HIEA 112 WEEK 1
Hello! My name is Yusi Xue. I am a junior majoring in Psychology and Japanese Studies. I take this class for major requirement. I am looking forward to learning more about Japanese history.
Think about the way that the Meiji leaders (authors of the documents that have been assigned for lecture 2 above) depicted their predecessors — the Tokugawa regime — as well as the emperor. How do they legitimate their own right to rule? Does this indicate their desire to be “modern” rulers in the sense that was outlined in lecture 1?
In the assigned readings, the Meiji leaders implicitly showed their attitudes toward the Tokugawa regime and the emperor. There was no clear and straightforward depiction about the Tokugawa regime and the emperor from the Meiji leaders. It is undeniable that they were discontent about the Tokugawa shogunate, but they did not criticize the Bakufu directly. However, they showed their viewpoints by listing existing urgent problems and their ways to solve them. For example, they claimed it was necessary to establish a system which also included common people, so there might be no discontent. This reveals that people were discontent the system of Bakufu. They also claimed that “Evil practices of the past shall be discarded and (all our actions) shall follow the just way of the world”. This indicates that they believed the practices which existed in Tokugawa period were evil and unjust. They should abandon them and obey the new rules. Through those statements, the Meiji leaders state their dissatisfaction about the Tokugawa shogunate.
The attitudes of Meiji leaders toward the emperor were different. They separated their views of the Tokugawa shogunate and the emperor. They advocated the imperial court to be the only one authorities and lead the whole country. I believe the reason why they did this is because they wanted to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate. The deity of the emperor was more powerful, and the influence of the emperor could help them united and ruled people.
They first listed the existing urgent problems to indicate the practices and system of the Tokugawa shogunate were wrong. Then, they proposed their own solutions which were studied from the practices and system of western countries. These actions of applying the practices of western countries indicate their desire to be “modern”. They also used the examples of other countries to argue that those practices and changes were practical and would be successful. This could further help them to legitimate themselves since people thought they were truly trying to make this country become a better and stronger country. I believe this is a pretty common way to overthrow the past regime and establish a new regime: Listing the weaknesses of the past regime. Criticizing them and letting the discontent people feel you are with them. Providing your own convincing solutions for those problems and letting people believe you can fix those problems and make the country better.
