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Japan's headlong modernization: the fall of the samurai, a constitution and victory over Russia.

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Meiji Period · 1868–1912 AD
明治 · The Restoration

The Meiji Period

From the Meiji Restoration and the astonishing drive to remake Japan as a modern industrial nation, through the abolition of the samurai, a written constitution and a conscript army, to the victories over China and Russia that announced a new great power to the world. Slide across a single generation in which a secluded feudal realm transformed itself into an empire of railways, factories and battleships.

1868 AD
The Meiji Restoration
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1868 AD

The Meiji Restoration
  • Political

    The Meiji Restoration

    Emperor Meiji in Western dress, 1873
    Via Wikimedia Commons

    Reformers restore the emperor and pledge in the Charter Oath to seek knowledge throughout the world.

7 milestones

Meanwhile

Around 1868 AD

Full Chronicle

The Meiji Period

From the Meiji Restoration and the astonishing drive to remake Japan as a modern industrial nation, through the abolition of the samurai, a written constitution and a conscript army, to the victories over China and Russia that announced a new great power to the world. Slide across a single generation in which a secluded feudal realm transformed itself into an empire of railways, factories and battleships.

  1. The Meiji Restoration

    • The Meiji Restoration

      Reformers restore the emperor and pledge in the Charter Oath to seek knowledge throughout the world.

  2. Remaking the State

    • The abolition of the domains

      The feudal domains are abolished and replaced by prefectures, and the Iwakura Mission sails to study the West.

  3. The Last Samurai

    • The Satsuma Rebellion

      Saigō Takamori leads a last samurai revolt, crushed by the new conscript army of the modern state.

  4. The Constitution

    • The Meiji Constitution

      Japan adopts a written constitution and an elected Diet, becoming the first constitutional state in Asia.

  5. The First Sino-Japanese War

    • Victory over China

      Japan's modern forces defeat Qing China, winning Taiwan and announcing the arrival of a new power in Asia.

  6. The Russo-Japanese War

    • The defeat of Russia

      At Tsushima the Japanese fleet annihilates a Russian armada — the first modern defeat of a Western empire by an Asian power.

  7. The End of an Era

    • The death of Emperor Meiji

      The Meiji emperor dies, mourned as the sovereign under whom Japan rose from seclusion to world power.