8. The Political Consolidation of Meiji Japan

The Charter Oath

Promulgated on 6 April 1868 in Kyoto Imperial Palace. Outlined the main aims and the course of action to be followed during Emperor Meiji's reign:

1. Call for deliberative assemblies

2. Unity of all classes to promote national welfare and the economy

3. All classes to be allowed to fulfill themselves

4. “Base customs of the past” to be abandoned

5. Search for knowledge around the world

Grand Council of State

Highest organ of the Early Meiji Government. Mainly staffed by samurai from Satsuma and Chōshū and court aristocrats. Decisions made by consensus and ratified by the Emperor. Aim to centralize power.

Tokyo

Formerly Edo. Becomes the official Japanese capital.

Abolition of samurai privileges

Samurai’s hereditary privileges were abolished in 1871. Samurai were given a lump sum cash payment in compensation. Many went into business. Social restrictions on other classes also abolished.

Genro

A generation of elder Japanese statesmen, all born in the 1830s and 1840s, who served as informal extraconstitutional advisors to the emperor during the Meiji period. Many were from Satsuma and Choshu.

Yamagata Aritomo

Japanese general and politician known as the father of the modern Japanese army. His army was made up of conscripts from all social classes and took inspiration from the Prussian model.

Advocate of the German model of government.

Saigo Takamori

A samurai from the Satsuma domain who was a key member of the alliance against the bakufu. Proposed an invasion of Korea as a safety valve for samurai energies.

Led the Satsuma rebellion in 1877.

Satsuma Rebellion

A revolt of disaffected samurai against the new imperial government of Japan, nine years into the Meiji era that happened in the Satsuma domain in 1877 under Saigo Takamori.

Iwakura Tonomi

Japanese diplomat who led the first mission to the United States and Europe to establish diplomatic relations and investigate Western developments. The mission did not succeed but laid the groundwork for later missions.

Bunmei kaika

Means “Civilization and Enlightenment“. Advocated Western-style education so Japan could have a “modern civilisation”.

Fukuzawa Yukichi was a key proponent.

“People’s Rights Movement“

Started in 1870’s. Advocated powerful elected assembly. Supported by wealthy peasants and small entrepreneurs. Led by Itagaki Taisuke of Tosa. Strong influence of British parliamentary thought.

Itagaki Taisuke

Japanese politician from Tosa associated with the “People’s Rights Movement“. Founded the Liberal Party.

Expulsion of Okuma Shigenobu

Okuma Shigenobu was a genro who advocated immediate adoption of the British parliamentary system. In 1881, Ito Hirobumi and other conservative genro threw him out of government.

Shigenobu would go on to found the Constitutional Progressive Party.

Ito Hirobumi

Leader of conservative genro. Sponsored a mission to Germany and Austria to use them as models for a new constitution.

The Meiji Constitution

European-style peerage and cabinet government installed in 1884

New Meiji constitution of 1889 based on the German model:

• Authority vested in the emperor, who was controlled by the military-bureaucratic elite.

• Authority of the elected lower house of the Diet restricted.

• Actual control in the hands of the genrō through Privy Council

The Diet

The Japanese cabinet. Elected by “the people“ (restrictions apply). Had power over taxation and budgets. The cabinet was not accountable to them but must often compromise.

Imperial Rescript on Education

Signed by Emperor Meiji of Japan on 30 October 1890 to articulate government policy on the guiding principles of education on the Empire of Japan.

Had its roots in Confucianism and advocated for absolute loyalty to the state (and the Emperor specifically) as a fundamental principle of Japanese education.