Japan: Difference between revisions
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{{Infobox country|conventional_long_name=Empire of Japan|native_name=|image_flag=RTL Flag of Japan.png|capital=Osaca|image_map=Locator_Japan.png|map_width=275px|flag_width=200px|official_languages=Japanese|government_type=Constitutional monarchy}} |
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{{Nation |
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|common_name=Japan |
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|full_name= |
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|local_name=日本 |
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|established= |
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|capital= Osaka |
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|largest_city= |
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|population= |
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|government_type= |
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|languages= {{unbulleted_list | Japanese (Official) }} |
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|currency= |
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|flag=Flag of Japan.png}} |
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'''Japan''' (Japanese: 日本, ''Nippon'' or ''Nihon)'' is an island country located in |
'''Japan''' (Japanese: 日本, ''Nippon'' or ''Nihon)'' is an island country located in Northeast Asia. It shares a border with the [[Ainu Mosir|Ainu National Republic]] on the island of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hokkaido Ezo] and a maritime border with [[Tauland]]. |
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==History== |
==History== |
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{{Main|History of Japan}}The Tocugawa shogunate unified Japan by 1603. With the arrival of the Dutch in [[Tauland]] in the 1630s, Japan began passing the Sacocu Ordinances, restricting free contact with foreign powers. In 1637, the Christian peasant-led Ximabara Rebellion was crushed, and the Dutch trading post of Desjima was established in 1641. The early 1650s saw the [[History of Japan#The%20Keian%20Affair%20and%20the%20J%C5%8D%C5%8D%20Massacre|Ceian Affair, the Djōō Massacre]] and the arrival of [[Koxinga]] and Fukienese refugees from China, These events brought about political instability and a rise in illegal commerce. In 1655, the Lord of Ōmura executed a group of Christian peasants. This led to the [[History of Japan#%C5%8Cmura%20Rebellion%20(1656-1658)|Ōmura Rebellion]]. Around the same time, the failed Meirequi Putsch, the Great Fire of Edo, and other events triggered the Canbun Reforms of 1660. |
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When Emperor Tacacawa ascended to the throne in 1691, his reign was immediately marked with conflict and change. Tension between Corean and Japanese fishermen under the Tottori domain led to the Taquexima Dispute. The Dutch East India Company intervened in the conflict and disciplined the Lord of Tottori, leading to their deposition. This marked the first instance of a European power directly intervening in Japanese affairs. Competing with the Dutch, the Russians began expanding their influence in northern Japan in the 1740s, forging close relations with the Sacai family. |
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=== Early History === |
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Japan has been inhabited since the Upper Paleolithic period (30,000 BC), though the first written mention of the archipelago appears in a Chinese chronicle finished in the 2nd century AD. Between the 4th and 9th centuries, the kingdoms of Japan became unified under an emperor and the imperial court based in Heian-kyō. Beginning in the 12th century, political power was held by a series of military dictators (''shōgun'') and feudal lords (''daimyō''), and enforced by a class of warrior nobility (''samurai''). |
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The Cioho Reforms, beginning in the early 18th century, was passed during a time of financial crises, corruption, and a disgruntled bourgeoisie. The Horequi Coup of 1750 destabilized the xogunate, leading to the fragmentation of the state. Emperor Momozono subsequently led the imperial Meiwa Restoration, gaining the support of multiple lords. ''De facto'', imperial authority was limited to Edo, Osaca, and Miaco. In the 1770s, the Loetsjoe kingdom, a vassal of the Ximazu family, was taken over by the Dutch East India Company (EIC), leading to the domain’s economic decline. The Russian-backed Lake Kusuri rebellion occurred on Ezo, destabilizing Japan’s northern border. |
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=== Tokugawa Japan === |
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Sacai Tadamichi, the ''Tairo'', began forming a coalition of families in response to the Tocugawa government and the failure of the Meiwa Restoration. They were diametrically opposed to the pro-Dutch Hosocawa faction. In 1795, the [[Augustine Wars]] sapped the EIC’s resources, allowing the Sacai to run through the country. In 1803, Emperor Go Comei was poisoned. By 1809, the Sacai firmly established their rule over most of Japan. |
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==== Beginning of the Sakoku ==== |
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In the aftermath of the Sengoku period, where the nation was in a state of nearly constant civil war from 1467 to 1615, the Tokugawa Shogunate unified the island chain. Throughout the early 17th century the Shogun started to fear the growing Portuguese & Spanish influence in the country as well as the potential for independent Daimyos armed with weapons & goods to usurp Shogunate authority. This led to a policy of gradual "closing off" of Japan to foreigners and foreign influence. |
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Under the pretence of assisting the Sacai, the Russians invaded the disobedient Odawara domain. In 1815, Russian forces seized the ports of Idzu, Maizuru, and Texio. In 1837, Russia declared support for the insurgent Ainu state in northern Ezo, instigating a minor conflict and confining Japanese rule to the Oxima peninsula. In the late 19<sup>th</sup> century, Japan began to modernize, with numerous political factions forming in response to domestic and world events. The Federalist Association was established in 1873 after the Russian Succession Crisis renewed security concerns in 1868. In 1896, the Sacura Revolution established a constitutional monarchy with Empress Sacuramachi as the head of state. |
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==== The Rangaku ==== |
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In 1641 the Dutch took over the former Portuguese trading post at Nagasaki creating an artificial island in which to do business with the Japanese. Overtime western knowledge, technology and medicine diffused from these Dutch traders to Japanese merchants, elites and middle classes in a process known as the ''Rangaku''. This eventually leads to local Daimyos allowing a merchant class to develop in order to trade manufactured goods to the Dutch (and later other Europeans throughout Japanese ports). |
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== Government and Politics == |
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==== The Collapse of the Bakufu ==== |
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In the early and mid 18th century, Russian traders started to realize the untapped market of Japan which was mostly closed off by the Sakoku (besides for several allowed trading ports, one operated by the Dutch). In 1739 after a relatively successful meeting with the Tokugawa Shogun, a consortium of Russian traders were given limited access to trade with Japan through the Maizuru port but were subject to high tariffs and strict trade regulations. In 1741 the Russian Czar hearing of the wealth the Dutch were able to gain from trade with the far east and seeking to expand Russian imperial prestige through an expansionist foreign policy decided to grant an exclusive imperial charter to these traders and form the ''<nowiki/>'Russian-Japanese Company''' to manage trade between Russia and Japan. |
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== Demographics == |
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Over the next decade the Russian- Japanese company expanded it's operations in Japan, petitioning the Shogun to allow a higher trade volume, gaining the ability to trade out of more ports, bribing influence Daimyos with illicit goods and kickbacks in order to gain allies and growing their influence over the islands of Ezo (building a strong trading relationship with the Matsumae clan). This in turn provoked the Dutch who feared the growth of Russian influence in East Asia would threaten their advantageous position in the region into gaining their own allies amongst the Japanese merchant classes and southern Daimyos. Eventually this tension would culminate in the 1754 Tokugawa succession crisis where the favored heir to the Shogunate of Japan was revealed to be illegitimate and both pro and anti Russian factions in the Tokugawa court seized the opportunity to put forth their own successor. When the anti-Russian & stanchly isolationist Tokugawa Naritami won over the court, a Shinobi spy hired by the Russian-Japanese Company assassinated the newly appointed Shogun 13 days later. This led to widespread anger in the Tokugawa court and a call to remove Russian influence from Japan; but unfortunately for the Tokugawa the Russians were ready. Over the next 8 months a alliance of Pro Russian Daimyos and allied clans rose up against the fractured Shogunate with Russian supplied weapons and mercenaries. This in turn led to the Dutch first supporting the Tokugawa and then their own alliance of southern Daimyos after a diplomatic dispute between the two parties over the role of Dutch merchants in a post-civil war Japan. |
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== Culture == |
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Over the next 60 years Japan became a battle ground between foreign and regional powers with Russian backed, Dutch backed, Portuguese backed and independent Daimyos along with Tokugawa remnant isolationists fighting each other over control of the Japanese islands. During this period the Dutch annexed the Ryukyu islands and the Russians annexed the ports of Maizuru & Idzu. Additionally this period saw a widespread series of social changes including the explosion of Rangaku knowledge (especially in relations to war and weapons), a lucrative and exploitive trade in Japanese slaves and servants to the European colonies in Asia & elsewhere and an expansion of the homegrown Japanese merchant class who acted as the middlemen and translators between foreign traders and local Daimyos. |
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== List of leaders == |
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=== Reunification of Japan under the Shogunate === |
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{{Main|List of rulers of Japan}} |
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== See also == |
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==== Changes within late 19th century Japan ==== |
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By the 1870's there some industrialization started to occur in Japan with textile factories built by the new merchant class with the support of local Daimyos. Most of this development was homegrown with the merchant class adopting western technology, but with the Daimyos making sure that foreigners didn't gain direct control of industry outside of the treaty ports. However due to the lack of organization, increased urbanization and tension between various Daimyos new administrative and social problems started to plague Japan. During this time cracks in the outdated feudal political economy and throughout the social fabric of Japanese society started to become apparent. This would lead to the rise of the Federalist party, which sought to reform the central government to better fit the new changes brought upon by the late 19th century. |
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=== The Sakura Revolution and Japanese Reform Period === |
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In March of 1896, the last Tokugawa Shogun died without a appointed heir, leading to a secession crisis that resulted in the mostly bloodless Sakura revolution a month later. This would eventually lead to the abolishment of the Shogunate and the establishment of the Japanese Confederation lead by the Federalist faction, who would quickly bring reform to the government. By this time the Samurai class had already lost what little Bureaucratic powers they still had to the merchant class, so their abolition alongside the few still existing feudal systems faced little overall resistance. The 1899 constitution would give the Emperor (who had supported the Sakura revolution) very little, and mostly ceremonial power; however the emperor would later become a symbolic unifying figure of Japanese culture and the Japanese nation. During the 1910s the ruling Federalist enacted further reforms to central governmental power out of a necessity to streamline national administration. This led to a period of increased intranational business transactions further growing local industries, allowed for widespread infrastructural improvements, as well as the creation of a standing Army and Navy modeled off of the Kingdom of Corea’s. While this period of reform was seen by many to be the creation of modern Japanese society but to some there were widespread failures of the reforms including a discrepancy in provincial development and the failure of the national government to break the power of an autocratic local elite class. |
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=== Russo-Corean War === |
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{{Nations of the World}} |
{{Nations of the World}} |
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__FORCETOC__ |
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__INDEX__ |
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Latest revision as of 07:53, 9 October 2022
Empire of Japan | |
|---|---|
 Flag | |
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| Capital | Osaca |
| Official languages | Japanese |
| Government | Constitutional monarchy |
Japan (Japanese: 日本, Nippon or Nihon) is an island country located in Northeast Asia. It shares a border with the Ainu National Republic on the island of Ezo and a maritime border with Tauland.
History
The Tocugawa shogunate unified Japan by 1603. With the arrival of the Dutch in Tauland in the 1630s, Japan began passing the Sacocu Ordinances, restricting free contact with foreign powers. In 1637, the Christian peasant-led Ximabara Rebellion was crushed, and the Dutch trading post of Desjima was established in 1641. The early 1650s saw the Ceian Affair, the Djōō Massacre and the arrival of Koxinga and Fukienese refugees from China, These events brought about political instability and a rise in illegal commerce. In 1655, the Lord of Ōmura executed a group of Christian peasants. This led to the Ōmura Rebellion. Around the same time, the failed Meirequi Putsch, the Great Fire of Edo, and other events triggered the Canbun Reforms of 1660.
When Emperor Tacacawa ascended to the throne in 1691, his reign was immediately marked with conflict and change. Tension between Corean and Japanese fishermen under the Tottori domain led to the Taquexima Dispute. The Dutch East India Company intervened in the conflict and disciplined the Lord of Tottori, leading to their deposition. This marked the first instance of a European power directly intervening in Japanese affairs. Competing with the Dutch, the Russians began expanding their influence in northern Japan in the 1740s, forging close relations with the Sacai family.
The Cioho Reforms, beginning in the early 18th century, was passed during a time of financial crises, corruption, and a disgruntled bourgeoisie. The Horequi Coup of 1750 destabilized the xogunate, leading to the fragmentation of the state. Emperor Momozono subsequently led the imperial Meiwa Restoration, gaining the support of multiple lords. De facto, imperial authority was limited to Edo, Osaca, and Miaco. In the 1770s, the Loetsjoe kingdom, a vassal of the Ximazu family, was taken over by the Dutch East India Company (EIC), leading to the domain’s economic decline. The Russian-backed Lake Kusuri rebellion occurred on Ezo, destabilizing Japan’s northern border.
Sacai Tadamichi, the Tairo, began forming a coalition of families in response to the Tocugawa government and the failure of the Meiwa Restoration. They were diametrically opposed to the pro-Dutch Hosocawa faction. In 1795, the Augustine Wars sapped the EIC’s resources, allowing the Sacai to run through the country. In 1803, Emperor Go Comei was poisoned. By 1809, the Sacai firmly established their rule over most of Japan.
Under the pretence of assisting the Sacai, the Russians invaded the disobedient Odawara domain. In 1815, Russian forces seized the ports of Idzu, Maizuru, and Texio. In 1837, Russia declared support for the insurgent Ainu state in northern Ezo, instigating a minor conflict and confining Japanese rule to the Oxima peninsula. In the late 19th century, Japan began to modernize, with numerous political factions forming in response to domestic and world events. The Federalist Association was established in 1873 after the Russian Succession Crisis renewed security concerns in 1868. In 1896, the Sacura Revolution established a constitutional monarchy with Empress Sacuramachi as the head of state.
Government and Politics
Demographics
Culture
List of leaders
See also
