How was Tokugawa Society structured?
This military ruler exercised effective political authority in Japan while the emperor remained largely ceremonial.
Shogun
In 1853, this American commodore arrived with his "Black Ships" and demanded that Japan open relations with the USA.
Commodore Matthew Perry
This young emperor became the symbolic centre of Japan's new government following the overthrow of the Tokugawa Shogunate.
Emperor Mutsuhito / Emperor Meiji.
This traditional warrior class lost its privileged position during the Meiji reforms.
The samurai
This major 1877 uprising represented the most serious armed challenge to the new Meiji government.
The Satsuma Rebellion.
These powerful feudal lords governed Japan's domains but remained subordinate to the shogun.
The Daimyo
This 1854 agreement opened the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American ships.
Treaty of Kanagawa (1854).
In 1868, this statement of principles promised deliberative assemblies, social mobility and the pursuit of knowledge from around the world.
The Charter Oath (1868)
Introduced in 1873, this policy required Japanese men from all social classes to undertake military service.
Universal male conscription / the Conscription Law.
This famous former Meiji leader headed the Satsuma Rebellion against the government in 1877.
Saigō Takamori
This Tokugawa policy required daimyo to spend alternate years in Edo, helping the shogunate control potentially rebellious lords.
Alternate attendance (Sankin-kōtai)
These agreements with Western powers damaged the shogunate's prestige because they granted foreigners significant privileges and limited Japanese sovereignty.
The unequal treaties
The forces of the new imperial government defeated supporters of the Tokugawa Shogunate in this civil war of 1868–69.
The Boshin War (1868–69)
Battleship Island (Hashima/Gunkanjima) was a coal mine with notoriously poor working and living conditions owned by which company?
Mitsubishi
This controversial new tax, calculated as a percentage of land value rather than harvest, contributed to rural discontent during the 1870s.
The Land Tax / Reform of 1873.
Tokugawa society theoretically placed these four social groups in descending order beneath the ruling elite.
Samurai → peasants → artisans → merchants (shi-nō-kō-shō)
Meaning "Revere the Emperor, expel the barbarians", this slogan became associated with opponents of the shogunate.
Sonnō jōi
In 1871, the Meiji government abolished these traditional political territories and replaced them with centrally controlled prefectures
The han / domains.
The 1889 constitution created a parliamentary structure known as what?
The Diet
Samurai resentment increased when the government abolished these payments, removing one of the former warrior class's major economic privileges.
Stipends
Although officially ranked near the bottom of Tokugawa society, this group became increasingly wealthy and influential as Japan's commercial economy expanded.
Merchants
These two powerful domains formed an alliance in 1866 that became crucial to overthrowing the Tokugawa Shogunate.
Satsuma and Chōshū
This 1871–73 diplomatic mission travelled through the United States and Europe to investigate Western political, economic, educational and technological systems.
The Iwakura Mission.
Established in 1872, this national system was intended to produce a literate and skilled population capable of contributing to Japan's modernisation.
National Education System
The Treaty of Shimonoseki (1895) ended which conflict?
The First Sino-Japanese War