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21 - Civilization and Enlightenment in Early Meiji Japan

from Part III - Social Practices and Cultures of Early Modern Japan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 January 2024

By
Amin Ghadimi
Edited by
David L. Howell
David L. Howell
Affiliation:
Harvard University, Massachusetts
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Summary

This chapter surveys Japan’s era of civilization and enlightenment (bunmei kaika), roughly the first decade of the Meiji era (1868–1912). It interprets bunmei kaika as a revolutionary attempt at Westernization intended to overcome the disruption wrought by the globalizing effects of Western imperialism. The chapter covers four categories: first, politics and war, including the Iwakura Mission, the political crisis of 1873, the movement for freedom and peoples’ rights, the invasion of Taiwan, the Saga Rebellion, the incident at Kanghwa Island, the Shinpūren Rebellion, and the civil war of 1877; second, thought, including intellectual societies, the ideas of civilization and the nation, religion, language, and the public sphere; third, society, including household registration, taxes and allowances, the military, education, gender, and law enforcement; and fourth, culture, including the emperor, clothes, food, transportation, and time. It stresses disorder as integral to these transformations of the 1870s.

Keywords

bunmei kaikafreedom and popular rightsglobalizationWesternizationFukuzawa YukichiIwakura MissionSaigō TakamoriMori ArinoriKoreaEtō ShinpeiItō HirobumiSatsuma RebellionSaga RebellionTaiwan Expedition
Type
Chapter
Information
The New Cambridge History of Japan , pp. 689 - 738
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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