The national economy expanded rapidly from the 1680s to the early 1700s. The Tokugawa regime, alarmed by news of Eurpoean expansion, desirous of a society without significant internal dissent, and determined that Japan must cut itself off from the rest of the world, enacted increasingly harsh decrees against Christianity, until by 1623 the religion was subjected to unspeakably cruel persecution. Sharing a similar vision for the country, these men maintained close ties to the government leadership. In 1880 nearly 250,000 signatures were gathered on petitions demanding a national assembly. In January 1868 the principal daimyo were summoned to Kyōto to learn of the restoration of imperial rule. While sporadic fighting continued until the summer of 1869, the Tokugawa cause was doomed. The land measures involved basic changes, and there was widespread confusion and uncertainty among farmers that expressed itself in the form of short-lived revolts and demonstrations. −10% Aggressive expansion impact. In this Nariaki was opposed by the bakufu’s chief councillor (tairō), Ii Naosuke, who tried to steer the nation toward self-strengthening and gradual opening. The Tokugawa period is regarded as the final period of Japanese traditional government (the shogunate), preceding the onset of Japanese westernization. The period of its drafting coincided with an era of great economic distress in the countryside. Initially, a tax qualification of 15 yen limited the electorate to about 500,000; this was lowered in 1900 and 1920, and in 1925 universal manhood suffrage came into effect. The emergence of this well-to-do merchant class brought with it a dynamic urban culture that found expression in new literary and art forms (see Genroku period). The Tokugawa shogun Iemitsu receiving lords (daimyo) in an audience, colour woodblock print by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, 1875. A) Japan's relative isolation from world trade at the time, the prolonged peace during the Tokugawa shogunate B) the relative isolation of japan from world trade at the time and the Tokugawa shogunate's prolonged peace, it The Emperor and Nationalist Ideology in Meiji Era Japan 2836 … Edo Castle in the Imperial Palace compound, Tokyo. To balance a popularly elected lower house, Itō established a new European-style peerage in 1884. The first function was defending Nagasaki against foreign incursions (chapter 1). The emperor was “sacred and inviolable”; he commanded the armies, made war and peace, and dissolved the lower house at will. Starting with self-help samurai organizations, Itagaki expanded his movement for “freedom and popular rights” to include other groups. Samurai discontent resulted in numerous revolts, the most serious occurring in the southwest, where the restoration movement had started and warriors expected the greatest rewards. After the arrival of the British minister Sir Harry Parkes in 1865, Great Britain, in particular, saw no reason to negotiate further with the bakufu and decided to deal directly with the imperial court in Kyōto. This led to bombardment of Chōshū’s fortifications by Western ships in 1864 and a shogunal expedition that forced the domain to resubmit to Tokugawa authority. The individual was controlled by the state, the community and the family. As shogun, Ieyasu achieved hegemony over the entire country by balancing the power of potentially hostile domains (tozama) with strategically placed allies (fudai) and collateral houses (shimpan). Expansion of U.S. and European Influence on Tokugawa Japan and the Emergence of Meiji Japan The Japanese were forced to sign unequal treaties with Western powers. The famed samurai warriors were reduced to working as bureaucrats and writing wistful poetry because there were no wars to fight. He also revealed sensational evidence of corruption in the disposal of government assets in Hokkaido. Many Japanese believed that constitutions provided the unity that gave Western nations their strength. The Meiji leaders therefore sought to transform Japan in this direction. Government leaders, military commanders, and former daimyo were given titles and readied for future seats in a house of peers. Thus, loyalty to the emperor, who was hedged about with Confucian teachings and Shintō reverence, became the centre of a citizen’s ideology. The Meiji reformers began with measures that addressed the decentralized feudal structure to which they attributed Japan’s weakness. The constitution took the form of a gracious gift from the sovereign to his people, and it could be amended only upon imperial initiative. 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