Transcript Social, Cultural and Economic Changes during the Meiji

Social, Cultural and Economic
Changes during the Meiji
Restoration
L/O – To identify how Japanese society changed
during the Meiji Restoration
The Goal of the Meiji Reformers
• The primary goal of the Meiji Reformers was to
modernise Japan in order to end the unfair
treaties imposed on it by the West.
• Two study missions were sent to the West to
find out how this could be done. First, the
Iwakura Tomomi
Iwakura Mission of 1872; Second, the
Hirobumi Mission of 1882. Both reported the
West’s power seemed to lie in its advanced
science, economy and military.
• Meiji reformers therefore coined the phrase
‘rich country, strong army’ (fukoku kyo nei) as
an aim. Japan would have to be changed
socially, culturally and economically in order to
achieve this.
Ito Hirobumi
Members of the Iwakura Misson (1872)
Route of the Iwakura Mission
Problems facing Meiji Reformers
Social Problems
Japan was divided socially by a
rigid class/caste system known
as the shi-no-ko-sho.
Japan was a fixed, hereditary
system. No incentive for people
to improve their lives, reform or
innovate.
Samurai stipends amounted to
50% of government expenditure
in 1871.
No public school system in
1868.
Women had no rights in society.
Cultural Problems
Economic Problems
Confucian belief system under
the Tokugawa Bakufu
discouraged change to the social
system and Westernisation.
In 1868 Japan had an advanced
feudal economy but was still
based on agriculture. Silk was
its main export.
Elements of society hostile to
Westernisation and
development.
No national tax system in 1868!
Lack of government funds for
development and
industrialisation.
Samurai culture and ‘Bushido’
discouraged many Samurai from
adapting to modern warfare.
Japanese national identity was
still weak and many not
committed to the emperor as a
political symbol.
Japanese industry faced foreign
competition on unequal terms,
unable to protect its own
industries.
Japan lacked raw materials for
industrialisation.
Social Changes
• One of the strangest things about the Meiji
Restoration is the fact that the Samurai and
Daimyo class abolished themselves!
• In the 1870s the government took
incremental steps to reduced the power of
the Samurai.
• This was necessary in order to reform
Japanese society from a hereditary status
system to a meritocracy. This was necessary
– Samurai stipends were costing the
government 50% of public revenue!
The End of the Samurai
• 1869 – Samurai ranks reduced to just two: Upper (shizoku)
and Lower Samurai (sotsu).
• 1872 – Large proportion of Lower Samurai reclassified as
‘commoners’ (heimin), although retain stipend.
• 1873 – Stipends are taxed for first time.
• 1873 – Mass Conscription to imperial army introduced. All
males over 20 serve for 3 years. Samurai face loss of pride
and purpose.
The End of the Samurai
• 1874 – Voluntary program to convert Stipends to
government bonds. Bonds promised 5-15 years of
income with 5-7% interest. Lower than Stipend so
few accepted.
• 1876 – Bond program made compulsory. All
Stipends converted to bonds. Samurai incomes fall
by 10-75%. Samurai also banned from carrying
weapons – reserved for police and army only.
• 1877 – Satsuma Rebellion. Last Samurai rebellion
against reforms led by Saigo Takamori. Defeated by
government.
Other Social Changes
• 1870 – All non-Samurai in Japan were
classified in legal terms as ‘commoners’
(heimin), ending the shinokosho system.
• 1870 – Tokugawa restrictions on modes
of travel, dress, hairstyle and occupation
all ended.
• 1870 – Discrimination against outcast
groups such as eta and hinin ended.
Reclassified as ‘burakumin’ or village
people.
Changes to Education
• If society was to change and modernise,
the Meiji reformers knew that the
education system also had to change. It was
based on American and French models.
• Like military conscription, mass schooling
was seen as a source of the economic and
military strength of the West.
• 1872 – National system of elementary,
middle school and university education
established. 4 years compulsory elementary
education.
Changes to Education
• Schooling was to emphasise
practical/technical learning and
independent thinking. The school
system was also used to teach
children to be patriotic towards the
emperor.
• 1885 – 46% school attendance
• 1900 – 90% school attendance
• 1905 – 98% school attendance
• Schooling enforced the idea that life
should be open and reflect one’s
talents and efforts i.e. meritocracy.
Cultural Changes - Westernisation
• With social changes came cultural change. In the 1870s
there was a fashion for anything Western from Ball-room
dancing to beards and top hats.
• The catalyst for cultural changes was the publishing
industry. Books, essays and novels all discussed Western
Ideas, especially after the Iwakura Mission of 1872.
• 1871 – First newspaper – Yokohama Mainichi
• 1872 – Western style dress became obligatory at the Royal
Court.
Cultural Changes – Eastern Spirit
• However Japan didn’t just copy the West
culturally. It based its new nationalism on
Western ideas and a revival of its own past.
• Shintoism was re-emphasised as the state
religion and personified in the emperor and
a new Shinto shrine for the nation was built
in Tokyo – the Yasukuni Jinja.
• Bushido (Way of the Samurai) was reinvented as the ‘Soul of Japan’: a new
nationalist ideology. See Bushido: The Soul
of Japan (1899).
Cultural Changes – Emperor Worship
• This new Japanese nationalism, a mixture
of Western ideas and Japanese traditions,
was symbolised by the emperor himself.
• The emperor became a unifying force for
this new nationalism, and he came to
represent the social and national identity
of Meiji Japan.
• This was reinforced by the 1889
Constitution, Patriotic Education in school
and through the Shinto religion.
Economic Changes – Emperor Worship
• Ever since
the Iwakura
Mission in
1872, the
reformers
realised
that the
source of
Western
strength
came from
their
economic
power:
‘Our recent travels have taken us to many interesting
and famous places…there is nothing we have not
visited. Everywhere you go there is nothing growing in
the ground, just coal and iron… Factories have
increased to an unheard-of extent, their black smoke
rising to the sky… This is a sufficient explanation of
England’s wealth and strength… and it is said that this
great growth of trade and industry in the cities is
something which has happened in the last fifty years.’
Okubo Toshimichi, 20th December 1872, four days
after leaving Dover, UK. Okubo was deputy to the
ambassador Iwakura Tomomi and was himself an exsamurai.
Economic Changes – Financing Growth
• The first problem was financing the
government budget. In 1871, the
government took on the debt of all the
domains. Samurai costs reached 50% of
total government expenditure.
• By dismantling the privileges of the
Daimyo and Samurai class, the
government reduced costs.
• 1873 – A National Land Tax was
introduced for the first time, demanding
cash payments instead of rice.
Economic Changes – Industrialisation
• The government next used these funds to
build new industries and ‘model factories’
for the business community to imitate.
• Shipping lines, railways, telegraph and
telephone systems, shipyards, mines,
munition works and consumer industries
like sugar, glass and cement were built.
• However by the 1880s, a lack of funds
forced the government to sell these
industries to private businesses. In return
for working for the government, the
companies would get special privileges.
Economic Changes – Industrialisation
• This became known as the Zaibatsu
system (huge business conglomerates)
like Mitsubishi and Nintendo were
created at this time.
• Many Zaibatsu found it hard at first to
compete internationally, so many
companies sold their products at a loss
to gain markets.
• The Japanese Silk industry was one
market in which they dominated,
helped by the failure of the Italian Silk
Market.
Raw Silk Production & Export from Japan
1868-1913
Period
Production annual
average (tons)
Exports annual
average (tons)
1868-1872
1026
646
1883
1687
1347
1889-1893
4098
2444
1899-1903
7103
4098
1909-1913
12460
9462
Coal Production in Japan from 18751913
Period
Coal Production (metric tons)
1875
600,000
1885
1,200,000
1895
5,000,000
1905
13,000,000
1913
21,300,000
The Size of the Japanese Merchant Fleet
from 1873-1913
Period
Number of Steamships
1873
26
1894
169
1904
797
1913
1514
Road Mileage in Japan from 1873-1913
Period
Track (miles)
1872
18
1883
240
1887
640
1894
2100
1904
4700
1914
7100
Task
• You task is to write up your notes on the Social, Cultural and
Economic changes of the Meiji Restoration. You can either:
• Produce a detailed timeline of the major changes
• Produce a comic strip of changes (ComicLife3?)
• Produce a Youtube Video / Presentation of the Changes
• Create a revision booklet of the change
• Create a textbook style revision hand-out with pictures
• Any other method you see fit.
• Try to think of ways to record your information clearly and
diagrammatically and with images.
• Read the articles on the website under ‘further reading’ for
more information and notes.