Essays on Meiji

The Tokugawa Period lasted between 1603 and 1867 (Yanemoto). It was founded by Tokugawa Ieyasu, and it was also called the Edo period. The Tokugawa period was characterized by political stability, internal peace, and economic growth. The people were led under military dictatorship. During this time, the Japanese society experienced some changes. Some of the transformation include educational expansion, commercialization and economic growth among others. The social order in the society was totally frozen. The society was divided into four classes: Samurai class, Farmers/Peasants, Artisans, and Merchants. Peasants were concerned with food production through farming. Artisans used their crafts ...

The Tokugawa Shogunate had been peaceful and prosperous for many decades. However, when things started changing, and problems arose, the Tokugawa Shogunate fell and lost its glory. The Tokugawa Shogunate fell as a result of both internal and external factors. The internal factors came in the aftermath of the rise of the merchant class and the decline of power. In this case, the leadership fell since the Emperor did more of the reigning than the ruling, which means that more power is bestowed on the Shogun ("Tokugawa Period and Meiji Restoration"). Aside from the internal factors, there were external ...

The Early Modern Scientific Period started with the invention of the Portuguese caravel which paved the way for the rest of the inventions which came along with the concept of trading. The commercial revolution began from the 13th century, and the Middle Ages experienced an expansion of commerce and mercantile progress which was a by-product of the voyages of the Europeans into the Spanish countries of the time (Burlingham). The Industrial Revolution came as another significant change to the economic system whereby handicrafts and products were made at an astonishingly fast rate, which increased the monetary output of the ...

The collapse of the Qing Empire was soon followed by the death of the Meiji Emperor in Japan. These events caused so much shifting of power that long simmering rivalries boiled to the surface. Japan was watchful and had been careful to avoid the financial encumbrances that China had incurred to Western powers. However, the Japanese were not immune to the years of tribute and service they had paid to China or to the threat of Western Imperialism in Asia. Japan was very nationalistic and confident after their victory over Chinese troops in the first Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895). ...

The relevance of this work is expressed by the fact that the interest to Japan is increasing today. Many people, who are interested in modern Japan, are also interested in its history and culture. Consequently, the interest to theaters is also increasing, including the theater of Kabuki, which captivates the audience with its colorfulness and accessibility. The aim of this work is to fully consider the birth of Kabuki theater and study its origins, the specificity and role in Japanese culture. On the basis of the work’s purpose I have set the following objectives: - Consider the occurrence ...

In the contemporary society, manga or the Japanese visual novels became an integral part of propagating Japanese culture to broad audiences. The 1990s sparked an immense distribution of Japanese animation throughout the world. Even so, the manga published by the Japanese companies such as Shueisha and Kodansha became a high-valued commodity for all the ‘otaku’ fans in Japan and abroad. With the advent of the internet in the 2000s, these mangas became widely distributed amongst websites and even downloadable through scanlations made by the fans. One of the best mangas known throughout the world was the Rurouni Kenshin or ...

Shintoism and Buddhism in Japanese History

Before the spread of today’s religion, the early civilizations had different views as to how they could explain the things around them. Some would say it is the work of spirits who dwell upon plants, animals and inanimate objects while others believe in the intervention of divine beings who created the world prior to mankind. While some of these early beliefs have been forgotten in favor of newer religions, there are countries where early beliefs played heavily in the formation of the nation and even triggered a conflict to occur when a new religion was introduced to the ...