The Meiji Restoration

In analysing Japan’s advancement from the Edo period (1603-1868) to the modern nation it is today, one can clearly identify that it was due to the pivotal repercussions of the 1868 Meiji Restoration that Japan left the oppressive hierarchy of a feudal military dictatorship and began climbing the ladder to a modern capitalist democracy. The encroachment of foreign imperialists undeniably had some positive outcomes for Japan, as it led to the abolishment of oppressive class structures under Tokugawa reign through a shift in national identity motivated by numerous factors and the introduction of European-influenced systems of law. Having been closed off to the west and technological advances for over 200 years, Japan’s desire to be recognised as a modern nation created much pressure to make systematic European-influenced changes to the operations of government and parliament. The most significant European-influenced changes to class society that the Meiji Restoration foresaw were adaptations to the Koseki (household registration system), the restoration of the emperor and a constitutional monarchy, the introduction of the Emancipation Edict, and finally, a surplus in wealth that resulted from opportunities for business and trade.

Before analysing how legal modifications individually altered aspects of the class system in Japan it is important to see how a multitude of factors, inspiring a shift in national identity, were responsible. The evolution of Japan’s national ethos naturally influenced the social strata through the introduction of legal modifications that presented the idea of a ‘commoner class’ (Heinin), abolishing social divisions in society. Feudal Japan had previously no concept of nationhood or equality; no national id...

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...tems, although significant, were also limited. The modernising process was not without its flaws or its regressive features. In fully comprehending this, one must look at the Meiji restoration through the framework of Japanese historiography and acknowledge the limits of western influence and realise that it was not the sole power in Japan’s transition into a modern nation state. Westernization only spurred transformation in Japan, the greatest change being that it forced Japan out of its feudal past and on to the global stage to adopt an identity as a modern nation state. This led to economic improvements and legal reforms which dismantled old class divisions. However, Japan’s own internal forces and idiosyncrasies of its entrenched household registration system maintained ongoing prejudices and discriminative practices that still remain in contemporary Japan.