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Social, Cultural and Economic Changes during the Meiji Restoration. L/O – To identify how Japanese society changed during the Meiji Restoration. The Goal of the Meiji Reformers.
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Social, Cultural and Economic Changes during the Meiji Restoration L/O – To identify how Japanese society changed during the Meiji Restoration
The Goal of the Meiji Reformers • The primary goal of the Meiji Reformers was to modernise Japan in order to end the unfair treaties imposed on it by the West. • Two study missions were sent to the West to find out how this could be done. First, the Iwakura Mission of 1872; Second, the Hirobumi Mission of 1882. Both reported the West’s power seemed to lie in its advanced science, economy and military. • Meiji reformers therefore coined the phrase ‘rich country, strong army’ (fukokukyonei) as an aim. Japan would have to be changed socially, culturally and economically in order to achieve this. Iwakura Tomomi Ito Hirobumi
Social Changes • One of the strangest things about the Meiji Restoration is the fact that the Samurai and Daimyo class abolished themselves! • In the 1870s the government took incremental steps to reduced the power of the Samurai. • This was necessary in order to reform Japanese society from a hereditary status system to a meritocracy. This was necessary – Samurai stipends were costing the government 50% of public revenue!
The End of the Samurai • 1869 – Samurai ranks reduced to just two: Upper (shizoku) and Lower Samurai (sotsu). • 1872 – Large proportion of Lower Samurai reclassified as ‘commoners’ (heimin), although retain stipend. • 1873 – Stipends are taxed for first time. • 1873 – Mass Conscription to imperial army introduced. All males over 20 serve for 3 years. Samurai face loss of pride and purpose.
The End of the Samurai • 1874 – Voluntary program to convert Stipends to government bonds. Bonds promised 5-15 years of income with 5-7% interest. Lower than Stipend so few accepted. • 1876 – Bond program made compulsory. All Stipends converted to bonds. Samurai incomes fall by 10-75%. Samurai also banned from carrying weapons – reserved for police and army only. • 1877 – Satsuma Rebellion. Last Samurai rebellion against reforms led by SaigoTakamori. Defeated by government.
Other Social Changes • 1870 – All non-Samurai in Japan were classified in legal terms as ‘commoners’ (heimin), ending the shinokosho system. • 1870 – Tokugawa restrictions on modes of travel, dress, hairstyle and occupation all ended. • 1870 – Discrimination against outcast groups such as eta and hininended. Reclassified as ‘burakumin’ or village people.
Changes to Education • If society was to change and modernise, the Meiji reformers knew that the education system also had to change. It was based on American and French models. • Like military conscription, mass schooling was seen as a source of the economic and military strength of the West. • 1872 – National system of elementary, middle school and university education established. 4 years compulsory elementary education.
Changes to Education • Schooling was to emphasise practical/technical learning and independent thinking. The school system was also used to teach children to be patriotic towards the emperor. • 1885 – 46% school attendance • 1900 – 90% school attendance • 1905 – 98% school attendance • Schooling enforced the idea that life should be open and reflect one’s talents and efforts i.e. meritocracy.
Cultural Changes - Westernisation • With social changes came cultural change. In the 1870s there was a fashion for anything Western from Ball-room dancing to beards and top hats. • The catalyst for cultural changes was the publishing industry. Books, essays and novels all discussed Western Ideas, especially after the Iwakura Mission of 1872. • 1871 – First newspaper – Yokohama Mainichi • 1872 – Western style dress became obligatory at the Royal Court.
Cultural Changes – Eastern Spirit • However Japan didn’t just copy the West culturally. It based its new nationalism on Western ideas and a revival of its own past. • Shintoism was re-emphasised as the state religion and personified in the emperor and a new Shinto shrine for the nation was built in Tokyo – the YasukuniJinja. • Bushido (Way of the Samurai) was re-invented as the ‘Soul of Japan’: a new nationalist ideology. See Bushido: The Soul of Japan (1899).
Cultural Changes – Emperor Worship • This new Japanese nationalism, a mixture of Western ideas and Japanese traditions, was symbolised by the emperor himself. • The emperor became a unifying force for this new nationalism, and he came to represent the social and national identity of Meiji Japan. • This was reinforced by the 1889 Constitution, Patriotic Education in school and through the Shinto religion.
Economic Changes – Emperor Worship ‘Our recent travels have taken us to many interesting and famous places…there is nothing we have not visited. Everywhere you go there is nothing growing in the ground, just coal and iron… Factories have increased to an unheard-of extent, their black smoke rising to the sky… This is a sufficient explanation of England’s wealth and strength… and it is said that this great growth of trade and industry in the cities is something which has happened in the last fifty years.’ Okubo Toshimichi, 20th December 1872, four days after leaving Dover, UK. Okubo was deputy to the ambassador Iwakura Tomomi and was himself an ex-samurai. • Ever since the Iwakura Mission in 1872, the reformers realised that the source of Western strength came from their economic power:
Economic Changes – Financing Growth • The first problem was financing the government budget. In 1871, the government took on the debt of all the domains. Samurai costs reached 50% of total government expenditure. • By dismantling the privileges of the Daimyo and Samurai class, the government reduced costs. • 1873 – A National Land Tax was introduced for the first time, demanding cash payments instead of rice.
Economic Changes – Industrialisation • The government next used these funds to build new industries and ‘model factories’ for the business community to imitate. • Shipping lines, railways, telegraph and telephone systems, shipyards, mines, munition works and consumer industries like sugar, glass and cement were built. • However by the 1880s, a lack of funds forced the government to sell these industries to private businesses. In return for working for the government, the companies would get special privileges.
Economic Changes – Industrialisation • This became known as the Zaibatsu system (huge business conglomerates) like Mitsubishi and Nintendo were created at this time. • Many Zaibatsu found it hard at first to compete internationally, so many companies sold their products at a loss to gain markets. • The Japanese Silk industry was one market in which they dominated, helped by the failure of the Italian Silk Market.
Task • You task is to write up your notes on the Social, Cultural and Economic changes of the Meiji Restoration. You can either: • Produce a detailed timeline of the major changes • Produce a comic strip of changes (ComicLife3?) • Produce a Youtube Video / Presentation of the Changes • Create a revision booklet of the change • Create a textbook style revision hand-out with pictures • Any other method you see fit. • Try to think of ways to record your information clearly and diagrammatically and with images. • Read the articles on the website under ‘further reading’ for more information and notes.
