HIEA 112 Week 1
Week 1: The Tokugawa to Meiji Transition
Think about the way that the Meiji leaders (authors of the documents that have been assigned for lecture 2 above) depicted their predecessors — the Tokugawa regime — as well as the emperor.
Although the Meiji leaders are still respectful to the Tokugawa Shogunate, they believe that it was inherently flawed and that changes need to be made in order for Japan to become a modern nation-state and compete on the international level. To begin with, the leaders depict the shogunate as unfit to govern. In the second document (Lu+Meiji+Restoration), it states that “All the power of the government shall be restored to the council of state, so as to eliminate the ills of having two separate authorities issuing orders” (“Excerpts from the Document on the Form of Government (Seitaisho), 1868”). The phrase “two separate authorities” refers to the emperor and the shogunate (military dictatorship) and hints at the need for a nation unified under “one sovereign authority”. Furthermore, they point out the need to rebuild international relations after Japan’s age of isolationism and the instability of the warrior class.
In addition, the Meiji leaders argue that the Tokugawa family took land and its subjects by force without permission from the imperial courts and therefore do not have rights to either. They go on to say that these families would hand over their “feudal domains” and “census registers”.
How do they legitimate their own right to rule?
The Meiji leaders legitimize their own right to rule by arguing that the Tokugawa Shogunate was unfit to rule and gained their land and subjects illegally. In essence, they explain everything the shogunate did wrong and what they will do to fix it.
Does this indicate their desire to be “modern” rulers in the sense that was outlined in lecture 1?
Yes, this does indicate the Meiji leaders’ desire to be modern rulers because they meet most of the characteristics of a modern state.
- “Monopoly of force” within Japan (i.e. they have control over Japan)
- Responsibility for the safety and well being of their citizens
- Separation of power within the government
- Capitalist economy (in progress)
- National ideology (in progress)
