How Did The Meiji Restoration Change In Japan

The Meiji Restoration of 1868 marks the political, cultural, and economic modernization in Japan. In the years’ prior, known as the Tokugawa Period, Japan was a closed country that was particularly peaceful and prosperous until impending western threats began to weaken the Shogunate control. Following the arrival of Captain Perry’s Black Ships in 1853, the Japanese realized that their isolationist politics were no match against western power. This ultimately allowed for the overthrow of the existing political structure and the implementation of a more modern society. Many of the changes implemented in the Meiji Restoration were results from failures of the Tokugawa period. However, there were some institutions already in place that can be accredited

This is due to the growing prominence of the working class due to an expanding Urban life and commercial farming. However, commoner and private schools were not always prevalent. Pre-1750, commoner schools were grouped together as parish or temple schools know as Terakoya and village schools know as Goko. While these schools did not actually have Buddhist roots or sponsorship, many often met in Buddhist temples in the villages. Unlike the Han schools, the Terakoya and Goko did not study Chinese literature, but instead focused on teaching practical work skills and instilling Confucian simple morality. The belief in Japanese society was to focus on teaching citizens what they needed to know in terms of their occupation and class system. At first, literacy was not necessarily an important skill to teach commoners. This is why very few working class people attended school. This however, began to change when alterations in Japan’s working class made literacy a crucial aspect of everyday life. The rise of merchant management in society made merchants one of the rising classes in society. Merchants were considered the lowest among the class structure. However, by the early 19th century class lines began to blur as the role of the Samurai in society diminished. Due to the peacefulness during the Tokugawa era, the Samurai didn’t have many battles to fight. This allowed for weakness in the system because Samurai, still believed they were the highest ranking and expected to live luxuriously even though they lived off fixed incomes. They soon began to borrow money from merchants to pay for their opulent lifestyles and were indebted to them. This ultimately made merchant more prominent in society, and in order to salute their new status in society, the merchants petitioned for shogunal support of an academy. The