Before the Meiji Restoration, Japan was more closed and backward than the Qing Dynasty, and the complete closure of the Tokugawa shogunate made the Japanese at that time extremely ignorant, and even the Qing Dynasty was extremely difficult to trade; but the cannons of European and American countries woke up the Japanese, but because Japan at that time was really short of resources, small territory, and the people were thin, the European and American countries at that time did not even have interest in colonization.
Later, it was found that Japan's gold and silver were extremely cheap, and through price leverage, European and American countries easily earned a lot of gold and silver with cheap goods; but not all Japanese people were ignorant, and there would always be some people with lofty ideals who woke up, and through continuous efforts, they waited for one of the "greatest" emperors in Japanese history, Emperor Meiji, and finally through the "Meiji Restoration", Japan quickly embarked on the road to becoming stronger.
Now take stock of the eight heroes who have embarked on the road of changing the law in Japan:
TOP, 8 Tokugawa Keiki
Tokugawa Keiki was the last shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate in Japan, but Tokugawa Keiki was unlike other generals who blindly "closed the country". After Tokugawa Keiki became a shogun, at the suggestion and assistance of the French minister Roche, he carried out shogunate reforms based on the European-style system, envisioning the establishment of a unified power structure centered on the Tokugawa clan. At the end of 1866, Emperor Takamiyoshi, who had been supporting the combination of public and military forces and opposing the fall of the curtain, died violently, and the beauty of Tokugawa Keiki's defense of the legitimacy of the shogunate regime was extinguished. In June 1867, tosa Domain advocated the return of the shogunate and launched a rebellion against the shogunate, and the Tokugawa shogunate lost the war, but in tokugawa Keiki, who owned nearly a quarter of it, chose to return to the emperor; if Tokugawa Keiki resisted, the Japanese "Meiji Restoration" would be at least many years late, and perhaps died halfway through.
TOP, 7 Takayoshi Kido
Takayoshi Kido, whose real name was Katsura Kogoro, was born in Choshu Domain and studied swordsmanship with Yoshida Shoin as his brother, learning swordsmanship from Yakuro Saito and Western military science from Hideryu Egawa. He played a leading role in the movement of honor and curtain seeking, participated in the drafting of the Five-Point Oath after the restoration, and was a central figure in the government, promoting the return of the imperial books and abolishing the prefectures, and together with Saigo Takamori and Okubo Ritsu, he was known as the "Three Masters of the Meiji Restoration".
TOP, 6 Saigo Takamori
Saigo Takamori was born in Satsuma Domain, and in 1854 he became a close associate of the enlightened lord Shimazu Kibin, who lived with him in Edo, participated in the affairs of the domain, and fought for the Shōgun Movement, and was exiled until he was recalled to the domain in 1864 and held real power in the army and navy of the domain in Kyoto. In the same year, he participated in the suppression of the first conquest of the Choshu Domain by the Zunwang Faction. Later, he actively participated in the curtain fall movement.
In 1868, together with Iwakura Kushi, Okubo Ritsu, and others, they staged a retro coup d'état that overthrew the Tokugawa shogunate and established a new Meiji government. In the same year, he served as a staff officer of the Great Governor in the Pengchen War, commanded the combined forces of the Reconquest, and won the war. He was best appointed for his exploits during the Fall of the Curtain Restoration And the War of Pengchen. In 1872, he was appointed Field Marshal and Governor of the Guards. Before and after this, he participated in bourgeois reforms such as abolishing feudal counties and local tax reform. He advocated and supported foreign aggression and expansion.
TOP, 5 Matsuko Yoshida
Yoshida Shoin was born in Matsumoto Village, Hagi Castle, Choshu Domain, and after the founding of Japan, he was infinitely indignant, writing articles calling out the national crisis, advocating "honoring the king and defending against foreign insults" and defending against foreign insults. Later, with the permission of the lord of the domain, he established the Matsushita Village Academy, taught the art of war, preached the ideas of the king of Zunyi, and trained the leaders of the Fallen Restoration, such as Takasugi Shinsaku, Itō Hirobumi, and Yamagata Aritomo. After the signing of the Treaty of Ansei in 1858, he called for an armed crusade against the shogunate and formulated a plan to assassinate the shogunate's elders.
He pinned his hopes on organizing armed operations by the officials and secretaries of state, but eventually failed and was imprisoned again. In prison, he put forward the "theory of the rise of grass recklessness", and instead advocated relying on "rich farmers and rich merchants", ronin and lower-level samurai, taking advantage of the anti-feudal struggle of the masses of the people to overthrow the shogunate by force, providing an important guiding ideology for the movement of the fall of the curtain. Yoshida Matsuin was released to Edo in August 1859 and executed on November 21, during the "Ansei Prison" incident created by Ii Naohiro to suppress the Shōgun faction. His works include "Speaking mengyu dialect", "Record of The Prisoner", and "Record of Soul Retention".
TOP, 4 Sakamoto Ryoma
Sakamoto Ryoma had studied the "HokushinIchi Sword Flow" swordplay under Chiba Shusaku, while also learning artillery techniques. At this time, the American Matthew Perry went to Japan to ask for the opening of the country, which is known in history as "the black ship came to sail". Stimulated by the incident, he interacted with Mito's theorists. Determined to revitalize the Navy and overseas trade, he befriended Kondo Nagajiro and others. In 1858, he studied Western-style artillery in Tosa. In 1862, he was divorced from the domain because of his opposition to the policies of the Tosa Domain. In the same year, he plotted to assassinate Katsukai, an enlightened member of the shogunate who had returned from studying naval warfare in the United States, and was overwhelmed by Katsukai's insights.
After being introduced by Katsumi, he became acquainted with Saigo Takamori and founded the "Kameyama Shrine" in 1863 at Kameyama In Nagasaki. In 1864, he mediated with Katsukaizhou in the shelling of the Choshu Domain by the United States, Britain, the Netherlands, and France. He was more active during his second conquest of Choshu and commanded the navy of Choshu Domain. After being pardoned for the crime of escaping from the domain, he returned to Tosa Domain, reorganized the "Shezhong", and established a sea aid team attached to the domain, with himself as the captain.
During this period, Sakamoto Ryoma also proposed the "Eight Strategies in the Ship", which envisaged the establishment of a new state power system centered on the emperor. Through his efforts, he persuaded the lord of the domain, Yamauchi Toyonobu, through Goto Shojiro, to advise the shogun Tokugawa Keiki to "return the throne". Tokugawa Keiki issued the order to "return the great government" according to the Funaka Yatsura, and the Meiji Restoration began. Later, while in Kyoto, Sakamoto Ryoma was assassinated by Shintaro Nakaoka, a member of the Same Domain and captain of the Army Aid Brigade, in Kyoto, when he was assassinated by the Kyoto soy sauce merchant Omiya.
TOP, 3 Hirobumi Ito
Itō Hirobumi was born into the Choshu domain at the end of the Tokugawa shogunate. In 1853, Ito Hirobumi stayed at a monastery and later entered Matsushita Mura-juku, where he was taught by Yoshida Matsuin, the leader of the reformist lower samurai faction, and was deeply influenced by Yoshida. In 1862, Ito, Hisasaka Genrui, Takasugi Shinsaku, and a dozen other volunteers infiltrated the area around the newly built British legation on Shinagawa Gote-san and indulged in the frenzy of Shoji.
After the Meiji Restoration, Ito Hirobumi formed a cabinet four times for a seven-year term, during which time he launched the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War. In 1905, after Japan's victory in the Battle of the Sea of Japan in the Russo-Japanese War, Ito Hirobumi was appointed the first Governor of Korea, and in 1907 forced the Korean Empire to sign the Third Japan-Korea Entente, turning the Korean Empire into a Japanese protectorate. Japan has ascended to the position of the number one power in East Asia.
Throughout Ito's life, the core of his East Asian policy was on North Korea. In October 1909, Ito Hirobumi was assassinated in Harbin by the Korean patriot Ahn Jung-geun at the age of 68, after which the Japanese government held a state funeral for him. Ito Hirobumi's immortal work was to establish a living constitutional system that enabled the Japanese to carry out peaceful political evolution in an orderly manner and the people to gain increasing opportunities to participate in politics. Because he is considered the father of the Meiji Constitution.
TOP, 2 Toshimichi Okubo
Born in Satsuma Domain, Japan, Okubo Ritsu was a samurai and the first statesman of the Meiji Restoration in Japan, known as Bismarck of the Orient. In order to reform the clouds and rain, the iron blood is ruthless, regardless of enemies and friends, what stands in his way can only be ashes. He was eventually assassinated by civil rights men, but also succeeded in the Meiji Restoration. Although Okubo died, his cause was followed by a successor, Ito Hirobumi and others continued to promote the three major policies of breeding and industry, civilization and civilization, and rich countries and strong armies, which eventually made Japan a capitalist power, and the unequal treaties that had bound Japan for many years were completely abolished in 1911.
TOP, 1 Shimazu Kibin
Shimazu Kibin was the eleventh generation lord of satsuma domain, the twenty-eighth generation lord of the Shimazu clan, and one of the four sages at the end of the shogunate, who succeeded to the throne in 1851, he used the knowledge learned from foreign countries, adopted Western-style military training methods, produced new weapons, and in a very short period of time, built a dock, launched a steamship, established a French-style cavalry, founded a navy, and founded some civilian industries.
His passion for Western science, looking at the world, was the leader who led the Satsuma Clan to implement the policy of enriching the country and strengthening the army, and eventually rose at the end of the shogunate, and cultivated a large number of talents such as Saigo Takamori and Okubo Ritsuru who later launched the Meiji Restoration in Japan.
Although Japan is hateful, there are indeed many places in Japan that deserve our study, and the Qing Dynasty at the same time also carried out similar reforms, that is, the "Hundred Days Restoration", but the so-called reform and change method, whether it is the Upper Guangxu Emperor or the "Six Gentlemen of Wushu", in terms of the strength and determination of reform, are far less firm than the Japanese Meiji Emperor and his reformists. In fact, the resistance faced by the Guangxu Emperor was far less than that of the Meiji Emperor, and Empress Dowager Cixi was only in power behind her back, while the Japanese Tokugawa shogunate was the actual ruler of Japan at that time, and as a result, they launched one unswerving war after another and won victories; while the Guangxu Emperor and others, when they encountered a small setback, they failed, and this is the gap...