Japan ModernizesHWH UNIT 8CHAPTER 13.1

Japan Before Western ImperialismShogunate

◦Feudal society Emperor at the top (largely symbolic) Shoguns (military dictators) ruled Daimyo: landholding warrior class Samurai: Fought for the Daimyo

Feudalism in Europe and Japan

EuropeKingLordVassalsKnightsPeasants

JapanEmperorShogunDaimyoSamuraiPeasants

The Tokugawa Shogunate (1603-1868)Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616)

◦The First Tokugawa shogunCapital in Edo (now Tokyo)

◦Rigid feudal hierarchyConservative: emphasized farming and

traditional culture over trade and modernization

Attitude toward the West: Sakoku◦“Closed Country”◦All Westerners expelled (except a few Dutch

traders)◦ Jesuit missionaries caused Xenophobia

The Arrival of the West and the Collapse of the Tokugawa Shogunate

Commodore Matthew Perry, 1853◦Sailed to Japan and

demanded trade◦Treaty of Kanagawa:

Opened Japan to the US Soon Europeans

gained access Extraterritoriality Spheres of Influence

The Arrival of the West and the Collapse of the Tokugawa Shogunate1867: The Shogunate is

overthrown◦“Revere the Emperor, Expel the

Barbarians” Anti-Tokugawa slogan 1868: The emperor is “restored”

The Meiji RestorationEmperor Meiji“Rich Nation, Strong

Military”“Japanese Spirit, Western

Technology”Abolished the old feudal

systemIndustrialized and

modernized◦ Iwakura Mission:

government officials travel to the West

“The Chinese have become servants to the foreigners. Sovereignty may belong to China but in fact it's no more than a colony of Great Britain and France.” -Japanese Official after visiting China, 1862

Meiji ReformsModern MilitaryModern NavyWesternized educationWritten Constitution (1889)Intensified emperor worshipAbolition of feudal systemModern banking

Industrialization in Meiji JapanGovernment-sponsored

capitalismZaibatsu: rich industrial families

◦Government helped establish business, family kept the profit

Japan Becomes Imperialist1876: Japan forces Korea to trade1894: Sino-Japanese War

◦China and Japan go to war over Korea

◦Treaty of Shimonoseki Japan gains land and influence in China

1905: Russo-Japanese War1910: Japan annexes Korea