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72-758: After the Meiji Restoration and the abolition of the han system , the Tokugawa and Matsudaira clans became part of the new kazoku nobility . The Matsudaira clan originated in Mikawa Province . Its origins are uncertain, but in the Sengoku era, the clan claimed descent from the medieval Seiwa Genji branch of the Minamoto clan . According to this claim, the founder of the Matsudaira line

144-444: A century of warfare. The political structure, established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and solidified under his two immediate successors, his son Tokugawa Hidetada (who ruled from 1616 to 1623) and grandson Tokugawa Iemitsu (1623–51), bound all daimyōs to the shogunate and limited any individual daimyō from acquiring too much land or power. The Tokugawa shogunate came to its official end on 9   November 1867, when Tokugawa Yoshinobu ,

216-473: A formal declaration of the restoration of his power: The Emperor of Japan announces to the sovereigns of all foreign countries and to their subjects that permission has been granted to the Shōgun Tokugawa Yoshinobu to return the governing power in accordance with his own request. We shall henceforward exercise supreme authority in all the internal and external affairs of the country. Consequently,

288-464: A loss of their cultural heritage. In the case of Hikone Castle , even though the government ordered its dismantling, it was saved by orders from the emperor himself. Nagoya Castle and Nijo Castle , due to their historical and cultural importance and sheer size and strategic locations, both became official imperial detached palaces, before they were turned over to the local authorities in the 1930s. Others such as Himeji Castle survived by luck. During

360-617: A national system of public schools. These free schools taught students reading, writing, and mathematics. Students also attended courses in "moral training" which reinforced their duty to the Emperor and to the Japanese state. By the end of the Meiji period, attendance in public schools was widespread, increasing the availability of skilled workers and contributing to the industrial growth of Japan . The opening up of Japan not only consisted of

432-474: A son of the second shōgun Tokugawa Hidetada, was adopted by Hoshina Masamitsu , the lord of the Takatō Domain . Masayuki was recognized as a relative of the Tokugawa family by his half-brother Tokugawa Iemitsu ; after Iemitsu's death, Masayuki served as a regent for his nephew, the underaged shōgun Tokugawa Ietsuna , thus effectively running the shogunate. It was at this time that Masayuki received rulership of

504-400: A strong centralized state defining its national identity, the government established a dominant national dialect, called "standard language" ( 標準語 , hyōjungo ) , that replaced local and regional dialects and was based on the patterns of Tokyo's samurai classes. This dialect eventually became the norm in the realms of education, media, government, and business. The Meiji Restoration, and

576-599: A sword or weapon to show their status. This led to a series of riots from disgruntled samurai. One of the major riots was the one led by Saigō Takamori, the Satsuma Rebellion , which eventually turned into a civil war. This rebellion was, however, put down swiftly by the newly formed Imperial Japanese Army , trained in Western tactics and weapons, even though the core of the new army was the Tokyo police force, which

648-463: A time was forcibly brought into Imagawa service. After the death of Imagawa Yoshimoto and the fall from power of the Imagawa clan, Hirotada's son Matsudaira Motoyasu was successful in forming an alliance with Oda Nobunaga , the hegemon of Owari Province . Motoyasu is better known as Tokugawa Ieyasu , who became the first Tokugawa shōgun in 1603. Several of the pre-Edo branch families survived into

720-426: Is equally true that the majority of samurai were content despite having their status abolished. Many found employment in the government bureaucracy, which resembled an elite class in its own right. The samurai, being better educated than most of the population, became teachers, gun makers, government officials, and/or military officers. While the formal title of samurai was abolished, the elitist spirit that characterized

792-735: Is what is now the Aoi-ku, Shizuoka . From 1869 it was briefly called Shizuoka Domain ( 静岡藩 ) . During the Muromachi period , Sunpu was the capital of the Imagawa clan . The Imagawa were defeated at the Battle of Okehazama , and Sunpu was subsequently ruled by Takeda Shingen , followed by Tokugawa Ieyasu . However, Toyotomi Hideyoshi relocated Ieyasu from his territories in the Tōkai region of Japan, and installed Nakamura Kazutada in his place. After

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864-688: The Bakumatsu period , the 8th lord Matsudaira Katataka assisted with security duties during and after the arrival of the Perry Expedition ; Katataka's successor, 9th lord Matsudaira Katamori served as Kyoto Shugoshoku , but his clan was later defeated in the Boshin War . The Aizu-Matsudaira survived the Meiji Restoration, and were ennobled with the title of viscount . Katamori's son Morio Matsudaira served as an admiral in

936-516: The Battle of Hakodate in Hokkaidō. The defeat of the armies of the former shōgun (led by Enomoto Takeaki and Hijikata Toshizō ) marked the final end of the Tokugawa shogunate, with the Emperor's power fully restored. Finally, by 1872, the daimyōs , past and present, were summoned before the Emperor, where it was declared that all domains were now to be returned to the Emperor . The roughly 280 domains were turned into 72 prefectures, each under

1008-478: The Blood tax riots , the Meiji government put down revolts by Japanese samurai angry that the traditional untouchable status of burakumin was legally revoked. Under the Meiji Restoration, the practices of the samurai classes, deemed feudal and unsuitable for modern times following the end of sakoku in 1853, resulted in a number of edicts intended to 'modernise' the appearance of upper class Japanese men. With

1080-753: The Emperor of Japan . The goals of the restored government were expressed by the new emperor in the Charter Oath . The Restoration led to enormous changes in Japan's political and social structure and spanned both the late Edo period (often called the Bakumatsu ) and the beginning of the Meiji era , during which time Japan rapidly industrialized and adopted Western ideas and production methods. In 1853, Commodore Matthew C. Perry arrived in Japan. A year later Perry returned in threatening large warships with

1152-649: The Imperial Japanese Navy . The family survives to the present day. Isao Matsudaira, who was governor of Fukushima Prefecture in the 1980s, was a descendant of this family. Princess Chichibu Setsuko, the wife of Emperor Hirohito 's brother Prince Chichibu Yasuhito, was another. Over the course of the Edo period, the Tokugawa shogunate granted the use of the Matsudaira surname to certain families as an honorific. These families included both fudai and tozama daimyō families. The Date clan of Sendai ,

1224-683: The Shimabara Domain . The Sakurai-Matsudaira ruled the Amagasaki Domain. The Ogyū-Matsudaira had many branches, one of which ruled the Okutono Domain . Nagai Naoyuki was a prominent Bakumatsu -era descendant of the Ogyū-Matsudaira of Okutono. Other pre-Edo branches of the family became hatamoto . The Tokugawa surname was not granted to all of the sons of the shōgun or the heads of the six main Tokugawa branches. Only

1296-829: The Shimazu clan of Satsuma , the Mōri clan of Choshu, the Maeda clan of Kaga (and its branches at Daishōji and Toyama), the Yamanouchi clan of Tosa , the Kuroda clan of Fukuoka, the Asano clan of Hiroshima (and its branch at Hiroshima-shinden), the Nabeshima of Saga, the Ikeda of Tottori (as well as its branches of Okayama, Shikano, Wakazakura, Hirafuku, as well as hatamoto-level Ikeda), and

1368-601: The Tokugawa clan to Tokugawa Iesato . In 1868, Iesato was demoted in status to that of an ordinary daimyō , and assigned the newly created Shizuoka Domain , which included all of the former Sunpu Domain, neighboring Tanaka and Ōjima Domains , and additional lands in Tōtōmi and Mutsu Provinces for a total revenue of 700,000 koku . The territories in Mutsu were exchanged for territories in Mikawa Province later that year. In

1440-434: The 15th Tokugawa shōgun , "put his prerogatives at the Emperor's disposal" and resigned 10 days later. This was effectively the "restoration" ( Taisei Hōkan ) of imperial rule – although Yoshinobu still had significant influence and it was not until January   3, the following year, with the young Emperor's edict, that the restoration fully occurred. On 3 January 1868, the Emperor stripped Yoshinobu of all power and made

1512-499: The 1860s, principally by Westerners in the international settlements of Yokohama and Kobe, and some local lords, but these had relatively small impacts. It was only in the 1870s that imported technologies began to play a significant role, and only in the 1880s did they produce more than a small output volume. In Meiji Japan, raw silk was the most important export commodity, and raw silks exports experienced enormous growth during this period, overtaking China. Revenue from silk exports funded

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1584-523: The Chōshū War. Matsudaira Takeakira, the last daimyō , escaped Hamada and went to Tsuruta, one of the domain's non-contiguous territories; there he set up the Tsuruta Domain, which existed until the abolition of the domains in 1871. In the Meiji era , Takeakira's son Matsudaira (Ochi) Takenaga received the title of viscount . The Hoshina-Matsudaira clan was founded by Hoshina Masayuki . Masayuki,

1656-616: The Dampatsurei Edict of 1871 issued by Emperor Meiji during the early Meiji Era , men of the samurai classes were forced to cut their hair short, effectively abandoning the chonmage ( chonmage ) hairstyle. During the Meiji Restoration, the practice of cremation and Buddhism were condemned and the Japanese government tried to ban cremation but were unsuccessful, then tried to limit it in urban areas. The Japanese government reversed its ban on cremation and pro-cremation Japanese adopted western European arguments on how cremation

1728-620: The Edo period; some of them became daimyōs . The Takiwaki-Matsudaira family became daimyōs of the Ojima Domain, and from 1868 to 1871, ruled the Sakurai Domain . The Nagasawa-Matsudaira, also known as the Ōkōchi-Matsudaira, had several branches, one of them ruled the Yoshida Domain of Mikawa Province . A prominent Nagasawa-Matsudaira is the early Edo-period politician Matsudaira Nobutsuna . The Fukōzu-Matsudaira ruled

1800-502: The Emperor to power. After Kōmei's death on 30 January 1867, Meiji ascended the throne on February   3. This period also saw Japan change from being a feudal society to having a centralized nation and left the Japanese with a lingering influence of modernity . In the same year, the koban was discontinued as a form of currency. The Tokugawa government had been founded in the 17th century and initially focused on reestablishing order in social, political and international affairs after

1872-626: The French Minister-Resident Léon Roches were the first European envoys ever to receive a personal audience with Meiji in Edo (Tokyo). This audience laid the foundation for (modern) Dutch diplomacy in Japan. Subsequently, De Graeff van Polsbroek assisted the emperor and the government in their negotiations with representatives of the major European powers. In 1869, the daimyōs of the Tosa , Hizen , Satsuma and Chōshū Domains , who were pushing most fiercely against

1944-488: The Hachisuka of Tokushima were all tozama families that had the use of the Matsudaira surname. The Yanagisawa clan of Yamato and Honjō clan of Miyazu were two fudai families among those who had the right to use the Matsudaira surname. In addition, if a Tokugawa princess married into another family, her husband had the right to use the Matsudaira surname and the Tokugawa crest for one generation. Prominent Matsudaira in

2016-491: The Japanese purchase of industrial equipment and raw materials. Although the highest quality silk remained produced in China, and Japan's adoption of modern machines in the silk industry was slow, Japan was able to capture the global silk market due to standardized production of silk. Standardization, especially in silkworm egg cultivation, yielded more consistency in quality, particularly important for mechanized silk weaving. Since

2088-773: The Matsudaira clan was surrounded by much more powerful neighbors. To the west was the territory of the Oda clan of Owari Province ; to the east, the Imagawa clan of Suruga . Each generation of Matsudaira family head had to carefully negotiate his relationship with these neighbors. Before the Edo period, there were 19 major branches of the Matsudaira clan: Takenoya ( 竹谷 ) , Katanohara ( 形原 ) , Ōgusa ( 大草 ) , Nagasawa ( 長沢 ) , Nōmi ( 能見 ) , Goi ( 五井 ) , Fukōzu ( 深溝 ) , Ogyū ( 大給 ) , Takiwaki ( 滝脇 ) , Fukama ( 福釜 ) , Sakurai ( 桜井 ) , Tōjō ( 東条 ) , Fujii ( 藤井 ) , Mitsugi ( 三木 ) , Iwatsu ( 岩津 ) , Nishi-Fukama ( 西福釜 ) , Yata ( 矢田 ) , Udono ( 鵜殿 ) , and Kaga ( 加賀 ) . Each of these branches (with

2160-550: The Meiji Restoration was the 1866 Satsuma-Chōshū Alliance between Saigō Takamori and Kido Takayoshi , leaders of the reformist elements in the Satsuma and Chōshū Domains at the southwestern end of the Japanese archipelago. These two leaders supported the Emperor Kōmei (Emperor Meiji's father) and were brought together by Sakamoto Ryōma for the purpose of challenging the ruling Tokugawa shogunate ( bakufu ) and restoring

2232-540: The Meiji era, the heads of all the Hisamatsu-Matsudaira branches received titles in the new nobility . The Ochi-Matsudaira clan was founded by Matsudaira Kiyotake, the younger brother of the 6th shōgun Tokugawa Ienobu. The Ochi-Matsudaira ruled the Hamada Domain . The family lost most of its territory in 1866, when the castle town was occupied by Chōshū Domain forces under Ōmura Masujirō during

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2304-491: The Meiji government considerable leeway to invest in new initiatives. During the Meiji period, powers such as Europe and the United States helped transform Japan and made them realize a change needed to take place. Some leaders went out to foreign lands and used the knowledge and government writings to help shape and form a more influential government within their walls that allowed for things such as production. Despite

2376-590: The Meiji restoration's Shinbutsu bunri , tens of thousands of Japanese Buddhist religious idols and temples were smashed and destroyed. Japan then closed and shut down tens of thousands of traditional old Shinto shrines in the Shrine Consolidation Policy and the Meiji government built the new modern 15 shrines of the Kenmu restoration as a political move to link the Meiji restoration to the Kenmu restoration for their new State Shinto cult. In

2448-644: The Mito Tokugawa); Saijō (a branch of the Kii Tokugawa); and Takasu (a branch of the Owari Tokugawa). Notable Matsudaira of these branches include Matsudaira Yoritoshi of Takamatsu, and Matsudaira Yoritaka of Fuchū. Yoritsune Matsudaira and his son Yoriaki Matsudaira , who were 20th-century composers, were descendants of the Matsudaira of Fuchū. The Yūki-Matsudaira clan was founded by Tokugawa Ieyasu's son Yūki Hideyasu . Several branches of

2520-593: The Netherlands and Russia due to American pressure. These treaties signed with Western powers came to be known as Unequal Treaties as Japan lost control over its tariffs while Western powers took control over Japanese lands. In 1858, Townsend Harris , ambassador to Japan, concluded the treaty, opening Japanese ports to trade. Figures like Shimazu Nariakira concluded that "if we take the initiative, we can dominate; if we do not, we will be dominated", leading Japan to "throw open its doors to foreign technology." After

2592-552: The Toyotomi were defeated in the Battle of Sekigahara , Ieyasu recovered Sunpu and relocated Nakamura to Yonago in Hōki Province . Sunpu was initially reassigned to Naitō Nobunari in 1601. This marked the start of Sunpu Domain. In April 1606, Ieyasu officially retired from the post of shōgun , and he retired to Sunpu, where he established a secondary court, from which he could influence Shōgun Tokugawa Hidetada from behind

2664-629: The Yūki-Matsudaira came into existence during the Edo period. Though the Yūki-Matsudaira retained control of Kitanoshō (later renamed Fukui), the main Yūki line was not there, but in Tsuyama instead. Branches of the family ruled the Fukui , Hirose, Mori, Matsue , Tsuyama, Akashi , Itoigawa, and Maebashi domains. Famous Yūki-Matsudaira include Matsudaira Naritami and Matsudaira Yoshinaga , two daimyōs of

2736-429: The aspiration of concluding a treaty that would open up Japanese ports for trade. Perry concluded the treaty that would open up two Japanese ports (Shimoda and Hakodate) only for material support, such as firewood, water, food, and coal for U.S. ships. The Convention of Kanagawa was signed in 1854 and opened up trade between the United States and Japan. Later, Japan reluctantly expanded its trade deals to France, Britain,

2808-545: The branches of the Hisamatsu-Matsudaira were also allowed the use of the Tokugawa family crest, as well as being formally recognized as Tokugawa relatives ( shinpan ), rather than simply being a fudai family. Branches of the Hisamatsu-Matsudaira ruled the Kuwana , Imabari , and Iyo-Matsuyama domains. Famous Hisamatsu-Matsudaira include the political reformer Matsudaira Sadanobu , the final Kyoto Shoshidai Matsudaira Sadaaki , and shogunate politician Itakura Katsukiyo . In

2880-540: The clearly defined class system which the bakufu had envisaged, partly leading to their eventual downfall. The military of Japan, strengthened by nationwide conscription and emboldened by military success in both the Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War , began to view themselves as a growing world power. Besides drastic changes to the social structure of Japan, in an attempt to create

2952-399: The control of a state-appointed governor. If the daimyōs peacefully complied, they were given a prominent voice in the new Meiji government. Later, their debts and payments of samurai stipends were either taxed heavily or turned into bonds which resulted in a large loss of wealth among former samurai. Emperor Meiji announced in his 1868 Charter Oath that "Knowledge shall be sought all over

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3024-502: The ex- shōgun ' s army. All Tokugawa lands were seized and placed under "imperial control", thus placing them under the prerogative of the new Meiji government . With Fuhanken sanchisei , the areas were split into three types: urban prefectures ( 府 , fu ) , rural prefectures ( 県 , ken ) and the already existing domains. On March 23 the Dutch Minister-Resident Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek and

3096-580: The exception of the Kaga-Matsudaira, which relocated to Kaga Province) took its name from the area in Mikawa where it resided. Also, many of the branches often fought with each other. It was the main Matsudaira line residing in Okazaki Castle which rose the highest during the Sengoku period. During the headship of Matsudaira Hirotada , it was threatened by the Oda and Imagawa clans, and for

3168-459: The fief of Aizu (with an income of 230,000 koku ). Two generations later, during the reign of the 3rd lord Masakata, the family was allowed the use of the Matsudaira surname and crest. The family remained prominent in shogunate affairs and in security duty in Ezo ( Hokkaido ). It also sponsored several schools of martial arts, as well as working to develop and spread the production of local crafts. In

3240-412: The help Japan received from other powers, one of the key factors in Japan's industrializing success was its relative lack of resources, which made it unattractive to Western imperialism. The farmer and the samurai classification were the base and soon the problem of why there was a limit of growth within the nation's industrial work. The government sent officials such as the samurai to monitor the work that

3312-693: The humiliation of the Unequal Treaties, the leaders of the Meiji Restoration (as this revolution came to be known), acted in the name of restoring imperial rule to strengthen Japan against the threat of being colonized, bringing to an end the era known as sakoku . The word "Meiji" means "enlightened rule" and the goal was to combine "modern advances" with traditional "eastern" values ( 和魂洋才 , Wakonyosai ) . The main leaders of this were Itō Hirobumi , Matsukata Masayoshi , Kido Takayoshi , Itagaki Taisuke , Yamagata Aritomo , Mori Arinori , Ōkubo Toshimichi , and Yamaguchi Naoyoshi . The foundation of

3384-577: The inheritor received the Tokugawa name, while all of his siblings would receive the Matsudaira surname. For example, the last shōgun Tokugawa Yoshinobu was not the firstborn heir of his father ( Tokugawa Nariaki of Mito ). Consequently, Yoshinobu was known as Matsudaira Shichirōma during his minority. Some of these sons, particularly of the 3 main Tokugawa branches (the Gosanke ), formed their own families, and received their own fiefs. These included Takamatsu , Shishido , Fuchū , and Moriyama (branches of

3456-406: The international market. With this, industrial zones grew enormously, and there was a massive migration to industrializing centers from the countryside. Industrialization additionally went hand in hand with the development of a national railway system and modern communications. With industrialization came the demand for coal. There was dramatic rise in production, as shown in the table below. Coal

3528-496: The late Edo period. Matsudaira Yoshinaga in particular was very important to Japanese politics of the early Meiji period, and his leadership put the Fukui Domain on the side of the victors in the Boshin War (1868–69). The Hisamatsu-Matsudaira clan was founded by Tokugawa Ieyasu's half-brother Hisamatsu Sadakatsu . Due to his close relation to Ieyasu, Sadakatsu was allowed the use of the Matsudaira surname. Eventually, some of

3600-464: The military, the government instituted nationwide conscription in 1873, mandating that every male would serve for four years in the armed forces upon turning 21 years old, followed by three more years in the reserves. One of the primary differences between the samurai and peasant classes was the right to bear arms ; this ancient privilege was suddenly extended to every male in the nation. Furthermore, samurai were no longer allowed to walk about town bearing

3672-442: The more traditional practice of imperial rule, whereby the Emperor of Japan serves solely as the spiritual authority of the nation and his ministers govern the nation in his name. The Meiji oligarchy that formed the government under the rule of the Emperor first introduced measures to consolidate their power against the remnants of the Edo period government, the shogunate, daimyōs , and the samurai class. Throughout Japan at

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3744-489: The new sectors of the economy could not be heavily taxed, the costs of industrialisation and necessary investments in modernisation heavily fell on the peasant farmers, who paid extremely high land tax rates (about 30 percent of harvests) as compared to the rest of the world (double to seven times of European countries by net agricultural output). In contrast, land tax rates were about 2% in Qing China. The high taxation gave

3816-416: The oligarchs to action. Whatever their true intentions, the oligarchs embarked on another slow and deliberate process to abolish the samurai class. First, in 1873, it was announced that the samurai stipends were to be taxed on a rolling basis. Later, in 1874, the samurai were given the option to convert their stipends into government bonds . Finally, in 1876, this commutation was made compulsory. To reform

3888-429: The ports being opened for trade, but also began the process of merging members of the different societies together. Examples of this include western teachers and advisors immigrating to Japan and also Japanese nationals moving to western countries for education purposes. All these things in turn played a part in expanding the people of Japan's knowledge on western customs, technology and institutions. Many people believed it

3960-528: The present day include Ryūmon Matsudaira (actor), and Iyo-Matsuyama Domain Matsudaira Hisamatsu family of branch family bannermen hits the descendants Sadatomo Matsudaira (ja ; former anchor for NHK ), among others. English German Japanese Meiji Restoration The Meiji Restoration ( Japanese : 明治維新 , romanized :  Meiji Ishin ), referred to at

4032-421: The resultant modernization of Japan, also influenced Japanese self-identity with respect to its Asian neighbours, as Japan became the first Asian state to modernize based on the Western model, replacing the traditional Confucian hierarchical order that had persisted previously under a dominant China with one based on modernity. Adopting enlightenment ideals of popular education, the Japanese government established

4104-403: The samurai class lived on. The oligarchs also embarked on a series of land reforms . In particular, they legitimized the tenancy system which had been going on during the Tokugawa period. Despite the bakufu 's best efforts to freeze the four classes of society in place, during their rule villagers had begun to lease land out to other farmers, becoming rich in the process. This greatly disrupted

4176-591: The scenes. Naitō was transferred to Nagahama in Ōmi Province . The Sunpu Domain was briefly re-established in 1609 for Tokugawa Ieyasu 's tenth son Tokugawa Yorinobu . It was disbanded in 1619 and reverted to tenryō status (direct administration by the shogunate) when Yorinobu moved to Wakayama to found Wakayama Domain . In 1624, Sunpu Domain was again established, this time for Tokugawa Hidetada 's third son Tokugawa Tadanaga , with assigned revenues of 550,000 koku . However, Tadanaga had very strained relations with his brother, Shōgun Tokugawa Iemitsu . He

4248-455: The shogunate, were persuaded to "return their domains to the Emperor". Other daimyō were subsequently persuaded to do so, thus creating a central government in Japan which exercised direct power through the entire "realm". Some shogunate forces escaped to Hokkaidō , where they attempted to set up a breakaway Republic of Ezo ; however, forces loyal to the Emperor ended this attempt in May 1869 with

4320-550: The time as the Honorable Restoration ( 御維新 , Goishin ) , and also known as the Meiji Renovation , Revolution , Regeneration , Reform , or Renewal , was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji . Although there were ruling emperors before the Meiji Restoration, the events restored practical abilities and consolidated the political system under

4392-458: The time, the samurai numbered 1.9 million. For comparison, this was more than 10 times the size of the French privileged class before the 1789 French Revolution . Moreover, the samurai in Japan were not merely the lords, but also their higher retainers—people who actually worked. With each samurai being paid fixed stipends, their upkeep presented a tremendous financial burden, which may have prompted

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4464-460: The title of Emperor must be substituted for that of Taikun , in which the treaties have been made. Officers are being appointed by us to the conduct of foreign affairs. It is desirable that the representatives of the treaty powers recognize this announcement. Shortly thereafter in January 1868, the Boshin War started with the Battle of Toba–Fushimi in which Chōshū and Satsuma 's forces defeated

4536-505: The value they provided in the modernization of Japan, the Japanese government did not consider it prudent for them to settle in Japan permanently. After their contracts ended, most of them returned to their country except some, like Josiah Conder and W. K. Burton . Sunpu Domain Sunpu Domain ( 駿府藩 , Sunpu-han ) was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan. The domain centered at Sunpu Castle

4608-694: The world, and thereby the foundations of imperial rule shall be strengthened." Under the leadership of Mori Arinori , a group of prominent Japanese intellectuals went on to form the Meiji Six Society in 1873 to continue to "promote civilization and enlightenment" through modern ethics and ideas. However, during the restoration, political power simply moved from the Tokugawa shogunate to an oligarchy consisting of these leaders, mostly from Satsuma Province ( Ōkubo Toshimichi and Saigō Takamori ), and Chōshū Province ( Itō Hirobumi , Yamagata Aritomo , and Kido Takayoshi). This reflected their belief in

4680-490: Was Matsudaira Chikauji, who lived in the 14th century and established himself in Mikawa Province, at Matsudaira village. The location of Matsudaira village is within the borders of the modern city of Toyota, Aichi . A number of locations associated with the early history of the clan were collectively designated a National Historic Site of Japan in the year 2000. These include: In its territory in Mikawa Province,

4752-553: Was being done. Because of Japan's leaders taking control and adapting Western techniques it has remained one of the world's largest industrial nations. The rapid industrialization and modernization of Japan both allowed and required a massive increase in production and infrastructure. Japan built industries such as shipyards, iron smelters, and spinning mills, which were then sold to well-connected entrepreneurs. Consequently, domestic companies became consumers of Western technology and applied it to produce items that would be sold cheaply in

4824-442: Was essential for Japan to acquire western "spirit" in order to become a great nation with strong trade routes and military strength. The Meiji Restoration accelerated the industrialization process in Japan, which led to its rise as a military power by the year 1895, under the slogan of "Enrich the country, strengthen the military" ( 富国強兵 , fukoku kyōhei ) . There were a few factories set up using imported technologies in

4896-872: Was good for limiting disease spread, so the Japanese government lifted their attempted ban in May 1875 and promoted cremation for diseased people in 1897. Even before the Meiji Restoration, the Tokugawa Shogunate government hired German diplomat Philipp Franz von Siebold as diplomatic advisor, Dutch naval engineer Hendrik Hardes for Nagasaki Arsenal and Willem Johan Cornelis, Ridder Huijssen van Kattendijke for Nagasaki Naval Training Center , French naval engineer François Léonce Verny for Yokosuka Naval Arsenal , and British civil engineer Richard Henry Brunton . Most of them were appointed through government approval with two or three years contract, and took their responsibility properly in Japan, except some cases. Then many other foreign specialists were hired. Despite

4968-480: Was largely composed of former samurai. This sent a strong message to the dissenting samurai that their time was indeed over. There were fewer subsequent samurai uprisings and the distinction became all but a name as the samurai joined the new society. The ideal of samurai military spirit lived on in romanticized form and was often used as propaganda during the early 20th-century wars of the Empire of Japan . However, it

5040-453: Was modernized and some parts of the castles were converted into modern military facilities with barracks and parade grounds, such as Hiroshima Castle . Others were handed over to the civilian authorities to build their new administrative structures. Some however were explicitly saved from destruction by interventions from various persons and parties such as politicians, government and military officials, experts, historians, and locals who feared

5112-443: Was needed for steamships and railroads. The growth of these sectors is shown below. The majority of Japanese castles were partially or completely dismantled in the late 19th century in the Meiji restoration by the national government. Since the feudal system was abolished and the fiefs ( han ) theoretically reverting to the emperor, the national government saw no further use for the upkeep of these now obsolete castles. The military

5184-640: Was removed from office and forced to commit seppuku in December 1632, after which time the Sunpu Domain returned to the direct administration by the shogunate. Through the remainder of the Edo period, Sunpu was ruled by the Sunpu jōdai ( 駿府城代 ) , an official with hatamoto status, appointed by the central government. During the Meiji Restoration , the final Tokugawa shōgun , Tokugawa Yoshinobu resigned his office to Emperor Meiji and leadership of

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