The fall of Edo and the Tokugawa Shogunate
Behind The Fog...
The fall of Edo and the Tokugawa Shogunate is one that is both controversial and mysterious. Almost all information about it is contradicted by other sources, making my job of finding what happened to make this empire's rule collapse more than tough, but by using many sources and finding things that they agreed upon, I was able to at least summurize what happened. To those who are reading this, I hope that you are able to grasp enough information from this report to understand the main details about what happened.
The Black Ships
By reading another report online by John W. Dower called "Commodore Perry and The Opening of Japan" and using other sources also, I was able to figure out that the U.S. had it's fair share of work in the fall of Edo, the city that is now modern day Tokyo. In 1639, Japan's ruling warrior government abruptly enforced a "closed country" policy, or sakoku. This ruling caused anyone from Japan who traveled away to not be allowed reentry, any foreigners expelled, and no one in Japan who was from Japan could not leave. Also with this was the end of trade and the end of Christianity. Christian rule was forbidden and cruely punished to the point of Christian who still followed the religion becoming "hidden Christians," and eventually even they were ferreted out and put an end to. As for trade, the only exception to no trading with foreign powers were the Dutch, and even they were confined to Dejima at Nagaski. This was their only contact to the outside world, but it was still good enough to allow Japan to know about the revolutions, such as the indusrial revolution, in the Western world, though they did not have any themselves.
In 1853, Commodore Perry's fleet, nicknamed the black ship, approached Japan. After not being able to trade, the U.S. sent Commodore Perry to demand that Japan open their ports to them. Though this was not the first fleet sent to do this, it was the most successful one. Because of the Dutch at Dejima, the Japanese knew that the expedition was on its way, and through John Manjiro, (a young Japanese man who was rescued by an American vessel when he was shipwrecked, and brought back to America, then made his way back to Japan 10 years later,) they learned about the steam engine, so when Perry's fleet arrived, it was not a complete surprise. The 1853 visit was a short one: Perry and his fleet surveyed the land, presented a letter to the Shogun's officials, said that he would be back soon with a larger fleet and expecting an answer, then left 5 days later. About 6 months later, sometime in March of 1854, Perry returned with an even bigger army, as promised. On March 31st, in Kanagawa, a treaty was signed that met all of the U.S. government's requests.
In 1853, Commodore Perry's fleet, nicknamed the black ship, approached Japan. After not being able to trade, the U.S. sent Commodore Perry to demand that Japan open their ports to them. Though this was not the first fleet sent to do this, it was the most successful one. Because of the Dutch at Dejima, the Japanese knew that the expedition was on its way, and through John Manjiro, (a young Japanese man who was rescued by an American vessel when he was shipwrecked, and brought back to America, then made his way back to Japan 10 years later,) they learned about the steam engine, so when Perry's fleet arrived, it was not a complete surprise. The 1853 visit was a short one: Perry and his fleet surveyed the land, presented a letter to the Shogun's officials, said that he would be back soon with a larger fleet and expecting an answer, then left 5 days later. About 6 months later, sometime in March of 1854, Perry returned with an even bigger army, as promised. On March 31st, in Kanagawa, a treaty was signed that met all of the U.S. government's requests.
The Boshin War
Though Japan had avoided war with the U.S. with the Treaty of Kanagawa, that did not stop the civil war in Japan. According to an article on the Edo period, the Boshin war came to be because of the treaty. Many people had wanted Japan to declare war on the U.S. when Perry had come, but the Tokugawa Shogunate were dealing with some sort of "complex domestic situation" and wanted to avoid war. Many critics of the Tokugawa Shogunate were unhappy with the treaty being forced, and decided that they wanted to reorganize the government under the emperor instead. The Boshin civil war then erupted to do just that. It started with the Battle of Toba-Fushimi in 1868, according to an article on the Boshin war that I read, and ended with the Battle of Hakodate in 1869. However, the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate can still be debatable because in November 1867, the Shogan, Tokugawa Yoshinobu, agreed to return the political power to the emperor, and lead a council of daimyo, but the Satsuma and Choshu, the leaders of the poimperial forces, had already decided to overthrow the Shogunate by force, and it wasn't until the January of 1868 that they seized the imperial palace and declared an imperial restoration.
Wrapping It Up
I hope that through this report, the fog has at least thinned enough to see your way around without crashing, if it has not cleared completely.
Thank you.
By: Anastasia Bell
Thank you.
By: Anastasia Bell