monarch’s role as the leader of religious-based state rituals (Heavenly Sovereign).

Question 20

What ‘gifts’ did America want to bestow upon Japan?

Answer 20

• advantages of American civilisation
• industrial revolution
• Christianity

Question 21

What year did Commodore Perry force Japan to open its ports?

Answer 21

1854

Question 22

Which countries received similar treaties to Kanagawa?

Answer 22

Britain, France, and Russia.

Question 23

What was significant about the Treaty of Kanagawa?

Answer 23

Unequal treaty.

Question 24

How did Japan resolve to not end up like China after the Opium War?

Answer 24

Slogan ‘Eastern Ethics, Western Science’ - Japan should adopt the useful elements of Western technology and marry them to Eastern morality, not denigrate the rise of Western science and maths.

Question 25

Who signed the Harris Treaty and when?

Answer 25

Ii Naosuke, 1858

Question 26

What did the Harris treaty entail?

Answer 26

• formal exchance of diplomatic representations
• scheduled future opening of Edo, Kanawaga, Osaka, Hyogo, Nagasaki and Niigata as ports and cities where foreign merchants could establish residence and acquire extraterritoriality
• Japanese tariffs under international control
• pegged import duties at levels that benefited foreign traders

In short, UNEQUAL TREATY

Question 27

What did Ii Naosuke fail to do before signing treaties with other countries?

Answer 27

Obtain royal sanction.

Question 28

What did the shogunate do to make up for Ii’s misdeeds?

Answer 28

Wed the new shogun to the sister of the Heavenly Sovereign to adopt a more conciliatory attitude towards Kyoto (‘union of court and camp’)

Question 29

Who opposed the union of court and camp?

Answer 29

Shishi (men of high purpose)

Question 30

Who were the shishi and what was their purpose?

Answer 30

‘Men of high purpose’

• Anti-shogunate, pro-sonnō jōi political activists from lower-and-middle class families who experienced economic deprivation and whose status blocked them from being appointed to high government positions.
• Opposed gunboat diplomacy and unequal treaties.
• internalised ‘sonnō jōi’, ‘high purpose’ of action against Japan’s enemies
• nationalism and glorification of the Emperor led to new sense of unity and common purpose among warriors from different parts of Japan

Question 31

What did the shishi do and which four domains did they usual hail from?

Answer 31

Launched campaigns of terror against foreigners, more than 70 assassinations between 1862-64 by shishi extremists from Chōshū, Satsuma, Tosa, and Hizen.

Question 32

What kind of reforms did the Shogunate push for?

Answer 32

Ones that would:

• strengthen the military
• revive the shogunate’s authority over Kyoto
• abolish daimyo domains

Question 33

Who were two key leaders in Chōshū, when did they assume key positions and what did they make of the Edo military buildup?

Answer 33

Itō Hirobumi and Yamagata Aritomo, assumed key positions after civil war in domain.

Did not approve of Edo militar buildup, dismissed shogunate as inept.

Question 34

Which four crises occurred towards the end of the Tokugawa period?

Answer 34

• currency crisis
• earthquake in Edo
• cholera epidemic from the West
• crop failures

Question 35

What date did Emperor Kōmei formally issue a proclamation declaring the restoration of his power?

Answer 35

January 3, 1868.

Question 36

Who stormed into the royal compound?

Answer 36

Armed rebels from Satsuma and Chōshū.

Question 37

What did Emperor Kōmei’s proclamation state? (4)

Answer 37

• abolished office of shogun
• restored power to Heavenly Sovereign
• created new government offices to be staffed by court nobles, daimyo, and other ‘men of talent’
• promised a ‘renewal of all things’

Question 38

Who were the belligerents in the Bōshin Civil War?

Answer 38

Imperial court, Satsuma, Chōshū, Tosa, Hizen, Echizen

vs

Shogunate

Question 39

When did the Bōshin Civil War end?

Answer 39

1869.