Meiji Restoration “Thought” Questions

What was the Meiji Restoration? Meiji Restoration vs Meiji Rennovation – 明治維新 How applicable are the following terms? –Revolution –Bourgeois revolution –Incomplete bourgeois revolution –Coup d’etat

How to describe the Tokugawa order Feudalism Feudal absolutism Feudal bureaucracy Premodern bureacracy Hereditary bureaucracy

Sakoku 鎖国 How “closed” was Tokugawa Japan? Why had Japan been “closed?” What sources of foreign information were available?

Samurai How defined Privileges Income Daily life Military training –What was the relation between the samurai the Meiji military How did the ruling elite of mid-19 th century Japan differ that of China?

Who brought about the Meiji Restoration Regional character Class character –Peasants –Merchants-artisans –Aristocracy –“Samurai” What is the significance of “lower samurai?” How defined? Why stressed by some historians and not others?

Ideology and the Meiji Restoration Did those who brought down the Tokugawa act on the basis of a revolutionary ideology or merely an ideology for revolution? What was the role of Chinese thought in the Meiji Restoration? What factors might lead to an exaggeration of the role of Chinese thought?

Shishi ( 志士 ) Who were they? What did they do? What did they accomplish? What role did they have in the Meiji government?

Western role What exactly did Western countries do? Which had a greater impact on the Tokugawa regime? –Direct military action –The economic costs of military action –The ideological costs of failed military action Were the western nations united in their approach to Japan?

Westernization When did reform and modernization on western models begin? What forms did it take? Who or what agencies initiated reform and modernization? What barriers were there to reform and modernization?

Growth and Change Why has the rate of growth and change been important to historians of the Meiji Restoration? –E. H. Norman –1960s American historians –The contemporary view Are growth and change the same thing?

The Politics of Political History What political events and ideologies have influenced writing about the Meiji Restoration? How is this manifest in the interpretation of specific aspects of the Meiji Restoration?