Definition
The Meiji Restoration was the political revolution of 1868 that ended centuries of rule by the Tokugawa shogunate in Japan and restored the emperor to the centre of national life. The new government, taking the name Meiji, meaning enlightened rule, launched a sweeping programme to modernise the country.
The trigger was external pressure. In the 1850s, Western warships had forced Japan to open its ports to foreign trade on unequal terms. Reformers concluded that Japan could remain independent only by rapidly building the kind of industrial and military strength that the Western powers possessed.
Why it matters
How it works
The Meiji reformers pursued modernisation as a survival strategy. They abolished the feudal class system and the privileges of the samurai, sent students abroad to study Western science and government, and hired foreign experts to help build new institutions. Crucially, they borrowed selectively — adopting Western technology, law, and military organisation while keeping the emperor as a unifying symbol. This combination of rapid change and strong central authority allowed Japan to compress into a generation what other nations had taken much longer to achieve.