Meiji_Restoration

Meiji Restoration The Meiji Restoration For two centuries Japan had been locked away from the outside world. By 1615, after a century of civil war, the powerful Lord Tokugawa had defeated his enemies and declared himself Shogun, ruler of all Japan. Tokugawa divided society into four ranks: at the bottom were the merchants; then came the artisans; just above them were the farmers, who gave up half their rice harvest to those at the top, the Samurai. Only Samurai had the right to carry swords. The law of the land set them apart. The Tokugawa Shogunate was a kingdom built for war that began to crumble after 200 years of peace. It was the most orderly place imaginable. It was a completely schematized society where everybody knew who he was and what he had to do. But, in fact, because it was so idealized and so orderly and so tidy, history got away from it. The Samurai were the elite in the Tokugawa system - had not been allowed to raise its swords for 200 years. In between, had become civil servants, swords rusting propped up against their desks as they kept the accounts of their lords. Many of these Samurai ceased being able to japanese, samurai, japan, meiji, government, new, japan’s, farmers, people, emperor, years, western, nation, first, country, way, time, power, national, leaders, land, ito, became, barbarians, west, wanted, shogun, ships, meant, fukuzawa, constitution, because, worked, war, very, out