Japan's political system in the Meiji era. Essay "meiji reforms in japan"
200 years of shogunate rule Tokugawa ended with restoration Meiji(1868–1889) and the restoration of imperial power.
IN 1869 year, after the final overthrow of the power of the Tokugawa shogunate, the imperial person was proclaimed sacred and inviolable, with the rights of the head of state and government, as well as the supreme commander. The main call of that era was: A rich country has a strong army."
Epoch Meiji- a unique historical period of cardinal reforms and changes, when in a very short period of time a closed feudal country emerged from self-isolation and became a major world power. Japan, through the efforts of the emperor, turned into an "enlightened state" - Meiji (this motto is written in two hieroglyphs - "light" and "rule").
Japan adopted many of the achievements and experience of the West and embarked on the path of such large-scale modernization as modern history didn't know yet. As a result, the country managed to step over from the Middle Ages to the present in a few decades, change the political and economic structures, make changes in the industrial, military, cultural and social sphere and fundamentally reshape traditional Japanese society.
IN 1869 Year Emperor Mutsuhito moved the capital to Edo, renaming it Tokyo ("eastern capital").
Japan began an active struggle for its position in Chinese and Korean lands. After victories in Japanese-Chinese(1894–1895) and Russo-Japanese Wars(1904–1905) The Land of the Rising Sun began to be ranked among the great powers. Japan began to industrialize. Military victories contributed to the penetration of economic and cultural resources into the country. A long period of exporting the national wealth of Korea to Japan began, as well as the active development of trade relations with China.
It is the era Meiji became a period of interpenetration of Japanese and Western cultures. Much has changed, new motives, new techniques have appeared. Artists from other countries drew attention to Japanese culture and introduced elements of the Japanese style into painting, sculpture, and arts and crafts. Japanese motifs were especially pronounced in the new style - Art Nouveau (called "modern" in Russia).
The process of assimilation of Western influence included the emergence of new forms, combining the return to their own traditions and the use of new Western trends. In particular, successful attempts were made to work with new painting techniques that had long been known in Europe. Japanese artists mastered oil painting. Japanese painting of the Meiji era was influenced by such European schools as realism, impressionism, post-impressionism. IN 1887 year in Tokyo, a new school of fine arts of the national direction was established, and in 1907 The first official "Salon of Arts" appeared in the year.
Sculpture as a genre of art was not very popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but despite this, experiments were also carried out in this area. The small bronze sculptures of that era show the Japanese sense of line and color, which manifests itself in the use of soft green or warm brown patina. Woodcarving also developed.
An essentially new trend was the new engraving, called the "author's print" of sosaku-hanga, which appeared in the first decade of the 20th century. Hanga- this is any engraving, in literal translation - “printing from the board” ( sosaku- copyright, hanga-engraving).
The artists, strongly influenced by Western painting, realized the importance of their own artistic heritage, and found new opportunities in engraving to express their creative ideals. Traditional engraving was a production of mass printing, in the creation of which there was a clear division of labor of artists, carvers and printers in order to optimize and reduce the cost of production. Engravings of sosaku-hanga were regarded by artists as author's works of art, in which all stages of work - from creative conception to printing - were carried out by one engraving master. When working with sosaku-hanga many modern Western woodcut techniques were used, while at the same time maintaining the highest achievements of traditional Japanese woodcut printing. In particular, experiments with wooden printed boards were continued, which allow creating unique effects of the texture of the printed sheet surface. New themes and plots appeared in the author's engraving.
At the very beginning of their creative path, artists faced significant obstacles associated with the long-established norms for dividing art into genres (until the end of the 19th century, engraving belonged to the “low genres” and was not part of the “Fine Arts”, bijutsu), but in the future this style of work has become very popular.
Chapter 1
The accepted date for the beginning of the Meiji revolution, 1868, is very arbitrary. This year can be limited only if we accept the version of official Japanese historiography about the events of Meiji Isin, the essence of which boils down to the restoration of the emperor's power. The true content of these events can only be assessed by taking into account the entire complex of major events, the implementation of which took several years and which are an integral part of the concept of the revolution of 1868.
The coup d'etat on January 3, 1868, which resulted in the liquidation of the shogunate, brought to power people from the low-ranking samurai, who expressed the interests of the new class of landowners and the commercial and industrial bourgeoisie. The Meiji Revolution is a series of events that led to significant changes in the Japanese political and social structure. The four-year period from 1866 to 1869, which includes the last years of the Edo period and the beginning of the Meiji period. The Meiji Restoration was a direct consequence of the opening of Japan to Western countries following the arrival of Commander Matthew Perry's Black Ships.
In 1853, an American squadron appeared off the coast of Japan. Its commander, Admiral Parry, ultimatum demanded the conclusion of a trade agreement on American terms, which effectively deprived Japan of customs autonomy. Under the threat of the use of force, the Japanese government was forced to submit. In 1858, an unequal treaty was signed, according to which Japan could not set duties on goods imported from the United States above a certain percentage (from 5 to 35), had to recognize the extraterritoriality of Americans in Japan (that is, their lack of jurisdiction over Japanese courts), etc. Soon, almost similar treaties were signed with the European powers (England, Holland, France, etc.). "Not satisfied with the possibility of open robbery of Japan, foreign powers sought to turn it into a colony." In 1862, the British fleet bombarded the city of Kagoshima in order to force the Japanese authorities to pay a huge indemnity for the murder of an English citizen. In 1864, the joint fleet of the United States, England, France and Holland - the main colonial powers of that time - fired on the fortress city of Shimonoseki, forcing the Japanese authorities to satisfy the requirements for the unhindered passage of ships through the Shimonoseki Strait. The danger of colonial enslavement of Japan was obvious. This led to the merging of the anti-feudal struggle and the national liberation movement.
During this period, the emperor was nominally considered the head of state, but the real power was in the hands of the shogun, the highest official who was the commander-in-chief and head of the entire state administration apparatus, who uncontrollably carried out executive, administrative, fiscal and legislative functions. Starting from the 17th century. the post of shogun was occupied by representatives of the Tokugawa house, the richest feudal clan in the country, which opposed any progressive reforms. Under such conditions, the specific tasks of the princely samurai movement were formulated: to overthrow the shogunate, restore the power of the emperor and, on his behalf, carry out the necessary reforms. In Japanese official historiography, this period is usually referred to as the "Meiji Restoration" (Meiji is the name of the reign of Emperor Mutsuhito; "Meiji" is "enlightened government").
"The shogun had, along with his direct vassals in own property about 1/4 of the land area of the country. The rest of the land was in the fief use of the princes (daimyo) (approximately 260 principalities in the 18th-19th centuries). Daimyos had their vassals from the lower nobility - samurai, who usually received salaries in the form of rice rations. With the decline of the principalities, many samurai went to the cities and turned into small traders and employees, teachers, etc. ”1
“The Meiji revolution was not the result of a victorious uprising of urban sans-culottes and landless peasants, as was the case in France, but was an agreement reached between one wing of the feudal class - the largest tozama, represented by samurai and goyonin, and the richest urban merchants.” The establishment of an absolute monarchy as a form of state power (with formal constitutional government introduced later), compromise measures with regard to the top of the former feudal class, the creation of a new class of landlords who use to a large extent pre-capitalist forms of exploitation - all this speaks of the half-hearted, unfinished nature of the revolution.
The future monarch-reformer was born on November 3, 1852 at the Imperial Palace in Kyoto. Mutsuhito was the son of Emperor Komei and his concubine Yoshiko. Although she was not the official wife of the emperor, Mutsuhito was considered a prince according to Japanese law, and since the rest of the Komei children died in early childhood, Mutsuhito eventually became the only contender for the Chrysanthemum throne. However, then in Japan, being an emperor did not at all mean ruling the country. Since ancient times, the emperor, who was considered a descendant of the gods, and the court aristocracy were engaged only in the performance of numerous religious rituals designed to provide the country with peace, good rice harvests and protection from earthquakes, while the real power was in the hands of the shoguns - military dictators from the most powerful samurai clans. Since the 17th century, the state was ruled by the Tokugawa shoguns, whose residence was located in Edo (today's Tokyo), and the emperors were isolated in Kyoto and did not even have the right to leave their palace. The Tokugawa, who came to power as a result of a bloody civil war, considered it their duty to ensure peace and tranquility for the country, and they succeeded in this for two and a half centuries. The shogunate stopped endless feudal wars, introduced a strict class system in which everyone knew their place, minimized contact with foreigners, and even forbade the Japanese to leave their native shores. The flip side of stability and peace was stagnation, and in the 19th century, Japan had to realize the danger of lagging behind in the field of technological progress.
The future emperor, who received the name Sachi no miya (Prince Sati) at birth, spent most of his childhood in the Nakayama family, in accordance with the custom of entrusting the upbringing of imperial children to noble families. He was formally adopted by Asako Nyogo (later Empress Dowager Eisho), the chief consort of Emperor Komei g. At the same time, he received the name Mutsuhito and the title of Shinno: (imperial prince, and therefore a possible heir to the throne). Crown Prince Mutsuhito inherited the chrysanthemum throne at the age of fifteen. This year was later declared the first year of the Meiji era, which means "enlightened rule". This marked the beginning of the tradition of declaring a new era with the ascension to the throne of a new emperor, who after death received the name of the era of his reign. d. Emperor Meiji married Haruko ( ), the third daughter of Lord Ichiyo Tadako, who at one time held the position of Minister of the Left. Known later as Empress Shoken, she was the first imperial consort in several hundred years to receive the title of kogo (literally: imperial wife). Although she was the first Japanese empress to play a public role, she had no children. Emperor Meiji had fifteen children from five ladies-in-waiting. Only five of the fifteen survived to adulthood: a prince born to Lady Naruko (), daughter of Yanagiwara Mitsunaru, and four princesses born to Lady Sachiko (-), eldest daughter of Count Sono Motosachi), and had children. There is controversy about the role of the emperor himself. "He certainly did not rule Japan, but what kind of influence he had is unknown."
January 3, 1868 The Meiji government was established under the name "sanshoku" ("three departments"). Meiji included two groups of state advisers: 10 seniors (gijo) and 20 juniors (san'yo); it was headed by a chairman (sosai). A member of the imperial family, Prince Arisugawa, was appointed to the post of chairman. Members of the imperial family, kuge and daimyo from the principalities of Satsuma, Tosa, Aki, Owari and Echizen became senior advisers; junior advisers - five kuge and three samurai from each of the above principalities, among which were the main leaders of the movement to overthrow the shogunate - Okubo, Goto, Itagaki, Soejima.
The rulers of the principalities that joined the southwestern coalition or did not actively oppose the new government retained their power. The possessions and cities that belonged directly to the shogunate were subordinated to the new government and reorganized into prefectures (ken) and metropolitan prefectures (fu). At the head of the prefectures were put governors, at the head of cities - mayors appointed by the central government.
The military actions of the government against the Tokugawa troops required the reorganization of the state apparatus. In February 1868, the first partial reorganization of the government was carried out, as a result of which seven administrative departments were formed: for the state religion of Shinto, internal affairs, foreign affairs, army, navy, justice, and legislation.
Each department was headed by a member of the imperial family or kuge, who had previously been senior advisers. Junior advisers took up the posts of officials of the administrative departments. The most prominent figures of the southwestern coalition - Kido, Okubo, Goto, Komatsu and others - entered into the created department under the head of the government.
“Although the highest posts in the Meiji government were distributed among a narrow circle of people belonging to the imperial family, the court aristocracy and the highest nobility (daimyo), in fact, the apparatus of the new power was in the hands of mainly representatives of the lower samurai of the southwestern principalities (Satsuma, Choshu, Tosa and Hizen), who acted as leaders of the movement to overthrow the shogunate.
“On April 6, 1868, a meeting of the court aristocracy (kuge) and feudal princes (daimyo) was convened in the palace in Kyoto, in the presence of which the infant emperor Mutsuhito proclaimed the so-called oath promise of the new government, which consisted of the following five points:
1. A wide assembly will be created, and all state affairs will be decided in accordance with public opinion.
2. All men, both rulers and ruled, should unanimously devote themselves to the prosperity of the nation.
3. All military and civilian officials and all the common people will be allowed to pursue their own aspirations and develop their activities.
4. All bad practices of the past will be abolished; justice and impartiality as understood by all will be observed.
5. Knowledge will be borrowed all over the world, and in this way the foundations of the empire will be strengthened.
This was the first declaration of the new government on the basic principles of its policy, announced back in the period when Civil War. The government proclaimed a policy of "modernization of the country". At the same time, the declaration was designed to strengthen national unity, to ensure the support of the government from the nobility and the large commercial and usurious bourgeoisie.
Giving promises to convene a broad meeting, to resolve all state affairs in accordance with public opinion, the new government hoped to secure the support of the samurai and the bourgeoisie in the struggle against the reactionary forces of the old regime. Having won the civil war, it refused to fulfill these promises. The authorities immediately took measures to suppress popular uprisings. Around the time when the imperial "oath" was proclaimed, government orders were announced in cities and villages forbidding the population to unite in defense of their interests, to apply to the authorities with requests to alleviate their lot, etc.
In 1868 an incomplete bourgeois revolution took place in Japan. There were two currents within the anti-shogun coalition of the southwestern principalities. Supporters of one stood for the armed overthrow of the shogunate and the creation in its place of an absolutist government headed by the emperor. This trend was called "tobakuha", its main slogan was "tobaku" (the overthrow of the shogunate). Proponents of the other proclaimed “management through open discussion” (“kogiseitay ron”) as the main principle of their policy. They were against the armed overthrow of the shogunate, as they believed that the use of force would inevitably cause a civil war in the country and could unleash revolutionary actions of the masses. The first of them was led by Okubo, it had largest number supporters in Satsuma and Choshu; the second, headed by Goto Shojiro, was represented mainly by Tosa samurai.
Both trends acted under the slogan of the restoration of imperial power, but in tactical terms and in the definition: the nature of the new power, their platforms differed. True, the positions of both the supporters of Okubo and the supporters of Goto were largely determined by factional interests, the struggle of these two currents for a leading role in the anti-shogun movement and, consequently, for a leading position in the new government that was to replace the shogunate. The head of the principality of Tosa - Yamanouchi - and his proxies(Goto and others) put forward a compromise plan to eliminate the dual power (shogunate and imperial court) without the use of armed force. According to this plan, the shogun Keiki had to voluntarily give up supreme power in favor of the emperor. At the same time, it was assumed that Keiki would still remain the head of the Tokugawa house with the same rights as other major daimyo, and all state affairs would be decided by a noble representative body, the head of which was planned to appoint Keiki, deprived of the shogunal title.
On October 29, 1867, Goto, on behalf of Prince Yamanouchi, handed over to the shogun, who was at that time in Kyoto, an appeal in which he was asked to "return" the supreme power to the emperor. This appeal said: “Since the appearance of foreigners, we have continued to argue among ourselves, causing wide public discussions. East and West have taken up arms against each other, and civil war is continuously going on, as a result of which we are being insulted by foreign powers. The reason for all this is that the government of the country is conducted from two centers and the attention of the empire is bifurcated. The course of events has placed revolution on the order of the day, and the old system can no longer be maintained. Your highness must return sovereignty to the emperor and thus lay the foundation on which Japan can rise as an equal with all other countries. An extensive document signed by the leading figures of the Tosa principality was attached to the appeal. It outlined the basic principles of the policy of the new government, in particular, it was indicated that the government of the country should be transferred to the hands of the emperor; all state affairs, including matters of state structure, the issuance of laws, must be decided by the legislature of the empire. On November 3, 1867, a secret meeting of tobakuha leaders was held in Kyoto with the participation of Okubo, Saigo and Komatsu (from Satsuma), Hirozawa and Shinagawa (from Choshu), Tsuji (from Aki) and others, at which a specific plan was adopted to overthrow the shogunate by armed way.
The meeting participants agreed on the allocation of troops from each principality to the joint army being created and agreed with Mitsui, Konoike and other wealthy merchants of Kyoto and Osaka on the financing of military operations by the latter. After the meeting, Okubo, Saigo and Komatsu, together with representatives of the court nobility adjoining this group, handed over to the young emperor Mutsuhito a plan for the restoration and a draft imperial rescript on the immediate overthrow of the shogunate. On November 8, at the residence of Iwakura, one of the most influential persons at that time at the court, the rescript was presented on behalf of the emperor to the representatives of the principalities of Satsuma and Choshu. At the same time, an imperial decree was announced to pardon Mori, Prince Choshu, and restore him to his former rank and rights.
Approximate shogun kuge Nakayama immediately reported to Keiki about these events. The next day, November 9, Keiki officially announced that he had returned the supreme power to the emperor. This "voluntary renunciation" was clearly calculated to frustrate the planned military action plan of the southwestern coalition. At the same time, Keiki, as the head of the Tokugawa house, sought to preserve his vast land holdings, which accounted for more than one quarter of the entire country. The shogun expected that, having colossal income from his possessions and having the majority of fudai daimyo in his submission, he would be able to retain a leading role in the new government and at court. In the appeal of the shogun regarding his renunciation of power, it was indicated that he was taking this step only on the condition that subsequently a noble legislative assembly would be created, consisting of the highest palace nobility, princes and samurai.
“Shogun Keiki has been advised that his renunciation of supreme power has been accepted in principle by the court, but that the final settlement of the question of power will take place in the near future at an emergency meeting of all daimyo in Kyoto. Until the convocation of the assembly and the creation of a new government, he was asked to continue to carry out all the functions inherent in the head of government.
However, the movement to overthrow the shogunate continued to grow. Tobacco leaders were by no means going to rest on their laurels. The Oyai set themselves the goal of finally destroying the dominance of the Tokugawa house, depriving the shogun not only of political power, but also of its economic basis.
The decisive position of the leaders of the tobakuha was explained, first of all, by the fact that in this wing of the anti-shogun movement there was a strong influence of the bourgeoisie and the lower strata of the nobility, who were hostile not only to the shogunate, but also to the entire higher nobility. They sought not only to transfer the power of the shogun to the emperor, but also to carry out some transformations. These transformations, without significantly infringing on the interests of the nobility, were to a certain extent to satisfy the demands of the big and middle bourgeoisie, the new landowners.
On November 12, 1867, Okubo, Saigoµ, Hirozawa, and other leaders of the southwestern coalition went to their domains to organize the transfer of additional troops to Kyoto. Shortly thereafter, Shimazu arrived in Kyoto at the head of an army of 3,000, and 10,000 more were put on alert. Following the troops of Satsuma, the troops of Choshu, Aki and other principalities began to arrive in Kyoto. From the military units of the five principalities - Satsuma, Aki, Tosa, Etndzep and Owari - a new (anti-shogun) army was formed under the command of Saigo Takamori. On December 3, a meeting of representatives of 40 vassal principalities of the Tokugawa house took place in Kyoto, which approved the decision of the shogunate to renounce supreme power in favor of the emperor.
On the morning of January 3, 1868, on behalf of the emperor, a decree was issued on the removal of the troops of the Tokugawa-kind rulers of the principalities of Aizu and Kuwan from guard duty at the main gate of the imperial palace. The protection of the palace gates was entrusted to Saigoµ's troops. On the same day, at three o'clock in the afternoon, sentries let three members of the imperial family, eight kuge, five daimyo and fifteen samurai into the palace. These were members of the new government, formed in advance by the anti-shogun coalition.
“These persons proceeded to the small hall of the imperial palace (Kogosho), where a meeting was held in the presence of the emperor, at which the main imperial rescripts prepared in advance and stored in Iwakura’s kuge briefcase were read: on the restoration of imperial power, on the abolition of the shogunate, on the establishment of a new government, on the rehabilitation of all kuge who were previously subjected to repression for belonging to the anti-shogun coalition"
At the meeting in Kogosho, sharp disagreements immediately arose between Goto and Iwakura on the issue of their attitude towards the former shogun Keiki. However, the presence of armed force in the hands of the tobakuha decided the outcome of the struggle between Goto and Iwakura. Keiki was stripped of all political power; he was asked to immediately transfer the land holdings and the treasury of the shogunate to the emperor. This dealt a decisive blow to the shogunate. However, the dominance of the Tokugawa house was finally broken only in the course of the ensuing bloody civil war, which engulfed a significant part of the country. The overthrow of the shogunate was the greatest success of the 1868 revolution.
Thus, the defeat of the troops of the shogunate and the victory of the new power were largely the result of peasant revolutionary struggle. However, immediately after the victory, the new government began to suppress the peasant movement.
The authorities dealt especially cruelly with the inhabitants of the Oki Islands, which were part of the Tokugawa domain. The population of these islands, on the eve of the coup d'état on January 3, 1868, revolted, drove out the representatives of the shogunate and created their own local government, which assisted the troops of the central government in the fight against the Tokugawa forces.
However, soon after the coup, the government sent its representatives to the Oki Islands, who turned out to be largely the same hated officials of the shogunate who had been expelled from the islands shortly before as a result of a popular uprising. After a short resistance, the uprising of the inhabitants was brutally suppressed.
The Seitasho government decree issued on May 17, 1868, which is sometimes called the first constitution of the Meiji government, provided for the creation of a higher government agency(sanshoku) state council (dajokan), invested with legislative, executive and judicial powers. This decree stated that all responsible positions in the government should be given to the highest court nobility and daimyo; middle and lower positions should be given to samurai "as a sign of respect for their wisdom."
The decree did not provide for the participation of representatives of other classes in the government. He merely pointed out that all persons wishing to advise the government on any matter should be given the opportunity to establish contact with the appropriate authorities in a formal manner. The decree also limited the power of the feudal princes: deprived them of the right to assign titles, mint coins, employ foreigners without the consent of the state council, and under no circumstances allowed them to conclude agreements with foreign states or enter into an alliance with other feudal princes. These activities were aimed at the implementation of the main task of the new government - the centralization of state administration, the unification of the country under the rule of an absolute monarchy.
The protracted civil war increased the danger of an agrarian revolution, the approach of which was felt in the growing peasant movement. Hence the desire of the new government to end the war as soon as possible, even through a compromise with the representatives of the old regime. The class solidarity of the entire samurai also affected.
“The historical significance of the coup d'état on January 3, 1868 and the civil war that followed it lies not in the formal restoration of the imperial dynasty, but in the liquidation of the Tokugawa shogunate, which was the stronghold of large feudal lords, and the coming to power of the lower nobility, which largely reflected the interests of the commercial and industrial bourgeoisie and new landlords.
The change of power took place in conditions of extreme aggravation of the class struggle, the growth of the national and political self-consciousness of the Japanese people, in conditions of a deep crisis of the entire feudal system, and therefore the new government was forced to pursue a policy of "modernization of the country", i.e., bourgeois reforms.
The overthrow of the shogunate ushered in a period of important political and social transformation that paved the way for the establishment of a capitalist mode of production in Japan.
The promise to convene a parliament in 1890, made in the imperial decree of October 12, 1881, noticeably revived the political situation in the country. The emergence of the first bourgeois political party in Japan dates back to 1881. It was called "jiyuto", which means "liberal party". In 1898, the imperial government, wiser from the experience of parliamentary government, decided to turn the jiyuto into a semi-governmental party. In 1900, the party was renamed seiyukai ("association of political friends"). Deputies of parliament, officials of local authorities, heads of chambers of commerce, chairmen of joint-stock companies with a capital of at least 50,000 yen, directors of banks whose capital exceeds 100,000 yen, lawyers, and large taxpayers could become its members. The largest industrial concern "Mitsui" becomes the patron of the party.
The interests of another major concern, Mitsubishi, were expressed by the minseito party (People's Policy Party).
In the shortest possible time were formed political parties - liberal and constitutional reforms. They mainly reflected the interests of the landlords, the middle part of the bourgeoisie, who had little connection with government spheres and hoped to achieve at least a slight, very moderate liberalization of the existing system, in which the government was dominated by a clique of immigrants from the principalities of Satsuma and Teshu. The socialists also tried to organize themselves, creating the Eastern Socialist Party with an anarchist bias. “Unlike European countries, political parties in Japan were formed not after, but before the appearance of the parliament. But even these very timid steps were met with hostility by the authorities.”
In 1882, a law was passed restricting the activities of public organizations and obliging political parties to coordinate all their actions with the authorities. Moreover, as a response, in March 1882, the Party of Constitutional Reforms of an openly monarchist wing was formed from representatives of the highest officials. Nevertheless, radical movements began to grow in the ranks of the opposition, especially among the local branches of the Liberal Party, aiming at a military coup and not excluding the possibility of terrorist acts. All this happened against the backdrop of numerous peasant unrest caused by predatory extortions and taxes. The vigorous activity of the left groups frightened the leaders of the Liberal Party, and in 1884 they decided to dissolve themselves. A year earlier, the Constitutional Reform Party was also dissolved. However, these were purely tactical steps. The middle strata did not give up the idea of achieving favorable shifts in the state structure. The temporality of the respite was also felt in the government. In 1882, a government mission headed by one of the most conservative figures, Ito Hirobumi, was sent abroad to study the constitutional experience of European countries. A year and a half later, Ito, together with his companions, returned to his homeland and, in complete secrecy from the public, began work on the draft Constitution of Japan. As a model, he chose the most reactionary option - the Constitution of Prussia. “But before the project was proposed for consideration by the government and the emperor, some preparatory work had to be carried out in order to exclude the possibility of even the slightest radicalization of the planned parliament. Firstly, it was decided to limit the liberalism of the elected lower chamber from the outset to the conservatism of the upper, appointed one. To this end, in 1884, the institution of peers was created in the country and aristocratic titles (prince, marquis, count, viscount and baron) were established, which were given to former daimyo, court nobility and some of the most zealous supporters of the throne. Secondly, there was a reorganization of the government according to the European model. The first cabinet of ministers of Japan, headed by Ito Hirobumi, consisted of 10 people - the prime minister and 9 ministers (8 of them were from Satsuma and Choshu). In addition, the authorities expelled about six hundred representatives of the opposition from Tokyo. The most radical of them were imprisoned. On the other hand, former prominent members of the Liberal Party and the Constitutional Reform Party, Okuma Shigenobu and Goto Shojiro, who showed a willingness to cooperate, were favored, granted county titles and invited to work in government. The preparation of the Meiji Constitution was completed only by 1888. It was decided not to submit the draft for a wide discussion, as the opposition sought, but to consider it at the Privy Council, created under the emperor and consisting of 12 representatives of the former feudal aristocracy, mainly from the principalities of Satsuma, Choshu, Tosa and Hizen. The Privy Council was headed by the same Ito Hirobumi, who refused the post of prime minister for this. About half a year the Privy Council for behind closed doors engaged in polishing the text of the Constitution.
Finally, in November 1888, it was read by the emperor in the palace in the presence of members of the government, senior dignitaries and foreign representatives. And only on February 11, 1889 the text of the Constitution was made public. The date for this was not chosen by chance. On February 11, Japan celebrated Kigensetsu - a memorable, but very conditional date of accession to the throne in 660 BC. the legendary Emperor Jimmu. The very appearance in Japan of the Constitution, which provided for the opening of the Parliament, of course, can be regarded as an almost revolutionary event. Although upon closer examination it turned out that if the emperor had sacrificed his rights in favor of the people, then only a little. The person of the emperor was proclaimed sacred and inviolable, having, moreover, unlimited rights of head of state and supreme commander in chief. He possessed all the fullness of the legislative, executive, judicial and military power in the country. But the rights of subjects, such as freedom of speech, correspondence, press, assembly and associations, were spelled out in the Constitution much more modestly, with a constant proviso: "... within the limits established by law"6. Equally curtailed were the opportunities that opened up for future parliamentarians. They could gather for meetings not at their own discretion, but only at the behest of the emperor. The emperor appointed the minister-president (premier) and, on his recommendation, all other ministers. The Cabinet of Ministers was responsible only to the Emperor. Neither a vote of no confidence, since the latter was not provided for by the constitution, nor the resignation of individual ministers, since the legislation did not provide for the collegial responsibility of ministers, nor the rejection of the budget by parliament, since the constitution allowed in this case the budget of the previous year, could not overthrow it.
Legislative power belonged to the emperor together with the parliament. Laws passed by parliament could not be promulgated and enforced without imperial approval and signature, and without the sanction of the Privy Council. Between sessions of parliament, the emperor could issue decrees having the force of law. The emperor convened parliament and closed it, postponed the dates of parliamentary meetings, could dissolve the chamber of deputies. The emperor also had the right to amnesty, pardon, commutation of punishment and restoration of rights. The constitution did not abolish the activity of advisory bodies under the emperor. These included: "secret council", "genro" - an extra-constitutional advisory body under the emperor; ministry of the imperial court; council of marshals and admirals, etc. The Privy Council was given the consideration of the most important state affairs. The government consulted with him on all important issues politicians; from him came the approval of imperial decrees on appointments; he had the right to interpret the constitution.
The Constitution of 1889 laid the state-legal foundations for the capitalist development of the country. However, in further development Japan is on the path of militarization of the state. The positions of the military were very strong in unconstitutional institutions - the Privy Council and Genro. In 1895 the order was confirmed by law, according to which only the ranks of the highest military and naval command were appointed to the posts of military and naval ministers. Thus, the military got an additional opportunity to put pressure on the government and parliament. From the 79s. nineteenth century Japan is embarking on the path of aggressive wars and colonial conquests.
Parliament was not recognized as having the right to investigate or evaluate government responses to parliamentary inquiries. The Emperor could issue binding decrees on any occasion without consulting Parliament. According to its structure, the parliament was determined to be bicameral. The upper house of peers consisted of members of the imperial family, titled aristocracy and financial nobility. Its influence was much higher than that of the lower house of representatives. Under the electoral law, the right to vote in the lower house was granted to men over 25 years of age who paid at least 15 yen in direct tax and lived in their district for at least a year and a half. That is, gender, age, property and settled qualifications were introduced. This opened up access to the ballot box for only one out of every hundred inhabitants of the country.
The constitution also determined the rights of the cabinet of ministers and the Privy Council appointed by the emperor, responsible only to the throne and in no way dependent on parliament. In other words, Japan maintained an autocratic monarchy. “In order to somewhat muffle the enthusiasm of the masses generated by the Constitution and the increased penetration of Western culture into the country, the emperor published in 1890 a rescript on education. The leadership of schools and other educational institutions was obliged to regularly read to students this document, imbued with the spirit of nationalism, loyalty to the emperor, loyalty and respect for the authorities. The idea was hammered into the minds of schoolchildren that the Constitution and Parliament were bestowed on the people of Japan by the grace and progressive will of Emperor Meiji. Soon every Japanese knew the text of the rescript by heart. At the next reading of the rescript, deep bows were made in front of the portrait of the emperor. And if suddenly the teacher on duty, who was allowed to keep a copy of the rescript only in white ceremonial gloves, got lost in the text, he was expected to be fired and disgraced.
On July 1, 1890, the first parliamentary elections were held in the country. Despite the existence of various qualifications and restrictions, more than half of the 300 deputies elected to the lower house belonged to the anti-government opposition - the Liberal Party and the Constitutional Reform Party, which by that time had actually recovered, although they did not act under their former names. 250 of its permanent and temporary (for a period of 7 years) members were appointed to the Chamber of Peers. Relations between the government and the lower house were tense, even hostile, from the very beginning. Parliamentarians demanded tax cuts, cheaper government apparatus, and cuts in government spending. Particularly sharp clashes arose over appropriations for military needs. By behind-the-scenes maneuvers, the authorities managed to split the parliamentary opposition, the course of arming the country was adopted, although in a somewhat truncated form. The confrontation between these branches of government continued for quite a long time with varying success. Either the opposition announced a vote of no confidence in the government, forcing him to resign, or the cabinet of ministers initiated the dissolution of parliament. However, the opposing sides were unanimous on one point - the need to cancel unequal treaties with Western countries. It was, of course, not only a matter of state prestige and foreigners' lack of jurisdiction under Japanese law. Low import duties, the ceiling of which was again determined by those concluded during
The Cabinet of Ministers was small. In the first period of its existence, it consisted of 10 people: minister-president, minister of foreign affairs, interior, finance, military, maritime, justice, education, agriculture and trade, communications.
Judicial reform.
In the field of domestic innovations, the most important was the reorganization of the judicial system on a European basis. According to the law of 1890. uniform courts throughout the country are being established. Its territory is divided into 298 districts, each of which has a local court. The next instances were 49 provincial courts, 7 courts of appeal and the High Imperial Court, whose competence included the consideration of the most important cases, the highest appeal and clarification of laws. The status of the prosecutor's office was concretized, its powers were expanded. The prosecutor's office was responsible for:
a) directing the preliminary investigation;
b) maintaining the charge in court;
c) challenging sentences and supervising courts.
In 1890, the Code of Criminal Procedure received a new edition.
The judicial investigation was to be based on the principles of publicity, oral, competitiveness. At the beginning of the twentieth century. Jury trial was introduced in Japan.
Since 1872, representatives of the press began to be admitted to courts, torture was prohibited in resolving civil cases, class distinctions were formally abolished, and blood feuds were prohibited. In 1874, torture was limited and then completely prohibited in criminal proceedings.
The law of 1890, in accordance with the constitution, formally enshrines the principle of irremovability and independence of judges, providing for the possibility of dismissal, demotion of a judge only in cases of bringing him to criminal liability or disciplinary punishment. For this purpose, the Law on Disciplinary Liability of Judges was adopted in the same year. The direct leverage of pressure on judges remained with the Minister of Justice, who provides general administrative supervision of Japanese justice, and has the right to nominate judges to the highest judicial and administrative posts. To fill the position of a judge, according to the Law of 1890, legal knowledge and professional experience were required. Persons who passed the relevant examinations and successfully completed a probationary period of service in the judicial and prosecutor's offices for three years became judges.
The 1890 law also provided for the creation of a Higher Public Prosecutor's Office with a staff of local prosecutors subject to strict subordination. Prosecutors were subject to the same qualifications as judges, they were also subject to the control of the Minister of Justice, who had the right to give instructions to prosecutors on certain court cases.
In 1893, the Bar Act was passed. Lawyers began to participate in the work of the court. The lawyer corps was under the strict control of both the Minister of Justice and the Prosecutor's Office. Lawyers also fell under the jurisdiction of the disciplinary courts. The right to bring them to disciplinary responsibility belonged to the prosecutors. Despite all these innovations, Japan's "law enforcement" system remained for a long time a repressive appendage of imperial power.
Agricultural transformation
The significance of the agrarian reforms carried out in the first years of the Meiji period is extremely great. They had a comprehensive influence on the subsequent development of the entire Japanese society. The reform of agrarian relations is primarily associated with such government measures as the abolition of the feudal dependence of the peasants, feudal ownership of land, the introduction of freedom of choice of cultivated crops, and, finally, the reform of the land tax. Combined with a change in the class character of power (albeit not a radical one), these transformations alone are enough to recognize the Meiji events as a bourgeois revolution.
“The implementation of these measures led to the establishment of private ownership of land with the right to buy and sell it, which expanded the possibility of land mobilization. The abolition of feudal property and feudal duties, which were the legal basis for the seizure of land rent, which was the main income ruling class, demanded the establishment of a new legal system that corresponded to the capitalist mode of exploitation. main source of creation material assets there was agricultural production in the state, and this gave special importance to agrarian legislation.
The reform of the land tax provided the legal basis for the new agrarian relations.
The immediate reason for the introduction of the land tax was the new government's need for sources of income to support the state budget. The feudal rent-tax in its former form was abolished together with feudal law. The only possible stable source of income for state needs could only be the land tax. However, for its introduction, a legally precise definition of ownership of all lands was necessary. Moreover, it could only be about private property.
On December 25, 1871, a decree was issued on the abolition of the category of lands of samurai and feudal lords (bukeji) and the lands of townspeople (choji) in the territory of Tokyo Prefecture, on the issuance of chiken on them and on the payment of land tax from them. Tokyo was chosen as the starting point for issuing chiken. In January 1872, the Ministry of Finance published a regulation regarding the issuance of chiken to specified lands in Tokyo Prefecture and the payment of land tax on them. In the same month, an order was issued regarding the extension of this provision to all other prefectures. On February 15, 1872, the ban on the sale and purchase of cultivated land was abolished by a decree of the dadjokan (government).
Within more than half a year, until July 1872, the issuance of tiken was completed. Tiken became for some time the only evidence of land ownership. Documents for land ownership were issued primarily to "new landowners" ("shinzunushi" or simply "jinushi"). Tiken received the one who was able to prove that he is the actual owner of the land. In other words, those to whom the peasants pledged their land turned out to be the owners of the land, and the peasants who pledged the land turned into its tenants. In addition, even before the reform, various transactions were made for the purchase and sale of land, and the documents certifying these transactions served as evidence of recognition of the right of ownership to it. There were other forms of alienation of peasant land, which turned into rented land.
In April 1873, the Land Tax Reform Regulations were published and became law (chiso kaisei jōrei). In accordance with the provision on the reform of the land tax, important changes were introduced not only into the land tax itself (that is, into the existing rent-tax), but also into the entire system of exploitation of the peasantry. Lands for which tiken were issued were subject to taxation. In contrast to the former taxation, which was made on the volume of the rice harvest, the amount of the tax was determined in accordance with the price of the land.
In the course of the reform of the land tax, cadastral books were drawn up, in which the names of landowners, the quality and price of their land were entered.
Beginning in 1873, a nationwide survey of land was carried out and their price was determined. The whole land was divided into 100 million plots. Each owner usually owned several plots. A more or less successful attempt was made to conduct this survey according to a single methodology. However, the government did not have the necessary funds or experience to carry it out at a sufficient level.
The compilation of the cadastre made it possible to set prices for all available land. The lands, according to their quality, were divided into three groups: the highest, the middle and the lowest. The size of the state land tax was set depending not on the crop, but on the price of the land and was determined to be 3% of its value (to this was added the local land tax of 1%). The tax was to be paid not in kind, as was the case before, but only in money. The new land tax was approximately 30-35% of the value of the crop.
In the course of the reform, land was divided into private and public. Before the reform, by virtue of established practice, the peasants as a whole community used the princely meadows and forests. During the reform, a significant part of these lands were recognized as the property of the state or the imperial house, which led to the fact that many peasants lost any opportunity to use them.
Thus, the position of the peasantry as a result of the Meiji revolution changed significantly, although for many it did not become better than it was.
The class structure of the post-reform village was determined by the existence of two main classes: the class of landlords and the class of peasants. The class of landlords, which officially appeared after the first Meiji transformations (in fact, it arose much earlier), was significantly different from the class of feudal lords that dominated in the epoch of feudalism.
Some of the new landowners came out of the ranks of the upper stratum of the feudal lords, the daimyo, who, although they lost their feudal privileges, nevertheless turned out to be owners of significant sums of money. Former daimyo received bonds in 1876 as a result of the capitalization of their rice pensions. So, 289 former daimyo became owners of bonds at an average of 97 thousand yen, 148 kuge - at 14 thousand yen, and representatives of the lower stratum of bushi got an average of only 415 yen per person. Many bushi lived through these funds, and the former large feudal lords founded banks, invested money in the purchase of land, often increasing their wealth.
The next group of landowners consisted of former gosi. Rural samurai (goshi) differed in their origin. They were half farmers, half landowners. They had the right to carry swords. Those wealthy peasants and merchants who expressed a desire to develop virgin lands also fell into the category of gosi. Thus, through the gosi, the boundaries between the classes were also blurred. Even before the Meiji revolution, the goshi gradually began to play an increasingly important role in the countryside; they were often headmen or held other important village positions. In some principalities (for example, Satsuma), the goshi were small landlords who almost did not participate in the cultivation of the land with their own hands.
“The rank of gosi in a number of cases complained about military merit or to those who had some weight in the village (for example, wealthy peasants). Goshi did not carry out military service with the daimyo. They did not receive income from the land of the overlords. The Goxi usually cultivated their own lands. Their military functions were limited to the defense of their province. In some principalities, the gosi also performed some administrative functions as agents of princely governments. In general, goshi were the lowest stratum of the samurai class. As a result of the Meiji reforms, all goshi became landowners, making up a significant part of the new landlords.
A significant part of the landowners were representatives of commercial and usurious capital, who managed even under the Tokugawa (especially during the period of the decomposition of feudalism) to acquire land in one way or another. Having become legal owners of the land during the Meiji years, they continued to engage in trade and usury. Some of the landowners lived in the countryside and ran their households with the help of hired labor. They were thus the capitalist elements in the countryside.
An important caveat should be made regarding the use of the term "landowner" in relation to Japanese conditions. In Japanese, there is no term that is completely adequate to the Russian word "landlord". The word "jinushi", which we often translate as "landlord", in fact, does not quite coincide with the latter in meaning. It is commonly used to refer to a landowner who leases out all or part of his land, regardless of the size of the land.
Not all jinushi were landowners. The number of jinushi significantly exceeded the number of landowners who can be called real landlords, that is, large or medium landowners who lease land. The jinushi included many small and tiny landowners who rented out their small plots of land, while themselves, engaged in subsidiary trades, did not cultivate the land at all or cultivated small patches. In part, these small landowners rented their land to wealthy peasants.
The reform of the land tax, first of all, changed the position of tenants. During the Tokugawa era, there were three main types of leases. The first is an ordinary lease, in which the tenant had no special rights and was entirely dependent on the will of the feudal lord. The second type is a "perpetual" lease based on customary law. In this case, the landowner could not arbitrarily drive the tenant off the land. Usually peasants who had mastered the virgin land with their own hands or improved the conduct of reclamation work had this right. One of the varieties of perpetual lease was a lease recognized by the landowner as perpetual after 20 years of land use by the tenant. The third type of lease was lease on land mortgaged by the owner. In addition, there were many different types of combinations of lease types that differed by area.
“In carrying out the reform, the government pursued a tough policy of separating land owners from tenants and sought to eliminate transitional forms that could create uncertainty in tax collection. The main purpose of this separation was to strengthen the position of the new class of landowners. As part of these measures, the government eliminated the perpetual lease, limiting its term to twenty years. If it was about lands cleared by the peasants (or their ancestors), then this land had to be redeemed either by the landowner or the tenant. All this, of course, greatly limited the rights of tenants.
Thus, during these years, the nature of the social structure of the post-Meiji village was basically formed. The comparatively large landowners, the upper stratum of which were the landowners, became the dominant force in the countryside. The main form of exploitation of the peasantry, which was used by these landowners, was the leasing of land to small commodity producers-peasants. This type The lease was pre-capitalist in nature: the tenant was a landless or land-poor peasant who rented land for the purpose of supporting his family from the part of the produced products he received. The rise in the price of rice, observed in some periods, brought little to the tenant, since the latter was almost separated from the market, and, on the contrary, brought profit to the landowner.
The tenant paid no land tax, but paid rent, usually in kind. Rent for rice fields was 50-60% of the harvest.
Established and partially legitimized new system operation. The purely feudal form of exploitation in the form of rent-tax was abolished. Peasant landowners who did not rent out land began to pay land tax. This was the main form of their exploitation through state bodies.
Thus, the agrarian transformations carried out in connection with the revolution of 1868 led to noticeable changes that were important not only for the countryside, but also had a strong influence on the entire socio-economic structure of the state. Bourgeois property was introduced instead of the feudal form of land ownership. During this process, a significant part of the peasantry was deprived of the right to own land. In the village arose new class landowners - jinushi, who combined the use of pre-capitalist methods of exploiting the peasantry (leasing land) with engaging in various kinds of entrepreneurship.
Agrarian reforms gave a strong impetus to the development of the process of primitive accumulation, primarily through the introduction of a land tax.
Administrative reform
Local government in Japan in the era of the shogunate is quite traditional for medieval states: domain government with a fairly large but not guaranteed autonomy of rural communities (buraku) and conditional holding of land by the service nobility, daimyo. The unification of local government took place in the Meiji era (1868-1912). As a result of the reform territorial organization new administrative-territorial units are created: prefectures (ken) and, in each prefecture, districts (ku). The governors of the prefecture were appointed by the government, and they, in turn, appointed governors of the districts. Each district united several traditional rural communities that the new government did not recognize as holders of public authority. Local elites - village elders - actively resisted innovations, even provoked local riots. The government was forced to revise the territorial organization of the country: on the basis of the Three New Laws of the district adopted in 1878, the settlement principle is abolished and restored territorial division. Each city and town becomes an independent legal entity. The Municipal Assemblies Act 1880 establishes elected councils and the position of head of local government. The head of administration is elected by the council, but takes office only after they are approved by the prefectural manager. In fact, it is the head of administration who governs the municipality: he has the right of absolute veto and is responsible for the actions of the municipality to the manager of the prefecture. In the same period, the law creates elected councils in the prefectures; their powers are limited by the authority of the manager, who is appointed by the government. Suffrage was not universal: only men who paid local taxes had the right to vote, and voting took place in curiae, depending on the amount of tax paid, i.e., ultimately, on property. The system of government as a whole resembles the Russian zemstvo system, or local government in Prussia in the same period. Four Codes establishing general norms for local government (1888-1889) were drawn up with the help of German experts. The new legislation creates a special type of territorial formations - cities (si), which includes settlements with a population of more than 30,000 people. At the same time, the City Code prescribes the amalgamation of municipalities if they fail to cope with the prescribed functions. Such associations take place (by 1890 the number of municipalities is reduced by five times), but the former territorial communities retain elements of independence: they own property, impose their own taxes, and so on. The independence of the communities is reinforced by the fact that in municipal elections each community votes unanimously: the municipal councils consist of representatives of the communities, and not of representatives of the voters. In the end, the legislator recognizes these formations - zaisanku - as voluntary associations of citizens.
“The legal regulation of local government in Japan is based on three main legal traditions: 1) the Japanese tradition proper, dating back to the Middle Ages; 2) legislation and legal principles of the Meiji period, developed under the influence of European continental models, mainly German and French; 3) legal norms and principles introduced by the occupying forces in the post-war period and reflecting the influence of Anglo-Saxon law.” Due to the heterogeneity of influences, from a European point of view, the Japanese system of local government appears to be hybrid and self-contradictory. In accordance with the Anglo-Saxon tradition, the status and powers of local authorities are regulated by separate laws dedicated to specific subjects. At the same time, there is also a general law on local autonomy, which defines the basis for the organization of local government. The Japanese Parliament also passes private laws addressed to a specific territory. The constitution and legislation recognize the principle of general competence of local authorities; at the same time, the detailed regulation of a large amount of mandatory powers nullifies this principle. A significant role in determining the functions of local authorities and their relationship with the state is played by the decisions of the Supreme Court of the country, in particular - within the framework of its powers to interpret the constitution. Local government in Japan includes two main levels of territorial organization: municipalities (more than 3,000) and prefectures (47). mura). “The differences between the last two categories are insignificant, and are rather symbolic; township status is granted to a township almost automatically by a decision of the prefecture's representative body if the population exceeds a certain threshold. City status is granted to a municipality (or a group of municipalities that are merged) by decree of the Minister of the Interior if it meets the following criteria: 1) the population exceeds 50,000; 2) the central part of the city (central locality) unites more than 60% of the population; 3) less than 40% of the population is employed in agriculture. The status of the city obliges to create some administrative structures (treasury center, social assistance services). Municipal authorities are elected, in accordance with the constitution, by direct universal suffrage." Each municipality has a representative body - a municipal assembly - and a head of administration elected by the population. In both cases, the term of office is 4 years, the elections are held according to the majoritarian system of relative majority. Sufficiently large local assemblies (from 12 to 100 people, depending on the size of the population) have a standard set of powers: budget adoption, decision-making on the main issues of the municipality's own competence. The head of the administration single-handedly manages the executive branch, carries out the decisions of the assembly, appoints and replaces local officials. One can speak of the existence in Japan of a typical strong-mayor council scheme, but Japanese heads of administrations have more powers than most of their American counterparts. So, the head of administration can dissolve the meeting (which, in turn, can dismiss him). The main source of power for the heads of administrations is the powers that are delegated to them by state authorities. Assemblies have no right to interfere with the exercise of these powers.
All 47 Japanese prefectures have not changed their borders since 1888. 43 prefectures (ken, for example Tottori-ken) have a common status; two prefectures (fu), covering the two largest urban agglomerations: Kyoto and Osaka (Kyoto-fu and Osaka-fu; unlike other prefectures, there are administrative regions). Prefecture (to) Tokyo and prefecture (do) Hokkaido have a special status. The territory of Tokyo-to Prefecture consists of 23 districts (ku), each of which approaches the status of a city (shi). District assemblies and heads of administrations are elected in districts. In general, the management of Tokyo is similar to the management of Greater London. Hokkaido Island is a separate prefecture (Hokkaido-do); however, a significant part of the powers in the field economic development seized from elected authorities: they are carried out by the government agency for the development of Hokkaido. The prefectures are governed by elected assemblies (from 40 to 120 members) and a directly elected governor by the people. The distribution of powers between the representative and executive authorities, the terms of office, the electoral system fully reproduce the rules established for municipalities. In both municipalities and prefectures, many issues can be decided directly by the population through a referendum. For example, to hold a referendum on the recall of the head of administration (manager), the signatures of one-third of the voters are sufficient. Voters also enjoy the right of initiative in the field of decisions of local assemblies: the assembly is obliged to consider the application and make an appropriate decision if the application for the adoption of any act is signed by 1/50 of the total number of voters. However, in practice, the initiative of the population is rarely used.
A significant role in the local government of Japan is played by territorial entities that exist within municipalities - zaisanku. In some rural areas, these are simply traditional communities that have changed their status, but have not changed in essence over the centuries. Zaisanku residents usually elect a headman, who is automatically included in the municipal administration. In cities, such communities receive the official status of Police Assistance Societies, Fire Fighting Citizens' Associations, etc. Zaisanku governments set their own fees (officially voluntary donations and contributions), and municipal governments often delegate significant powers to them.
Military reform
In 1872, a decree was issued on the introduction of universal military service, which undermined the monopoly right of the samurai on military service.
The transformations significantly affected the former privileged class of the military nobility - the samurai. Large feudal landowners - princes received generous monetary compensation for giving up their feudal rights in favor of the emperor, but the position of ordinary samurai as a whole worsened. Part of the samurai gained a foothold in the state apparatus, joining the ranks of officials; in the army, they still formed the backbone of the officers. Some samurai turned into landowners, but a significant part was left without any stable source of income and could not adapt to the new conditions of the money economy. It was a restless and vain "freeman" who did not want to come to terms with the loss of her privileged position.
In the 70s of the XIX century. there were a number of reactionary samurai rebellions, the participants of which sought the restoration of the former feudal order and, in particular, such special samurai privileges as the right to bear arms. The introduction of universal military service finally undermined the monopoly of the samurai on military affairs; the sharp reduction in state pensions paid to the samurai caused particular indignation among them. This was accompanied by dissatisfaction with the “weak”, i.e., insufficiently aggressive, in their opinion, foreign policy the Japanese government, which did not promise any aggressive campaigns in the near future that would give the samurai the opportunity to advance and enrich themselves.
The dissatisfied were led by Minister of War Saigo Takamori. He was highly critical of the government's foreign policy and demanded that Japan "show itself". Saigoµ, in particular, insisted on unleashing a war to conquer Korea. This kind of aggressive and at the same time adventurous mood of the samurai opposition was not shared by the majority of the ruling circles. The adoption of an openly aggressive foreign policy on a large scale would threaten a backward, economically and militarily weak Japan with dangerous consequences. Therefore, the supporters of military adventures represented in the government, led by Saigoµ, failed to overcome the resistance of the more cautious elements grouped around Okubo Toshimiti. Okubo, like Saigoµ, belonged to the samurai. However, Okubo was the leader of the most bourgeois strata of the feudal nobility, all of whose activities were aimed at finding a compromise with the bourgeoisie in order to pursue a relatively liberal domestic policy and modernize Japan as soon as possible.
Factory industry.
“The industrial policy of the Meiji government was as follows: to put under state control the arsenals, iron foundries and shipyards and mines formerly owned by various clans or bakufu, then centralize them and bring them to a high level of development; at the same time to create other enterprises of strategic importance, such as chemical plants (sulfuric acid plants, glass and cement plants). Only then did the government intend to sell most of these plants to a handful of trusted financial magnates. However, control over the most strategically important enterprises, such as military arsenals, shipyards and some mining enterprises, remained in the hands of the government.
All mines and mines that previously belonged to the Bakufu government and clan authorities were confiscated and then sold to representatives of those financial circles. who were close to the government. This government policy was summarized as follows by one Japanese specialist: “At that time (during the restoration) ten largest enterprises mining industry, namely Sado, Mipke, Ikuno, Takashima, Ani, Innai, Kamaishi, Nakakosaka, Okatsura and Koska, were managed by the government itself for the purpose of their rapid development; but after they were introduced into the sling, they were transferred into the hands of private individuals. At present, all mining enterprises, with the exception of a few mines and mines for special purposes, are owned by private individuals.
To increase the productivity of these enterprises, the government attracted the best foreign specialists.
Transportation and communications developed rapidly thanks to the tireless energy of the Mepji government leaders. The government closely followed the development and activities of transport. The main task of railway transport was to expand the domestic market. Although private capital was involved in the construction of the railways, the first railway lines in Japan were built by the government with a loan of £913,000. Art., received in London. By the end of the century, private capital in railway transport began to prevail over government capital, but in 1906 all the country's railways, except for narrow gauge ones, were nationalized.
“Analyzing this step from a military-political point of view, we must note that the railways have always been considered by the government as one of the most powerful means for unifying the country, and the Meiji military leaders never lost sight of the strategic importance of transport. So, for example, simultaneously with the law on railway construction of 1892, which established the principle of state ownership of railways, a supervisory board was created. This council was called "tentsudo kaigi" and consisted of twenty people, among whom were several military men, and the first chairman of this council, General Kawakami Soroku, was perhaps the most prominent strategist of that time. The extent to which military-strategic considerations prevailed over commercial considerations when it came to railway construction is shown by the discussion that has unfolded over the construction of the Nakasendo railway line, which crosses a mountainous sparsely populated area. The difficulties and costs associated with the construction of this road seemed so great that the construction plan was temporarily put on hold. But, says Viscount Inoue, an expert on Japanese railways, “this (i.e., the refusal to build this road) was protested by the military, who insistently pointed out the strategic advantages of the Nakasendo route”8. Strategic considerations played a primary role in the implementation of the construction of railways, as well as telephone and telegraph networks.
To illustrate how much attention the government paid to the strategic importance of the telegraph and telephone network, it is enough to refer to one or two government documents. So, for example, in connection with the initiation of a petition for the transfer of telephone lines to the ownership of private individuals, on August 2, 1872, a proposal was received in the Dajokan (Council of State) demanding that the above-mentioned petition be rejected. This proposal, in particular, stated: “There are countries in the West where there are private lines of communication; however, private lines often pose a great inconvenience in terms of maintaining state secrets. In addition, communication plays a big role in our relationships with other countries; therefore, it is desirable that from now on the existence of private lines should be put to an end and that in the future all lines of communication will be placed at the disposal of the government”9. This proposal was accepted. The Meiji government very soon appreciated the importance of the telegraph for conducting modern warfare, as evidenced by the effective use of this means of communication by government troops in suppressing the Satsuma rebels in 1877.
The reverse order of industrialization caused a certain disproportion in the technical development of Japan. From the very beginning, the government paid great attention to the military-strategic industries, and therefore, in technical terms, these industries soon reached the level of the most “beaten Western countries. Initially, the arsenals at Nagasaki were under Dutch control, the Yokoska shipyard and iron foundry under French control, and other shipyards under British control. These foreign specialists trained the Japanese, and in time the Japanese workers caught up with their foreign teachers technically. Foreign managers and assistant managers were also used in the textile industry: English specialists at the Kagoshima spinning factory, French specialists at the Tomioka and Fukuoka factory, Swiss and Italian specialists at the Maebashi silk-winding factory.
To teach mechanical engineering, the government founded technical schools with the involvement of foreign teachers, and sent the most capable Japanese students abroad to master the latest technology so that when they returned to their homeland, they could replace foreign specialists.
Thus, the key industries were technically advanced, while those industries that were not of strategic importance or did not produce products that compete with foreign goods in the foreign or domestic markets remained at a primitive level of development.
"The peculiarity of early Japanese industrialization - state control over industrial enterprise - also affected the way in which the government, while maintaining and strengthening control over key industries, freed itself from peripheral or less strategic enterprises by selling them to private individuals."
The change in the government's industrial policy from direct control to patronage was marked by the promulgation of the regulation or law "On the transfer of factories" ("kojo harai-sage gaisoku") of November 5, 1880. In the preamble of this law, the government explains the reasons for the change as follows its policy:
“The factories set up to encourage industry are now well organized and running at full capacity; therefore the government renounces its ownership of the factories, which are to be run by the people.”10 Although the preamble expresses the belief that the various enterprises created by the government can now be transferred to private hands to be operated for profit, Madukata points out that many enterprises that were under direct state control were not at all profitable and even, on the contrary, could rather become a burden for the treasury than a source of income.
The gradual transfer into the hands of private owners of enterprises, mainly, as we shall see below, of no great military importance, made it possible for the government to direct all its attention to improving the financial and administrative situation of military or strategic industries.
It should not, however, be thought that the new policy introduced by the law on the sale of factories divided Japanese industry into two sharply demarcated parts - a group of enterprises in the military industries, where government control remained, and the other group, embracing all other enterprises that do not have of strategic importance, which suddenly found themselves exposed to all the vicissitudes of free enterprise. There was only another form of patronage introduced by the government after 1880.
The transfer of some enterprises to patronized financiers gave the government the opportunity to focus on the military industries, which continued to remain under the same strict government control as before. After the suppression of the Satsuma uprising, the government resolutely took the path of expanding the armaments industry. Despite the reduction in spending on other items of the state budget in 1881-1887, during this period there was a sharp increase in military spending (by 60%), and during the period from 1881 to 1891, an increase in naval spending (by 200%).
“The implementation of armament plans required the import of expensive ready-made military equipment and semi-finished products. In this area of production, profit or loss was not taken into account, here only strategic considerations mattered. However, the huge expansion of armaments production stimulated the movement for the economic independence of Japanese industry. In this regard, the military industry enterprises served as an example for the Japanese heavy industry.
The policy of maintaining strict control over the military industry, with appropriate patronage of other industries, has continued up to the present day and is one of the most distinctive features of the history of Japanese industrialization. This policy has its roots in the pre-Restoration period, when the feudal princes began to show interest in acquiring Western military equipment long before they ventured into other industrial activities.
Section 3
Foreign policy
The Meiji Restoration by treaties with the Western powers ruined the small and medium-sized producers in Japan and undermined the development of the national economy. Therefore, the slogan of the struggle for the abolition of unequal treaties united the nobility, the common people, the government, and the parliamentary opposition. All this happened against the backdrop of growing chauvinist propaganda calling on Japan to become "the defender of the yellow peoples from the tyranny of the white races"11. Being in fact still in semi-vassal dependence on the Western powers, the Japanese empire at the same time sought to extend its own influence to the surrounding countries of Asia. And the greatest appetites among the Japanese were caused by neighboring Korea.
Japan imposed its first enslaving treaty on Korea back in 1876. Since then, the Japanese have enjoyed almost monopoly rights in the Korean market, not only ousting Chinese competitors from there, but also suppressing Korean merchants. “There was a real robbery of Korea, bringing ruin and poverty to the people of this country. Such an unceremonious hostility caused a massive anti-Japanese movement.
In July 1882, an uprising broke out in Seoul. The Japanese had to flee the city in a panic, but they soon returned, accompanied by a squadron of warships. At gunpoint, the Korean government was forced to pay a huge indemnity and allow the Japanese mission to keep troops in Seoul for its protection. And in December 1884, the Japanese organized a coup d'état in Seoul, bringing their proteges to power.
Japan's frank colonial policy could not go unnoticed in China, which for several centuries was considered the suzerain of Korea. Chinese troops were sent to the peninsula. Then Japanese diplomats suggested that Beijing withdraw both Chinese and Japanese troops from Korea and send expeditionary corps there only by mutual agreement. This idea was recorded in the Treaty of Tientsin (April 1885). By signing it, Beijing thereby renounced its special rights and recognized the equality of its own and Japanese positions in Korea. The prospect of a Japanese takeover of the Korean Peninsula became more and more obvious. Events began to develop with increasing speed. Taking advantage of the outbreak of a peasant uprising in 1893, the Japanese immediately sent a detachment of marines to Seoul, and after restoring "order" they refused to withdraw it. Attempts by China and Korea to seek assistance from foreign countries have yielded nothing. Western powers were interested in destabilizing the situation in East Asia. Moreover, it was at this moment that England agreed to renegotiate the terms of the unequal treaty with Japan. The British renounced (albeit starting only in 1889) consular jurisdiction and the autonomy of their settlements in Yokohama, Nagasaki and other ports of Japan. The system of low import duties was retained, but this could no longer spoil the mood of the Japanese government, which had finally achieved an almost equal position with other powers. Moreover, following England, the United States, Germany, France, and Russia renounced their rights of extraterritoriality in Japan.
Having thus received recognition in the international arena, Japan began colonial conquests. In July 1894, Japanese warships sank an English transport carrying Chinese soldiers. Then an unprovoked offensive was launched against the Chinese army group stationed in Korea. After a series of successful actions against the poorly organized Chinese forces, all of Korea was under the military control of the Japanese. And the hostilities spread to the territory of China. During the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. the fortress of Jinzhou fell, the Japanese occupied the naval bases of Port Arthur and Weihaiwei, the fortress of Lushunkou. Beijing urgently requested a truce. In response, the Japanese put forward rather harsh conditions, which provided for China's renunciation of all rights to Korea, the cession of a number of Chinese territories in favor of Japan (the Liaodong Peninsula, Taiwan, the Penghulidao Islands) and a huge monetary indemnity. China's forced consent to these predatory demands was recorded in the Treaty of Shimonoseki (April 1895). However, Japan failed to fully implement these agreements. “Russia, which felt an ever-increasing military threat from Japan, “advised” her to abandon the annexation of the Liaodong Peninsula. France and Germany joined Russia's request. Not ready for confrontation at such a high level, Japan was forced to accept the "advice" of the great powers.
As a result of the victory over Qing China, Japan joined the ranks of the colonial empires. Of the 365 million yen indemnity received from China, 20 million were given to the emperor, 10 million each were earmarked for education and disaster protection, and 325 million yen were used to pay off a loan issued to cover military spending to increase armaments. Moreover, 200 million yen went directly to the needs of the army and navy. Once put forward in the course of the Meiji reforms, the call "A rich country - a strong army"12 has turned from a slogan into a reality.
A Russian-Japanese military confrontation was brewing... By the turn of the 20th century. Japan came up, economically stronger. National income increased during these years by 3% annually. This is a very good indicator, given that this trend has persisted for quite a long time - since 1885. Japan owed such a powerful breakthrough from feudalism to imperialism not at all external assistance, but purely internal factors - authoritarian nationalism, which managed to mobilize the resources available in the country by force and centrally direct them to the needs of the armed state, determination in achieving the goals set, tough, cruel social and labor discipline, skillful transfer of workers from the agricultural sector to the industrial sector, a relatively high level of education. A huge indemnity exacted by the Japanese from defeated China also became a powerful incentive. The ruling circles of Japan set a course for the further expansion of their empire at the expense of neighboring states. They saw the main competitor in this field in tsarist Russia.
Already in 1896, as part of the preparations for a future military clash with Russia, the Japanese government passed through parliament a large military program aimed at a sharp increase in the size and combat power of the army and navy. The same serious preparation was carried out in the diplomatic sphere. “In the vastness of the Far East, there was a frank struggle between the world colonial powers for the most profitable colonies. Alliances arose and fell apart, and a balance of interests was sought. The European powers literally tore apart an exhausted China. Imperial Germany captured Jiaozhou Bay in Shandong Province. England - the port of Weihaiwei and the Kowloon Peninsula adjacent to Hong Kong. France got the port of Guangzhou. Tsarist Russia captured Port Arthur. At the same time, "spheres of influence and interests" were defined. England secured the Yangtze River valley, France - the island of Hainan and the provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi and Yunnan, Germany - the province of Shandong, Russia - Manchuria, Japan - the province of Fujian, which lies opposite Taiwan, which it had already captured. The United States, which at that time was engaged in the struggle for the "Spanish inheritance" - the Philippines, Guam and Puerto Rico, therefore, the Americans, left without a definite Chinese allotment, proclaimed an "open door" policy and tried to enlist the recognition of this principle from other participants in the colonial redistribution. Japan, along with other powers, participated in punitive actions and the suppression of the Boxer uprising in 1900 and, accordingly, in the division of the next indemnity.
But Japan's attempts to strengthen its position in China at that moment failed. Mainly due to the opposition of Russia and Germany, who did not want to strengthen their competitor in the Far East. Anti-Russian sentiments in Japan were growing stronger, but not yet ready for open confrontation, she was looking for support from other powers that showed interest in the region. She found such an ally in England, which was also interested in weakening the positions of tsarist Russia, both in the Far East and in Central Asia. In 1902, the Anglo-Japanese alliance agreement was signed, confirming the presence of "special interests" of the British in China, and the Japanese in China and Korea. Both London and Tokyo promised each other allied assistance, up to and including armed assistance, in the event of a war with two or more states. Neither side even tried to hide the anti-Russian orientation of the agreement. Japan received support along this path from America.
Having thus decided on allies and opponents, Tokyo sent a dispatch to St. Petersburg at the end of July 1903 with a proposal to start negotiations. Their purpose was to force Russia to recognize the prevailing interests of Japan not only in Korea, but also in Manchuria. Tokyo agreed to take into account the "special interests" of the Russians, but only in railway enterprises in Manchuria. Russia, of course, could not agree with such a situation. The inevitability of the Russo-Japanese war became obvious.
On the night of February 8-9, 1904, the Japanese fleet under the command of Vice Admiral Togo Heihachiro suddenly attacked the Russian squadron stationed on the Port Arthur roadstead. No one expected an attack, and therefore the losses of Russian sailors turned out to be very sensitive. Two battleships and one cruiser were disabled. On the morning of the next day, the raid of the Japanese destroyers was repeated, and again successfully. At the same time, the Japanese tried to capture Russian warships that had entered the Korean port of Chemulpo. The cruiser "Varyag" and the gunboat "Koreets" took an unequal battle, and then were flooded by their teams. So literally in two days the balance naval forces changed in favor of Japan. And only on February 10 Japan officially declared war on Russia. Korea hastened to declare its neutrality in the outbreak of the conflict. But this did not stop the Japanese army. The troops were landed at Chemulpo and Seoul and began to move north. On April 29, the Japanese inflicted the first defeat on the ground forces of Russia (the Battle of Tyurenchen), crossed the border river Yalu and began to deepen into Manchuria. Two other Japanese armies landed north of Port Arthur, isolated it from other Russian forces, and occupied the undefended city of Dalniy at the end of May. The siege of Port Arthur began.
This fortress on the Liaodong Peninsula, well protected from the sea, was practically not fortified from the land side. But even under these unfavorable conditions, the Port Arthur garrison successfully repelled Japanese attacks for several months. Under the walls of the naval fortress, the Japanese army lost over 110 thousand soldiers and officers. Less successful were Russian warships, which were actually locked in Port Arthur Bay. An attempt to go to sea and give battle to the Japanese fleet failed. The battleship Petropavlovsk, which left the bay on April 13, 1904 under the flag of the commander of the Pacific Fleet, Admiral S. Makarov, ran into mines and sank. The sailors decided to wait for the arrival of reinforcements from the Baltic. But they didn't wait. On January 2, 1905, the commandant of Port Arthur, General Stessel, surrendered the fortress to the Japanese.
Meanwhile, the situation was developing unfavorably for the Russian troops on the territory of Manchuria. The numerically superior Japanese forces defeated the Russians at Liaoyang (August 29 - September 3, 1904), and then at Mukden (March 10, 1905). The last chord in this tragic series of events for the Russians was the Battle of Tsushima. Weakened by a long-range passage from the Baltic, the Russian squadron was unable to provide adequate resistance to the Japanese fleet and was defeated on May 15.
“I must say that the victory in the war with Russia was not easy for the Japanese state. Human reserves were exhausted. During the war, 1,185 thousand people (about 2% of the total population of the country) were mobilized into the army and navy. Of these, one in five were wounded or killed. The total amount of military spending exceeded 1.5 billion yen. The country found itself in debt to foreign powers. The economy was on the brink of collapse. Anti-war sentiments were widespread among peasants and workers. Japan could no longer continue the war. In the spring of 1905, representatives of the Japanese government turned to American President Theodore Roosevelt with a request to organize peace negotiations as an intermediary. The Russian authorities were also interested in the negotiations, for whom the severity of military defeats in the Far East was aggravated by revolutionary uprisings in Moscow and other cities of the country. Peace negotiations began on August 9, 1905 in the American city of Portsmouth. The Russian delegation was led by Prime Minister S. Witte, while the Japanese delegation was headed by Foreign Minister Komura Dzyutaro. On the negotiating table, Japan expected from Russia the recognition of its political, economic and military interests in Korea, the transfer of the Liaodong Peninsula to Japan with the Harbin-Port Arthur railway, the concessions of Sakhalin, the payment of huge indemnities, the limitation of Russian naval forces in the Far East, the rights for Japanese subjects to catch fish off the Russian coast. President Roosevelt, interested in further weakening the Russian presence in pacific ocean fully supported the demands of the Japanese side. However, this pressure was ignored by the Russian delegation. Agreeing with many points of the Japanese program, Witte flatly refused to cede Sakhalin and pay indemnities. Komura telegraphed Tokyo that the talks might be broken off. And this meant the possibility of resuming hostilities. Exhausted by the war, Japan did not take risks. And at a secret meeting of the government with the participation of the emperor, it was decided to abandon the demands regarding Sakhalin and indemnities. “But the Americans intervened again. Their envoy met in St. Petersburg with Tsar Nicholas II to discuss the terms of the peace treaty. In a conversation, the king dropped a phrase about his readiness to cede the southern part of Sakhalin to the Japanese. The Japanese immediately became aware of this. Komura made appropriate adjustments to the official Japanese position, and the clause on the transfer of half of Sakhalin Island to Japan was included in the final text of the peace treaty. An inglorious end to an inglorious campaign for Russia. But even in Japan, the terms of the Treaty of Portsmouth were far from met with satisfaction. Japan needed money like air to fix the economy, which had faltered during the months of the war. Interest on the public debt alone was 110 million yen, of which 90 million yen was interest on war loans. “Intoxicated by the brilliant victories of their generals and admirals, the Japanese were waiting for a repeat of the “golden rain” that had fallen ten years ago on the country after the victory over China. The press seriously discussed the demands to annex to Japan the entire Russian territory east of Lake Baikal. And here - very truncated, from the point of view of the Japanese layman, concessions from the defeated Russia! On the day of the signing of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty (August 23, 1905), unrest broke out in Tokyo, and then in other cities of the country. The editorial offices of government newspapers and police stations were destroyed. The riots had to be suppressed by armed force. The number of killed and wounded exceeded 2 thousand people. The government was forced to resign. The victory over Russia opened a new page in its history for Japan. The Land of the Rising Sun became a major colonial empire. Its international prestige has sharply increased. On August 12, even before the signing of the Treaty of Portsmouth, an updated Anglo-Japanese alliance agreement was concluded in London, replacing the 1902 agreement. and economic interests" of Japan in Korea and agreed that Japan "may take such measures of direction, control and patronage in Korea as it deems appropriate and necessary for the protection and development of these interests"13. For its part, Japan willingly supported England's claims regarding Tibet, Afghanistan and Persia in the name of "protecting the borders of India." Its international prestige grew considerably. Since then, the Land of the Rising Sun has been considered a great power. This was manifested, first of all, in the fact that in 1905 the European states and the United States raised the rank of their official representatives in Japan from envoy to ambassador. “True, such a high international status did not remove acute problems within the country. Not receiving indemnity from defeated Russia, which Tokyo hoped so much for, Japan never managed to transfer its economy to the rails of less costly peaceful development. Expenses for the further militarization of the country (up to 40 percent of the budget) ate up all the funds received from external and internal loans. The public debt in 1906 reached 2,420 million yen. (The yen at that time was equal to the gold ruble).
Under the Treaty of Portsmouth, Russia gave Japan freedom of action in Korea. In November 1905, a Japanese protectorate was imposed on Korea. Japanese soldiers surrounded the palace where the meeting of the Korean government was held and did not let the ministers out until they signed the protectorate treaty. The first article of the treaty established that "the Japanese government, through its ministry in Tokyo, will henceforth exercise control over the foreign relations of Korea and the management of the foreign affairs of Korea"14. The Korean emperor turned to the US government for help and support, but to no avail. The Americans not only did not provide assistance to Korea, but were also the first among the great powers to withdraw their diplomatic mission from the Land of Morning Calm (as the Koreans call their country), thereby demonstrating their readiness to solve all problems related to the peninsula exclusively through Japanese diplomats. Other European countries immediately followed the example of the United States.
In February 1906, the Japanese government established in Seoul the post of resident general, vested with the broadest powers. The Resident General began not only to manage the external affairs of Korea, but also intervened in all internal problems. According to the volume of powers, this was the position of the governor-general of the colony.
Revolts began in the southern provinces of the country. The Emperor of Korea secretly traveled to Europe in June 1907, where the Second Hague Peace Conference was taking place at the time, in the hope of gaining international protection. As punishment, the Japanese government forced the emperor of Korea to abdicate in favor of the crown prince, and new terms of partnership were imposed on Korea, giving the Japanese resident general and all the internal affairs of this country into the jurisdiction.
In August 1907, at the request of the Japanese, the Korean army was disbanded. All power on the peninsula passed into the hands of the Japanese resident general. Soon, the Tokyo leadership came to the conclusion that the further preservation of the appearance of "dual power" in Korea was no longer justified, and it was time to put an end to the colonization of this country. The decision of the Japanese Cabinet of Ministers to annex Korea was made in July 1909, which was immediately followed by the consent of the Japanese emperor. In pursuance of this plan, Terauchi Seiki, Minister of War of Japan, was appointed to the post of Resident General, who carried out the planned operation with an iron fist. He introduced additional units of the military gendarmerie into Korea, concentrated dozens of warships off the coast of the peninsula. At the same time, almost all Korean patriotic newspapers were closed. On August 16, 1910, negotiations began between General Terauti and the head of the Korean government, Lee Van Yong. They lasted only a week, and on August 22, an annexation treaty was signed, according to which the Korean emperor “fully and forever” ceded to the Japanese emperor “all rights of sovereignty over all of Korea”15. Korea as an independent, independent state ceased to exist and was turned into a Japanese governor-general.
Immediately after graduation Russo-Japanese War The Japanese forced Beijing to transfer to them the lease rights to the Liaodong Peninsula with the fortress of Port Arthur. At the same time, the expansion of Japanese interests in Manchuria, which until that time had been in the sphere of Russian claims, was stipulated. China opened a number of new ports for trade and residence of the Japanese, granted Japan a concession for the construction of the Mukden-Andong railway, agreed to the creation of a mixed Japanese-Chinese joint-stock company to exploit the timber concession on the Yalu River. Before the war, this concession was sought by the tsarist government. However, further attempts to seize Manchuria met with fierce resistance. But not from Russia, as expected, but from one of Japan's main allies, the United States. The Americans, who provided significant support to Japan in the fight against tsarist Russia, counted on their part in the colonial redivision of China.
In 1907, the Russian-Japanese fishing convention was signed, which regulates Japanese fishing in Russian Far Eastern waters. And in 1910, both countries entered into an agreement in which they mutually pledged to provide each other "friendly assistance to improve their railway lines" in Manchuria, as well as to maintain and respect the status quo in this region. “In America, they followed these processes with undisguised irritation. Dislike for the Japanese was not only reflected at the official level, but also greatly helped to create anti-Japanese sentiment among the US public. This enmity manifested itself especially sharply on the West Coast of the USA, in California, where emigrants from Japan willingly settled and fairly numerous Japanese communities formed. There, in 1907, a whole series of Japanese pogroms swept through. In order to somewhat defuse the situation (many politicians of that time even expected an imminent outbreak of the Japanese-American war), the governments of the two countries exchanged notes and concluded an agreement in November 1908 that provided for the preservation of the status quo in the Pacific region and confirmed the principle of "open doors" in China. Although, it must be admitted that the declared change for the better neither in relations between Japan and the United States, nor in the conditions of the penetration of American capital into China, did not happen. There was some cooling in Japanese-British relations, which had been stably friendly until that time. As in the case with the United States, Japan's partners from Foggy Albion began to understand that Japan's ongoing expansion to the continent goes further than it was thought at the conclusion of the Japanese-British alliance, and painfully affects the interests of Great Britain in China. But the British were in no hurry to show their proud temper. In Europe, preparations were in full swing for a military confrontation between the Entente countries and Germany. Under these conditions, the British did not want to push away their potential ally in the Far East. Therefore, all changes to the new text of the Anglo-Japanese agreement (July 1911) were made very carefully, which is why this document was met rather coolly both in London and Tokyo. Meanwhile, the Japanese were building up their efforts in Manchuria. But if until that time they were limited only to economic expansion, then from 1909 the escalation of Japan's military presence in this region began. Japan saw a favorable opportunity for building up its military contingents in South Manchuria in the Chinese revolution of 1911-1913. Japanese generals demanded open intervention in Chinese affairs, justifying this by the negative influence that the democratic movement in China could allegedly have on the monarchical system in Japan. The Japanese War Ministry offered the Russian military agent (attache) in Tokyo a detailed plan for a joint Russo-Japanese armed intervention in China. But the tsarist government declined this proposal. In July 1912, an unofficial Japanese mission visited St. Petersburg, which tried to persuade the Russian government to somehow delimit the spheres of influence of the two states in Manchuria. A secret agreement was reached on the division "along the Beijing meridian" - in the eastern part of Inner Mongolia "special interests" of Japan were recognized, and in the western - the interests of Russia. But in the same July days, the Emperor of Japan, Mutsuhito, died, and the attention of the Japanese military was for some time switched to the interior of the country, where a fierce struggle for government posts began.
The new cabinet of ministers of Japan that came to power decided to temporarily refrain from military intervention in China. Emperor Yoshihito ascended the throne. Thus ended the glorious Meiji era for Japan and the Taisho era began.
Conclusion
The era of industrial development in Japan coincided almost exactly with the transition to large-scale corporate capitalism. This was facilitated by the purposeful policy of the absolutist state, the implementation of broad economic and military functions. In order to overcome the technical and military lag behind the advanced capitalist states, the Japanese state not only stimulated the development of private enterprise, but also actively participated in industrial construction, which was widely subsidized by tax revenues. The state treasury financed the construction of a large number of military enterprises, railways, etc. Industrial construction was supervised by the Ministry of Industry, created in 1870.
The merging of banking and industrial capital, the relatively early formation of Japanese monopolies, were accelerated by the subsequent transfer of state-owned industrial enterprises to banking houses such as Mitsui, Sumitomo and others for next to nothing. There are monopoly concerns (“zaibatsu”), which are a number of related firms controlled by one parent company or a group of financiers.
The Japanese state, however, preserving feudal remnants in all spheres of the life of Japanese society, was inferior in terms of development to Europe and the United States for a long time. In the social sphere, there were not only semi-feudal landownership, enslaving exploitation of peasant tenants, the dominance of usurers, class distinctions, but also the most severe forms of exploitation by industrialists of the labor force in the countryside. In the political sphere, feudal remnants were expressed in the absolutist character of the Japanese monarchy, with the landowners dominating the ruling bourgeois-landowner bloc, which persisted until the First World War.
Making big modern army and the navy became a special concern of the new Japanese imperial government from the first days of its existence. This was facilitated by the important role that influential militaristic cliques played in the state, the discontent of hundreds of thousands of samurai, who found themselves out of work, having lost their former feudal privileges.
Despite the fragility and artificiality of the parliamentary cabinet, which included representatives of one pro-government party, the very fact of its creation became important political event which forced the military-bureaucratic circles to take a fresh look at the role of political parties and the parliament itself. In 1890, the suffrage reform was carried out in Japan, which expanded the number of voters. Thus began a slow, inconsistent (accompanied, for example, by the expansion of the powers of the Privy Council at the expense of parliament) the development of an absolute monarchy into a limited, dualistic one, which was interrupted by subsequent preparations for a "great war" and the establishment of a monarcho-fascist regime in Japan.
The circumstances that conditioned the Meiji economic policy can be summarized as follows: First, the insufficient accumulation of capital created the need for state initiative in the field of economics and contributed to the concentration of capital and economic power in the hands of the financial oligarchy. Even after state-owned enterprises were partially transferred to private entrepreneurs, the government not only did not stop issuing subsidies, but also significantly increased financial assistance to entrepreneurs. This policy was partly driven by the system of external treaties, since after the first trade treaty in 1858 very low tariffs were set, which were further reduced under the tariff convention of 1866. It was not until 1899 that Japan achieved tariff autonomy three aided by a general revision of the treaty system ; but the former treaties became invalid only in 1910.
Secondly, the military significance of industrialization, due to the international and domestic situation, has contributed to the fact that a number of industries that are closely related to defense are, even to this day, under strict state supervision.
And, finally, the policy of transferring certain industries to a narrow circle of large banking houses strengthened their position, as a result of which they continue to dominate the industry of Japan until the present day.
In the technical development in Japan during the period of industrialization, two trends stand out clearly. Firstly, there is a growth in those sectors of the national economy that are more closely connected with military enterprises - engineering, shipbuilding, mining, railways, etc., where the state exercised strict control, relying on the support of financial houses that enjoyed the trust of the government . These branches of industry, the most highly developed in technical terms and created according to the latest Western models, were the pride of the bureaucracy, which jealously guarded them even after a significant part of the enterprises had been transferred to private entrepreneurs. Secondly, we are seeing the development of "abandoned" industries producing typical Japanese products for both domestic and foreign markets.
In 1868, an event occurred in Japan that dramatically changed the course of historical development this country. For the first time since the twelfth century imperial power was restored. Not just the Tokugawa shogunate, which began in 1603, ended. The entire system of the shogunate, which had existed in Japan for almost seven hundred years, collapsed.
Transformations in Japan
The new government embarked on the path of reforms and transformations that unrecognizably changed the face of Japan. From a backward medieval country, it has turned into a modern power in the Far East. This truly revolutionary event took place during the lifetime of one generation, before the eyes of the whole astonished world. The rapid breakthrough of Japan is still of interest not only to scientists, but also to simply inquisitive people.
From the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, 1823-1829. Katsushik on Hokusai (1760-1849). It was this series of works that made the artist famous, and Mount Fuji became a symbol of Japan.
Crisis of the Tokugawa shogunate
In the first half of the XIX century. many European countries embarked on the path of industrial development. Japan, by contrast, remained backward feudal country. The supreme power was still in the hands of the military rulers - the shoguns from the Tokugawa princely family. Imperial family was under their control and did not take part in the government. The policy of "closing" the country, or isolation from the outside world, continued. European ships have long plowed the seas and oceans, sailing to the most remote corners of the Earth. The Japanese did not have their own fleet and had only small fishing boats.
The economic situation of the country with its 30 million population was very difficult. The area of cultivated land did not expand, remaining the same as it was in early XVIII V. The harvest of rice, the staple food, did not increase. The birth rate exceeded the death rate by only one percent per year. The crop failure of the 1930s turned out to be a terrible tragedy for the Japanese. 19th century
About 1 million people died as a result of the famine. It is not surprising that peasant and urban uprisings literally shook Tokugawa Japan. All of them in the first half of the XIX century. about one thousand happened. The popular masses, in their own way, in a plebeian way, sought justice and a better life. Representatives of the samurai class were also ruined, especially those who received scanty rations of rice for military service from the shogun and princes. Finding no use for themselves, the samurai roamed the country in search of a livelihood.
At the same time, they often led the performances of the peasant and urban poor. Where, in the history of what other country can you find something like this?
Formation of anti-Shogun opposition
Under these conditions, the princes, the highest representatives of the samurai class, began to show their hostility to the shogun and sympathy for the emperor more and more. Some of them no longer took into account the harsh decrees of the shoguns about the "closure" of the country and allowed themselves what they could not afford before. For example, secretly from the government, several small ships were built according to the European model, as well as enterprises for the production of glass and iron. Previously, such violations of the decree on self-isolation were punishable by death. Now they were getting away with it, because the shoguns had lost their former influence and power. Many samurai, including some princes, increasingly thought about the restoration of imperial power and reforms along the European lines. The impetus for their performance was the forcible "discovery" of Japan by the Western powers in the 1950s. 19th century
Forced "opening" of Japan and its consequences
In the middle of the XIX century. The capitalist powers of the West sharply increased their pressure on Japan. They persistently sought to end the self-isolation of this country, which still refused to contact foreign powers. The United States of America and Russia have been particularly active in this pursuit.
The Americans were the first to impose unequal treaties on Japan under the threat of force: the first in 1854 and the second in 1858. England, Holland, France and Russia immediately followed suit. Foreigners received the right to unlimited trade, low customs duties were established on their goods.
Europeans actively exported from Japan copper and tea, cotton and rice, porcelain, silk fabrics and raw silk, which was not enough even for domestic consumption. The government tried to restrict the export of valuable raw materials, but to no avail.
Overthrow of the shogunate
The patriotic samurai were unhappy with the shogun and foreigners. Putting forward the slogan of the restoration of imperial power, they united around the 15-year-old Emperor Mutsuhito. On the night of January 2-3, 1868, an important event took place in the history of Japan - a decree was announced on the "restoration" (restoration) of the imperial power, the abolition of the shogunate and the establishment of a new government. The shogun did not obey, and civil war broke out in the country. In the summer of 1869, the shogun pleaded defeated. The military-feudal system of the shogunate ceased to exist.
The restoration of the emperor's power went down in history as the Meiji Restoration. Meiji means "enlightened rule" in Japanese. (Remember where you've heard of him before.) That's the name given to the reign of Emperor Mutsuhito (1868-1912). These events are sometimes referred to as the Meiji Revolution.
Mutsuhito (1852-1912) - the first emperor of Japan after the overthrow of the Tokugawa shogunate. After his death, he became known as Emperor Meiji
Reforms 1868–1873
The overthrow of the shogunate was truly a revolutionary event. Reforms 1868-1873 marked the beginning of the transformation of Japan from a feudal country to a capitalist country.
The division of the country into principalities was abolished. Instead of them, new territorial-administrative units were created - prefectures, subordinate to the imperial government. It was announced the liquidation of the estates and the equality of all before the law. The privileges of the nobility - samurai were canceled and marriages between persons of different classes were allowed. Free trade and freedom of movement throughout the country were introduced. Peasants without restrictions could cultivate any crops and engage in trade. All taxes in kind were replaced by cash taxes.
Agrarian reform was an important transformation. It established private ownership of land with the right to purchase and sell and mortgage it. Most of the peasants received small plots of land without redemption payments. However, the high tax on land led to the rapid ruin of the small and middle peasantry. By the end of the XIX century. about 70% of the peasants lost their land and became tenants. From agrarian reform the richest in the countryside, the city merchants and usurers, who turned into landowners, benefited the most.
Military reform had huge consequences for Japan. Samurai militias were transformed into a regular army, which was subordinate to the imperial government and was recruited on the basis of universal military service. The samurai played a leading role in the army. Only they had the right to be appointed to officer positions. The code of honor of the samurai - bushido (the way of the warrior) was put at the basis of the education of soldiers and officers. All this gave the Japanese army a particularly warlike and aggressive character.
Reforms 1868-1873 were moderate and bourgeois in character. Their significance lay in the fact that they opened the way for the capitalist development of Japan.
Japanese politeness
The Japanese, even my friends, do not say - no, their traditions do not allow it - and when it is necessary to say - no, they do not understand and do not hear me. (Boris Pilnyak, 1927)
In the West, people either tell you the truth or they lie. The Japanese, on the other hand, almost never lie, but it never occurs to them to tell you the truth. (Bob Dunham, 1964)
One of the main features of Japanese national character- politeness. Rules of polite behavior have developed in distant medieval times. Their violation has always been considered the most serious crime in Japan. Traces of this ancient tradition are still preserved in the behavior of the Japanese.
Captain Russian fleet V. M. Golovnin, who was a prisoner of the Japanese in 1811-1813, noted in his Notes:
“In getting around, the Japanese of all fortunes are extremely courteous: the courtesy with which they treat each other shows the true enlightenment of this people. We lived with the Japanese, who were not of the best condition, but never saw them quarreling or quarreling among themselves. Arguing passionately is revered by the Japanese for great indecency and rudeness; they always offer their opinions in a courteous manner with many apologies and with signs of incredulity in their own judgments, and they never openly make objections to anything, but always in a blunt manner and for the most part by examples and comparisons.
And indeed, in a conversation, the Japanese in every possible way bypass or smooth out sharp corners, avoid direct statements that can hurt someone's pride. They do not accept excessive frankness, a straightforward manner of communication. In speech, they strive to belittle themselves, and exalt the interlocutor. Often they use expressions that can be interpreted as both "yes" and "no". Politeness of speech is valued above its availability. After all, it is not so much truthfulness that is important, but prudence and courtesy. Therefore, the means of communication often becomes silence, which is more eloquent than words. The Japanese especially avoid the use of the words “no”, “I can’t”, “I don’t know”. Even refusing a second cup of tea, the guest instead of "no, thanks" uses an expression denoting: "I'm already so pleased." A great connoisseur of Japan, journalist Vsevolod Ovchinnikov, noted in his book "The Sakura Branch": "Politeness of the Japanese is like a straitjacket that restricts verbal communication between people."
First Russian Consul in Japan
One of the founders of Russian Japanese studies is our countryman Joseph Antonovich Goshkevich (1814-1872). He was born in the Minsk region in the family of a priest. In 1839 he graduated from the St. Petersburg Theological Academy and was sent as part of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission to Beijing. There he studied Chinese culture, Chinese, Korean and Japanese And. With his participation, the Russian-Japanese treaty of 1855 was concluded. In 1858, I. A. Goshkevich was appointed Russian consul to Japan. He became the first foreigner to be allowed to visit the hinterland of Japan and the shogun's court in Edo (today's Tokyo). In 1865, Goshkevich returned to his homeland with his family and lived in the Mali estate (now the Ostrovets region), where he continued to study philology. He published the first in Russia "Japanese-Russian Dictionary", awarded the prize of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. The bay is named after him North Korea(Chosanman).
References:
V. S. Koshelev, I. V. Orzhehovsky, V. I. Sinitsa / The World History New time XIX - early. XX century., 1998.
Main development trends. The incompleteness of the revolution of 1868 complicated the formation of bourgeois culture. Foreign influences burst into the open country after two hundred years of seclusion. The original culture of the urban estates, which developed in the depths of the feudal formation, along with the influence of the fading culture of the feudal class, was strongly influenced by the developed bourgeois culture of Europe and America.
Soon after the events of 1868, the new government began to implement a policy of broad borrowing of European and American culture, science and technology, which led to the revival of the economy, the development of industry, transport and communications, at the same time, the production of periodicals(in the years preceding the revolution, a printing house was opened in Nagasaki, using the experience of European typesetting technology). The following newspapers became widely known: the semi-official "Tokyo Niti-Niti", the liberal "Yomiuri"; at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the workers' and socialist press appeared. In 1903, Heimin Shimbun was published in Tokyo by socialists Kotoku Shusui and Sakai Toshihiko.
Along with the technical sciences, the humanities also developed. Historical science experienced, on the one hand, the influence of advanced Western science, on the other hand, the patronage of the new government, which was interested in the "historical justification" of the "legality" of both imperial power and Japan's claims to Korea and other territories bordering it. Evidence of this should have been references to various ancient sources. In 1869 the government created special department, collecting chronicles, annals, historical documents, in 1898 the publication of historical materials began. The first were the publications of two series of sources: "Materials on the History of Japan" and "Collection of Ancient Japanese Historical Documents". Significant progress was noted at this time in the development of archeology. Public interest in the antiquity of the country, in its prehistoric culture, made it possible to open in 1884 the Anthropological Society, in 1895 - the Archaeological Society. However, the general development of history and, as part of it, archaeological science was hampered by the need to recognize the uniqueness of the ancient period - the special, divine origin of the emperor, the exclusive mission of the Japanese people, the reliability of the myths included in the first written monuments of the Kojiki and Nihongi (VIII century) as the beginning of the actual history of the nation. Scientific criticism of such an interpretation of history was not allowed, scientists trying to reconstruct the true history of their people were subjected to repression.
In seeking the abolition of unequal treaties, the Japanese government tried to give foreigners the impression of actively accepting everything Western, introducing European customs and practices in the country. In 1872, instead of the lunar calendar, a pan-European one was introduced. In the same year, the European dress was introduced as ceremonial dress, and a few years later it became everyday wear for officials. Women's European dress and European hairstyle came into fashion. In the Rokumeikan club - the capital's center of "westernization" - lavish balls were held in the Western style for representatives of the upper strata.
However, the government policy of "Westernization" (and in fact - Europeanization), which assumed mostly half-hearted reforms - borrowing scientific, primarily technical achievements for the modernization of the army and navy, caused dissatisfaction with the progressive-minded nobility and bourgeoisie. The question of charity or destructiveness of the West has been the subject of many years of discussion in the press. Active adherents of the West (Minister of Education Mori Arinori) were ready to abandon everything national, including the language, while those who shared opposite views rejected everything coming from abroad. A group that supports government reforms put forward the need for a compromise - "Japanese spirit, European knowledge." Young Japanese were sent to Western countries, primarily to Germany, England, France and Italy, for training. They studied here the natural and human sciences, art, politics, economics, actively joined the rich European culture. Eagerly absorbing knowledge, almost all of them worked in several fields of science, tried themselves in different types of art.
The formation and development of the bourgeois culture of the post-Meiji period was significantly influenced by the confrontation of two trends - Europeanization and the desire to preserve national identity. The opposition to the governmental planting of everything Western, the rejection of national traditions, had a positive side - an increase in interest in the national heritage. But at the same time, the excessive exaggeration of this interest inevitably led to nationalism and chauvinism. However, none of these trends could become the main public life countries.
By the mid-1990s, the discussion of the problems of Europeanization policy began to lose political urgency in the public life of the country. This was due to a decrease in general liberal sentiments, with the transition of the opposition to the full support of the expansionist foreign policy and the reactionary domestic policy government. At the same time, the fragile organizations of the working class could not lead the struggle for democratic, progressive social development. All this was reflected in the relatively weak development of the democratic trend in Japanese culture of that time.
Literature. At the end of the XIX century. in Japanese literature, the direction of the so-called political novel is taking shape. This genre made it possible for progressive journalists and politicians to popularize advanced ideas and influence young people.
There has been a major change in the nature of translated literature. For the first time in 1888, a genuine artistic (and not just a transcription of the text) translation of a part of the “Notes of a Hunter” (the story “Date”) by I. S. Turgenev appeared. The translation was done by Ftabetei Hasegawa. It marked the beginning of the publication in Japan of the works of Russian writers: Pushkin, Turgenev, Goncharov, Dostoevsky, L. Tolstoy, Chekhov, Gogol, Gorky, which won great interest and appreciation from Japanese readers.
Acquaintance with Western literature, with its various trends, had a great influence on the young Japanese intelligentsia, who sought to fully join European culture. A wide literary renewal began, the creation of new trends and genres. The romantic upsurge and ideals of the progressive Japanese intelligentsia in the post-revolutionary years were reflected in the emergence of a romantic trend in Japanese literature in the 1990s. Its prominent representative was Ishikawa Takuboku (1886-1912), who published several collections of poetry in the spirit of this trend. However, from 1907-1908. begins his transition to the position of realistic poetry. His extensive literary heritage included short stories and critical articles. The main achievement of Ishikawa is the reconstruction of the traditional form of the "tank". The poet introduced into the structure of a short verse not peculiar to him social issues and vocabulary, new artistic images. Deeply democratic in spirit, Ishikawa's poetry breathed new life into traditional poetic form.
Renewal in poetry was also associated with the name of Kitamura Tokoku (1868-1894), a brilliant publicist who published the first anti-war magazine in Japan, Mir (1892). Kitamura Tokoku tried to develop new poetic forms. Shimazaki Toson (1872-1943), Japan's greatest writer, is known for his commitment to romanticism at an early stage of his career. In the 90s he acted as a lyric poet, creator new form free verse. However, since the beginning of the 20th century he becomes one of the most prominent representatives of the realistic novel. His most famous works raise acute social problems: the novel "The Broken Covenant" is dedicated to the fate of Japanese pariahs - this one; "Spring" tells about the collapse of the illusions of the younger generation; "Family" gives a picture of the death of the family under capitalism.
Ever since the end of the 19th century. in Japanese literature, the tendencies of a realistic depiction of social life are becoming more and more clear. This was facilitated by the influence of European literature and Russian critical realism. In the first decades of the XX century. In Japanese literature, two trends are emerging: naturalistic and realistic, the boundary between which is to a certain extent conditional. A distinctive feature of the first is not so much the elements of naturalism (although they are), but the principle of strict adherence to the truth of life, the desire to show the phenomenon in all its harsh unvarnished. Japanese literary scholars consider major Japanese writers to be representatives of the naturalistic trend: Kunikida Doppo (1881 -1908) - "Fate", "Special Issue", and Tayama Katai (1871 -1930) - "Life", "Kinship". In reality, the works of these writers (especially Kunikida Doppo), reflecting the conflict of the individual with the social environment, are closer in their acute social themes to the second direction - the realistic novel.
Ftabetei Hasegawa, the first translator of Turgenev and propagandist of Belinsky's ideas, is considered the founder of the realistic novel. He was the initiator of the movement for the creation of a new, more democratic literary language accessible to the masses. His novels criticize the elite that came to power after the revolution and the social orders it established.
For the first time in Japanese literature, a "little man" appeared in the writer's field of vision - a petty official, a city dweller (the novel "Floating Cloud"). The works of Ftabetei Hasegawa reflect the strong influence of Russian literature. His passive, suffering and helpless characters open up a new theme in Japanese literature - the theme of ruthless criticism. social order through showing the destinies they have broken. Unlike Russian literature, which created images of active fighters, Ftabetei and his followers do not go beyond simple rejection, denial of the world around them - they are far from the ideas of a revolutionary reorganization of society.
The largest writer of this time - Tokutomi Roka (1868-1927) created works on which more than one generation of his compatriots was brought up. He was the first to translate the works of Leo Tolstoy into Japanese. Thanks to him, not only large-scale social problems were raised in Japanese literature, but also for the first time the theme of a deep study of the inner world of a person was revealed. Literary studies of the work of Leo Tolstoy, various essays, stories, novels - "Black Current", showing a negative attitude towards the political and social structure of society, "Better not to live", giving criticism of family foundations - everything that Tokutomi Roka wrote is marked by deep penetration into the essence of the phenomena he depicts.
Special place Natsume Soseki (1867-1916), a humanist writer who wrote sixteen novels, many novels and short stories, and essays in the history of Japanese literature, occupied in Japanese literature (1867-1916), a humanist writer who wrote an entire era in the history of Japanese literature. Soseki's works show Japan in the 20th century, a difficult post-reform period, when various sections of the population, including the intelligentsia, were freed from idyllic ideas about the progressive role of capitalism and beneficial social changes supposedly natural for it. in the society of a woman, the novels “Then”, “Gate”, “Traveler” are devoted. A sharp satire on the writer's contemporary society is presented by the novel "Your Obedient Servant the Cat".
In the beginning. 20th century new literary trends appeared - “neo-romanticism”, which focuses on emotionality as a factor in revealing reality (Nagai Kafu), “neorealism” (perception of the world through a system of intellectual and psychological values (Akutagawa Ryunosuke).
Theater. The Europeanization policy played a significant role in the fate of the Japanese people. With the fall of the shogunate, the privileged position of the Noo theater changed. Without the support of the bakufu, the theater fell into disrepair. The troupe broke up, the actors were engaged in activities that had nothing to do with playing on stage in order to somehow feed themselves. Theatrical requisites, musical instruments were sold out, craftsmanship, which had centuries-old traditions, was lost. The same situation was typical for the Kabuki theater, although, created by the urban class, it was supposed to meet the needs of bourgeois Japan more in terms of themes and less conventionality. The policy of borrowing in theatrical culture led to the creation of buildings for performances, equipped according to the European model, designed to accommodate spectators in the hall on chairs, and not on flat cushions - zabutons, as was the case before.
In 1875, the European-style theater "Simpudza" was opened, in whose repertoire there were historical and everyday dramas - sevamono, created by the talented playwright of that time, Kawatashi Makuami. Unlike the previous "petty-bourgeois" dramas, they were not a detailed cast of modernity, but tried to reflect the emergence of a whole knot of contradictions in society - a natural consequence of the country's entry onto the capitalist path of development, the interaction of two cultures opposite in spirit - East and West. Even Kabuki during this period, to win the audience, puts on plays of topical modern themes.
However, the European organization of the performance demanded appropriate European dramaturgy, performing techniques and props. The formation and activity of the theater using European drama is associated with the name of Tsubouchi Shoyo (1859-1935). At first he made free translations of Shakespeare's plays for joruri productions, later he made first-class translations of all Shakespeare's plays, and also tried to create a theoretical program for the transformation of the theater in accordance with the requirements of the time.
The most famous groups that worked at that time were Simpa, which staged modern plays and performances in the style of imitation of Kabuki, as well as the Free Theater, which built its repertoire exclusively on modern Western dramaturgy.
Art and architecture. In the first years after the revolution of 1868, fine arts experienced a period of active interest in everything Western, characteristic of the entire national culture. Works of Japanese painting and applied crafts, works of national jewelers were not in demand among buyers.
However, in the 1980s, the situation changed - against the backdrop of a general economic recovery, interest in the national artistic heritage arose. A movement emerged to renew Japanese national art. In 1888, the Tokyo Art School was established, where they taught and trained artists to work in the traditions of the national school, specializing in painting, lacquer carving, artwork for metal. Gradually, attention is being restored to the traditional types of national art: to the dances of the Noo theater, ancient palace music, the tea ceremony, bonsai (growing bonsai under special conditions), etc. are being revived.
In the 1990s, a trend emerged for the development of Japanese classical art using the methods of Western schools. The initiative in this movement belonged to well-known artists - Yokoyama Taikan, Hashimoto Masakuni and others. A department of Western painting was opened at the Tokyo Art School, artists from Italy, England and other European countries were invited.
Applied art began to develop in a somewhat different way. Directly connected with everyday life, it experienced the most intense Western influence, especially in the first decades after the revolution, new art crafts appeared with Western techniques, methods of aesthetic design.
However, the traditional applied arts of Japan received an unexpected impetus for development during these years in the form of an ever-increasing attention in the West to the artistic culture of the country. The products of the Kyoto craftsmen who make nishiki brocade, ceramics and porcelain, lacquer and enamels, and decorative metalwork using only traditional techniques have gained wide popularity and distribution in the West.
In the last decades of the 19th century, during the period of the accelerated development of capitalism, significant changes took place in the Japanese city - in the formation of its physical structure and architectural appearance.
In contrast to the Middle Ages, the centralization of political power led to the centralization of the system of cities and their transformation into key points for the development of the national economy. Of the 46 capitals of the former provinces, 34 became prefectural centers.
The castle grounds and the surrounding area now became the seat of prefectural and city official offices, institutes, colleges, "headquarters" of the business world. The rest of the urban development until about the beginning of the 30s of the XX century. kept intact the national residential construction of wooden two-story houses) and the intricate network of streets.
Most of the castle towns, even during the years of the so-called industrial revolution (80s of the 19th century), when the structure of the traditional city began to actively break down, remained unchanged for a long time. central part buildings - industrial enterprises only in the 90s moved from the outskirts of the city to its middle part. The development of industry and the growing concentration of the working class necessitated the creation of non-traditional structures - factory buildings, residences of firms, etc. They were designed by foreigners. Multi-storey construction using stone and brickwork did not take into account the natural and climatic conditions of Japan
In 1872, after a fire that destroyed most of the center of the capital, the reconstruction of Ginza, the leading shopping district of the city, began. However, the rebuilding of the city center did not take place. The center, called "Brick Ginza", consisted of two lines of five-six-story brick houses on the sides of the main street of the district. Behind them, the quarters of wooden two-story buildings of the feudal city still stretched.
Famous Western architects built in Japan during these years - the Frenchman Bouanville, the British Condor and Waters, the American Bridgens, representatives of the German school. The appearance of the city, and above all the capital, acquired the features of eclecticism, a bizarre mixture of styles. The absence of a unified plan for urban transformations led to the fact that the capitalist city of Japan took shape according to the type of introduction of industrial, civil (bourgeois mansions) and public construction objects into the old feudal buildings. Large buildings of these years include the buildings of the Imperial University of Tokyo (Waters, 1882), the buildings of the Parliament and the Ministry of Justice (1887). Japanese architects who were educated in Europe, Tatsuno Kingo, Katayama Tokuma, Sone Tatsuzo and others, also began to build. Significant works of Tatsuno Kingo are the buildings of the Japanese Bank and Tokyo Station.
After the earthquake of 1901, Japanese and Western architects began to develop the principles of anti-seismic construction, suggesting the use of reinforced concrete structures with a steel frame. Buildings of this type include the Imperial Hotel, built in the center of the capital by the American architect F. Wright. The building withstood the strongest earthquake of 1923 and even kept the water supply and electric lighting systems working. During these years, Japanese architects begin to use new European technology and non-traditional materials in national character buildings - theaters, museums, Buddhist and Shinto temples.
The complex, often contradictory and multifaceted process of establishing wide contacts between the centuries-old original culture of Japan and the advanced bourgeois culture of Western countries had a beneficial effect on its further development.
Meiji era (translated as "restoration of the monarchy")
(era of the enlightened reign of Emperor Mutsuhito)
(1868-1912)
in Japan until the middle of the 19th century. the country was ruled by large feudal lords, and the emperor had no real power. This form of government was called the shogunate.
There were high local taxes, the arbitrariness of the samurai, the strong influence of various feudal groups, the oppression of the peasants, the hungry years, which were often repeated. Often there were uprisings of peasants and the urban poor.
1867 - 1868 pp. revolutionary events in Japan, during which the shogunate was liquidated and the power of the emperor was restored, which relied on an alliance of the bourgeoisie, new landowners and wealthy peasants.
The power of Mutsuhito was established, who began to implement administrative, agrarian, social, financial, military, judicial, educational reforms, borrowing the experience of European countries.
1. According to the Constitution of 1889, Japan is a constitutional monarchy, which was semi-absolutist, landowner-bourgeois.
2. Parliament had very narrow powers, it could not make any amendments or changes to the constitution - only the emperor could do this.
3. The constitution proclaimed a number of political freedoms, but in subsequent years they were sharply limited by various government decrees.
The collapse of the policy of self-isolation
The Japanese government pursued a policy of self-isolation from the outside world.
1853 An American squadron under the command of M. Perry arrived on the shores of Japan to force the authorities to abandon the policy of isolation from the outside world and establish trade and diplomatic relations with the United States. Under the threat of starting hostilities, Perry forced the Japanese government to conclude enslaving treaties with American and European countries.
1854-1858 pp. The United States, Great Britain, Holland, France and Russia, under the threat of the use of force, imposed Anseisk treaties on Japan. These were unequal treaties. Trade privileges for Europeans were established, an influx of cheap European goods began. These treaties ended more than two hundred years of Japan's isolation from the outside world.
Samurai are:
In a broad sense - the name of secular feudal lords;
In a narrow sense - the military-feudal class of small service nobles;
In a figurative sense - the Japanese military.
1. The fragmentation of the country was overcome and a centralized state was created.
2. There was a rapid modernization of the country based on the application of foreign experience, taking into account national traditions.
3. The reforms contributed to the development of market relations in the country.
4. Contributed to overcoming the international isolation of Japan.
5. Engaged Japan in the global economy.
6. Created favorable conditions for the formation of an industrial society.
Country's Economic Growth Reasons for Japan's Rapid Economic Growth
1. The state built factories, shipyards, railways, which were then given to private firms for 20-30% of their value.
2. A system of transport and communications was created at the expense of the state.
3. Landlords, merchants, resorted to industrial activities, received large subsidies from the state, cheap loans, tax exemptions.
A subsidy is monetary or in-kind assistance.
4. Japan made extensive use of the technical achievements of Western Europe and the United States.
5. There was cheap labor.
6. Japan seized foreign markets and sources of raw materials as a result of wars of conquest.
Features of economic development
1. Workshops and guilds that hindered the development of free enterprise were liquidated.
2. The government built large "exemplary" factories, which were then leased or sold on preferential terms to those firms that were associated with the landlord-bourgeois ruling coalition.
3. The government provided large subsidies for the construction of enterprises and roads, as well as benefits and privileges from their taxation.
4. In the 70s - 80s of the XIX century. in Japan by private capital, almost 1,300 industrial enterprises were created, mainly of a manufactory type using manual labor, mainly reworking agricultural raw materials.
5. The country was dominated by small semi-handicraft enterprises, only 15% of enterprises in the country used machines and mechanisms.
6. At the end of the XIX century. monopolies arose in Japan. The largest of them:
Mitsu. In her hands were various industries: spinning, paper, mining, electrical. She was associated with the ruling elite, from which she received many enterprises built by the government, as well as various benefits and privileges in trade and banking;
Mitsubishi. In her hands was banking, navigation, shipbuilding, railways, coal industry.
7. There was a process of concentration of capital.
In 1897, five large banks owned 25% of the country's deposits.
1. At the end of the XIX century. The industrial development of Japan accelerated, which was facilitated by the Meiji reforms.
2. The peculiarity of the industrial society that was being formed in Japan was to strengthen economic and political ties between the imperial court, landowners, the bourgeoisie, the preservation of feudal remnants, and the state's encouragement of industrial development.
3. The industry of Japan developed unevenly: the textile industry grew at a rapid pace, metallurgy, due to a shortage of raw materials, first developed at a slow pace.
4. By total volume industrial production Japan lagged far behind Great Britain, France, Germany, the USA and Russia.
5. In agriculture there was landlessness and lack of land.
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