Emperor Meiji, who brought Japan into the industrialized world power, died of uremia in his later years
Who are the most favorite historical figures of the Japanese? It is estimated that Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Sanada Yukimura, Miyamoto Musashi, Abe Haruaki and others are among others, but if you want to say who is the most beloved and revered emperor of the Japanese, it is estimated that in addition to the first emperor of Emperor Shinmu, it is the 122nd emperor, Emperor Meiji.
However, Emperor Shenmu is a figure in Japanese legend, and there are two theories about whether he exists or not, after all, Emperor Shenmu is old and has a lot of mythological colors, and it is difficult to determine the accuracy; but Emperor Meiji is the monarch who led Japan from a backward feudal country to the ranks of the industrialized world powers; the Japanese people seem to respect him as a matter of course.
Emperor Meiji was the second son of Emperor Takaaki, born in 1852 AD, and in 1860 he was made crown prince and given the name Mujin (because the Japanese imperial family did not have a surname, so there was only a name); according to the tradition of the Japanese emperors who have a deep cultural literacy, he received a good cultural education from an early age, proficient in Chinese, Japanese and other Confucian classics.
Like almost all extraordinary figures in history, Emperor Meiji was born in Japan's most turbulent years, and even more dangerous than during the Sengoku period, because the Sengoku period, after all, was only a civil strife and would not affect the status of the emperor; but after the birth of Meiji Emperor Meiji, the Western capitalist powers led by the United States knocked on the door of Japan with a strong ship and cannon, and forced Japan to sign a series of unequal treaties with it.
At that time, many people of insight in Japan "gained considerable knowledge of Western science and thought" and "learned about the general trend of development at home and abroad," and their ideological emancipation was relatively early. Therefore, although Emperor Meiji, who was in the growing period, lived in the court, he would unconsciously be influenced by the ideological trend of the times and the influence of Western civilization to varying degrees, and had a lofty political ambition to reform society.
In 1867, during the Fall of the Curtain Movement, Emperor Takaaki died suddenly, and emperor Meiji, who was only sixteen years old, succeeded to the throne, and was encouraged by the Zunwang Shogi faction to implement the "imperial government retrospective". After the overthrow of the Tokugawa shogunate during the Edo Shogunate's War, Emperor Meiji took Japan to establish a constitutional monarchy and adopted a "one-generation system".
In 1868, Emperor Meiji promulgated a series of restoration measures to implement the Meiji Restoration; of course, it was not so easy to carry out reforms, and the old samurai and the public would not easily compromise, but Emperor Meiji had such a staunch iron-blooded reformer as Okubo Ritsuru, who would crush the past with force in the face of all resistance; the new army, excellent and loyal generals, were all chips for the success of the Meiji Restoration.
In the end, after completely sweeping away all resistance, the Meiji Restoration was implemented; it was precisely because of the successful change of law that Japan's national strength increased rapidly, especially the development of military and heavy industry, so that Japan defeated the Qing Dynasty in the Sino-Japanese War, obtained huge war reparations, and then defeated Russia, one of the great powers; Japan's status in the world rose rapidly, becoming one of the great powers.
Emperor Meiji led Japan from feudal society to an industrialized world power, and in order to consolidate the power of the emperor, he began to mythologize the imperial family, such as "the unity of all worlds"; but no matter how mythological, he was only a mortal, not a god, and at the age of sixty, Emperor Meiji, who was suffering from uremia, died in pain with regret.
It should be said that the Qing Dynasty in the same period woke up much earlier than Japan, and the reformers and thinkers who appeared were much better than those in Japan; and the Guangxu Emperor at that time also had the heart to change the law, transforming the Qing Dynasty into a rich and powerful empire, and for this reason also implemented the "Penghu Reform Law"; but because of the weakness of the reform faction and the lack of military support, it eventually led to failure; the same opportunity, Japan seized and succeeded; and the Qing Dynasty, failed, and continued to sink.
Here is not to say how great Japan is, taking history as a mirror, we can know the rise and fall; only for the Qing Dynasty at that time to feel sad, the same is to implement reforms, the same face of all kinds of resistance, but why can Japan succeed? Because the Japanese ruling class, the emperor, has lost power for too many years, what they need is to regain power again; and in the Manchu Qing, the ruling class is still the ruling class, and changing the law will affect the power of the ruling class, so the top level of the Manchu Qing does not want to change the law, and the Guangxu Emperor is difficult to support.