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73-611: The potential of the Ōi River valley for hydroelectric power development was realized by the Meiji government at the start of the 20th century. The Ōi River was characterized by a high volume of flow and a fast current. Its mountainous upper reaches and tributaries were areas of steep valleys and abundant rainfall, and were sparsely populated. In 1906, a joint venture company, the Anglo-Japanese Hydroelectric Company ( 日英水力電気 , Nichiei Suiroku Denki )

146-467: A Confucian -based educational background which stressed loyalty and service to society. Finally, most either had first-hand experience in travel overseas, or second-hand experience through contacts with foreign advisors in Japan . As a result, they knew of the military superiority of the western nations and of the need for Japan to unify, and to strengthen itself to avoid the colonial fate of its neighbors on

219-456: A National Assembly). Although the government was not opposed to parliamentary rule, confronted with the drive for "people's rights," it continued to try to control the political situation. New laws in 1875 prohibited press criticism of the government or discussion of national laws. The Public Assembly Law (1880) severely limited public gatherings by disallowing attendance by civil servants and requiring police permission for all meetings. Within

292-484: A cadet branch of the imperial family; through her, he was a third cousin (once removed) of the then- Emperor Ninkō . Shichirōmaro was brought up under strict, spartan supervision and tutelage. His father Nariaki followed the example of the second Mito daimyo, Tokugawa Mitsukuni (1661-1690), who had sent all his sons after the firstborn to be raised in Mito. Shichirōmaro was seven months old when he arrived in Mito in 1838. He

365-504: A governing council of daimyōs , were opposed to Yoshinobu's leading it. They secretly obtained an imperial edict calling for the use of force against Yoshinobu (later shown to be a forgery ) and moved a massive number of Satsuma and Chōshū troops into Kyoto. There was a meeting called at the imperial court, where Yoshinobu was stripped of all titles and land, despite having taken no action that could be construed as aggressive or criminal. Any who would have opposed this were not included in

438-482: A life in quiet retirement, Yoshinobu indulged in many hobbies, including oil painting, kyudo (archery), hunting, photography, and cycling. Some of Yoshinobu's photographs have been published in recent years by his great-grandson, Yoshitomo . His other great-grandson, Yasuhisa Tokugawa of the Mito line, is the former Chief Priest at Yasukuni Shrine and current Kaicho of the Kokusai Budoin (IMAF). In 1902,

511-452: A new constitution was introduced. The Jiyūtō and Kaishintō parties had been revived in anticipation of the election and together won more than half of the seats. The House of Representatives soon became the arena for disputes between the politicians and the government bureaucracy over large issues, such as the budget, the ambiguity of the constitution on the Diet's authority, and the desire of

584-526: A new national governing council composed of various daimyōs . To this end, Yamanouchi Toyonori, the lord of Tosa, together with his advisor, Gotō Shōjirō , petitioned Yoshinobu to resign in order to make this possible. On November 9, 1867, Yoshinobu tendered his resignation to the Emperor and formally stepped down ten days later, returning governing power to the Emperor. He then withdrew from Kyoto to Osaka . However, Satsuma and Chōshū, while supportive of

657-585: A new phase of political development. Itō and his protégé, Saionji Kinmochi finally succeeded in forming a progovernment party—the Rikken Seiyūkai (Constitutional Association of Political Friendship) —in September 1900, and a month later Itō became prime minister of the first Seiyūkai cabinet. The Seiyūkai held the majority of seats in the House, but Yamagata's conservative allies had the greatest influence in

730-451: A powerful leader of Tosa forces who had resigned from his Council of State position over the Korean affair in 1873. Itagaki sought peaceful rather than rebellious means to gain a voice in government. Such movements were called The Freedom and People's Rights Movement . He started a movement aimed at establishing a constitutional monarchy and a national assembly . Itagaki and others wrote

803-493: A pro-government party, in 1882. Numerous political demonstrations followed, some of them violent, resulting in further government political restrictions. The restrictions hindered the political parties and led to divisiveness within and among them. The Jiyūtō, which had opposed the Kaishintō, was disbanded in 1884, and Ōkuma resigned as Kaishintō president. Government leaders, long preoccupied with violent threats to stability and

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876-491: A second cousin to both Emperor Hirohito and Empress Kōjun and nephew of Prince Kan'in Kotohito . On 26 December 1911, his granddaughter Kikuko Tokugawa was born. She married Prince Takamatsu , the brother of Emperor Hirohito, to become Princess Takamatsu. The years in which Yoshinobu was shōgun are more specifically identified by more than one era name or nengō . His grandson Tokugawa Hiromi graduated as part of

949-418: A secret meeting during which it was decided to proceed with abolition of the han domains entirely. Later that year, all of the ex- daimyō were summoned to the Emperor, and he issued a decree converting the domains to prefectures headed by a bureaucratic appointee from the central government. The daimyō were generously pensioned off into retirement, and their castles became the local administrative centers for

1022-536: A third term led to still more demands for an end to genrō politics. Despite old guard opposition, the conservative forces formed a party of their own in 1913, the Rikken Dōshikai (Constitutional Association of Allies), a party that won a majority in the House over the Seiyūkai in late 1914. Tokugawa Yoshinobu Prince Tokugawa Yoshinobu ( 德川 慶喜 , also known as Keiki ; October 28, 1837 – November 22, 1913)

1095-587: Is best known, Itagaki helped found the Jiyūtō ( Liberal Party ), which favored French political doctrines. In 1882 Ōkuma Shigenobu established the Rikken Kaishintō (Constitutional Progressive Party), which called for a British-style constitutional democracy . In response, government bureaucrats, local government officials, and other conservatives established the Rikken Teiseitō (Imperial Rule Party),

1168-636: Is called the Kinmon Incident . This was achieved by use of the forces of the Aizu – Satsuma coalition. After the death of Tokugawa Iemochi in 1866, Yoshinobu was chosen to succeed him, and became the 15th shōgun . He was the only Tokugawa shōgun to spend his entire tenure outside of Edo: he never set foot in Edo Castle as shōgun . Immediately upon Yoshinobu's ascension as shōgun , major changes were initiated. A massive government overhaul

1241-478: Is highlighted in the illustrated biography on Prince Tokugawa Iesato titled The Art of Peace . Many of the hatamoto also relocated to Shizuoka; a large proportion of them did not find adequate means to support themselves. As a result, many of them resented Yoshinobu, some of them to the point of wanting him dead. Yoshinobu was aware of this, and was so afraid of assassination that he redesigned his sleeping arrangement to confuse any potential assassin. Living

1314-687: The Battle of Toba–Fushimi , the first clash of the Boshin War . Though the Tokugawa forces had a distinct advantage in numbers, Yoshinobu abandoned his army in the midst of the fight once he realized the Satsuma and Chōshū forces raised the Imperial banner, and escaped to Edo . He placed himself under voluntary confinement, and indicated his submission to the imperial court. However, a peace agreement

1387-630: The Emperor Meiji allowed him to re-establish his own house as a Tokugawa branch ( bekke ) with the highest rank in the peerage, that of prince ( kōshaku ), for his loyal service to Japan. He took a seat in the House of Peers , and resigned in 1910. Tokugawa Yoshinobu died on 21 November 1913 at 16:10 and is buried in Yanaka Cemetery , Tokyo. On 9 January 1896, his ninth daughter Tsuneko Tokugawa (1882–1939) married Prince Fushimi Hiroyasu ,

1460-640: The Southern Japanese Alps into the Hayakawa River. Two hydroelectric power plants along this route produce 17,400 KW and 22,700 KW of power respectively. Tashiro Dam is located in the very northern tip of Shizuoka Prefecture, surrounded on three sides by the high peaks of the Minami Alps National Park , an area of high mountains, forests, and a popular vacation area. The dam is on a route for mountain climbers on

1533-558: The Tosa Memorial in 1874 criticizing the unbridled power of the oligarchy and calling for the immediate establishment of representative government. Dissatisfied with the pace of reform after having rejoined the Council of State in 1875, Itagaki organized his followers and other democratic proponents into the nationwide Aikokusha (Society of Patriots) to push for representative government in 1878. In 1881, in an action for which he

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1606-676: The United States Constitution as "too liberal" and the British system as too unwieldy and having a parliament with too much control over the monarchy; the French and Spanish models were rejected as tending toward despotism . On Itō's return, one of the first acts of the government was to establish the kazoku peerage system with new ranks for the nobility. Five hundred persons from the old court nobility, former daimyō, samurai and commoners who had provided valuable service to

1679-693: The 65th Class of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy in March 1938. On July 12, 1943, he was killed in action during World War II when the submarine Ro-101 he was deployed on was fired on by the destroyer USS  Taylor in Indispensable Strait near Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands . Shrapnel cut down Tokugawa and two enlisted lookouts, but the submarine was able to dive and escape. Tokugawa

1752-656: The Asian continent. However, immediately after the resignation of Tokugawa Yoshinobu in 1867, with no official centralized government, the country was a collection of largely semi-independent daimyōs controlling feudal domains, held together by the military strength of the Satchō Alliance , and by the prestige of the Imperial Court in Kyoto . In early March 1868, with the outcome of the Boshin War still uncertain,

1825-665: The Diet to interpret the "will of the Emperor" versus the oligarchy's position that the cabinet and administration should "transcend" all conflicting political forces. The main leverage the Diet had was in its approval or disapproval of the budget, and it successfully wielded its authority henceforth. In the early years of constitutional government, the strengths and weaknesses of the Meiji Constitution were revealed. A small clique of Satsuma and Chōshū elite continued to rule Japan, becoming institutionalized as an extraconstitutional body of genrō (elder statesmen). Collectively,

1898-416: The Emperor on the basis of his divine ancestry. The new constitution specified a form of government that was still authoritarian in character, with the Emperor holding the ultimate power and only minimal concessions made to popular rights and parliamentary mechanisms. Party participation was recognized as part of the political process. The Meiji Constitution was to last as the fundamental law until 1947, when it

1971-616: The Empire of Japan (the Meiji Constitution ) provided for the Imperial Diet (Teikoku Gikai) , composed of a House of Representatives and a House of Peers . The House of Representatives was popularly elected with a very limited franchise of male citizens who paid 15 yen in national taxes (about 1 percent of the population) being eligible candidates. The House of Peers was composed of nobility and imperial appointees. There

2044-469: The House during his first term. When Itō returned as prime minister in 1898, he again pushed for a government party, but when Yamagata and others refused, Itō resigned. With no willing successor among the genrō , the Kenseitō (Constitutional Party) was invited to form a cabinet under the leadership of Ōkuma and Itagaki, a major achievement in the opposition parties' competition with the genrō . This success

2117-462: The House of Peers, forcing Itō to seek imperial intervention. Tiring of political infighting, Itō resigned in 1901. Thereafter, the prime ministership alternated between Yamagata's protégé, Katsura Tarō and Saionji. The alternating of political power was an indication of the two sides' ability to cooperate and share power and helped foster the continued development of party politics. In 1911, Japan ended all unequal treaties. The Meiji period ended with

2190-459: The House to 369 members, and provisions for secret ballots won Diet support for Yamagata's budgets and tax increases. He continued to use imperial ordinances, however, to keep the parties from fully participating in the bureaucracy and to strengthen the already independent position of the military. When Yamagata failed to offer more compromises to the Kenseitō, the alliance ended in 1900, beginning

2263-491: The Kyoto area, and gathered allies to counter the activities of the rebellious Chōshū Domain . They were instrumental figures in the kōbu gattai political party, which sought a reconciliation between the shogunate and the imperial court. In 1864, Yoshinobu, as commander of the imperial palace's defense, defeated the Chōshū forces in their attempt to capture the imperial palace's Hamaguri Gate ( 蛤御門 , Hamaguri-Gomon ) in what

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2336-517: The Meiji government. This administrative code was drafted by Fukuoka Takachika and Soejima Taneomi (both of whom had studied abroad and who had a liberal political outlook), and was a mixture of western concepts such as division of powers, and a revival of ancient structures of bureaucracy dating back to Nara period . A central governmental structure, or Daijōkan , was established. The Daijōkan had seven departments: A separate Justice Ministry

2409-531: The Ministry of Finance to head the Home Ministry when it was established. One of the pressures on the early Meiji government was the division between those members of the oligarchy who favored some form of representative government, based on overseas models, and the more conservative faction who favored centralized, authoritarian rule. A major proponent of representative government was Itagaki Taisuke ,

2482-475: The Taishō era was marked by a political crisis that interrupted the earlier politics of compromise. When Prime Minister Saionji attempted to cut the military budget, the army minister resigned, bringing down the Seiyūkai cabinet. Both Yamagata and Saionji refused to resume office, and the genrō were unable to find a solution. Public outrage over the military manipulation of the cabinet and the recall of Katsura for

2555-559: The Tashiro Dam began in 1924 and was completed in 1928. Hayakawa Electric was absorbed into Tokyo Electric ( 東京電燈 , Tokyo Dento ) , which was later nationalized and merged with other electrical producers into the Japan Electric Generation and Transmission Company ( 日本発送電株式会社 , Nippon Hassoden K.K. ) . After the breakup of Nippon Hassoden at the end of World War II into various regional power utilities,

2628-509: The armies of Satsuma and Chōshū into a combined force, Ōkubo and Kido Takayoshi convinced the daimyō of Satsuma , Chōshū , Hizen and Tosa to surrender their domains to the emperor. Other daimyō were forced to do the same, and all were reappointed as “governors” to their respective domains, which were now treated as sub-divisions of the central government. In the spring of 1871, Ōkubo, Kido, Inoue Kaoru , Yamagata Aritomo , Saigō Takamori , Ōyama Iwao , Sanjō Sanetomi and Iwakura held

2701-792: The assistance of the Russians, and the Tracey Mission provided by the British Royal Navy. Equipment was also purchased from the United States. The outlook among many was that the Tokugawa Shogunate was gaining ground towards renewed strength and power; however, it fell in less than a year. Fearing the renewed strengthening of the Tokugawa shogunate under a strong and wise ruler, samurai from Satsuma , Chōshū and Tosa formed an alliance to counter it. Under

2774-421: The banner of sonnō jōi ("revere the Emperor, expel the barbarians!") coupled with a fear of the new shōgun as the "Rebirth of Ieyasu " (家康の再来) who would continue to usurp the power of the Emperor, they worked to bring about an end to the shogunate, though they varied in their approaches. In particular, Tosa was more moderate; it proposed a compromise whereby Yoshinobu would resign as shōgun , but preside over

2847-480: The bulk of the dams on the Ōi River came under the control of Chubu Electric Power . However, only the Tashiro Dam was given to Tokyo Electric Power due to its previous owner, Tokyo Dento. The Tashiro Dam was designed as a solid core, non-overflow concrete gravity dam . The impounded water forms a lake called the Tashiro-choseichi ( 田代調整池 ) , from which water discharges through a long penstock under

2920-425: The central government were sent to each of the domains to work towards administrative uniformity and conformation to the directives of the central government. In early 1869, the national capital was transferred from Kyoto to Edo , which was renamed Tokyo (Eastern Capital). In March 1869, the central government led by Ōkubo Toshimichi of Satsuma felt strong enough to effect further centralization. After merging

2993-445: The central government. This decree resulted in 305 units of local administration, which were reduced to 72 prefectures and 3 municipalities by the end of the year through various mergers, so that by the end of 1871, Japan had become a fully centralized state. The transition was made gradually, so that there was no disruption to the lives of the common people, and no outbreaks of resistance or violence. The central government absorbed all of

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3066-548: The death of the Emperor Meiji in 1912 and the beginning of the Taishō era (1912–1926) as Crown Prince Yoshihito became the new emperor ( Emperor Taishō ). The end of the Meiji era was marked by huge government domestic and overseas investments and military programs, nearly exhausted credit, and a lack of foreign exchange to pay debts. But, the "Meiji regime" lasted until the end of the World War II in 1945. The beginning of

3139-407: The debts and obligations of the domains, and many former officials in the domains found new employment with the central government. In 1871, the central government supported the creation of consultative assembles at the lowest levels of government, at the town, village and county level. The membership of the prefectural assemblies was drawn from these local assemblies. As the local assemblies only had

3212-540: The emperor, were all abolished. In their place, the Privy Council was established in 1888 to evaluate the forthcoming constitution and to advise the emperor. To further strengthen the authority of the state, the Supreme War Council was established under the leadership of Yamagata Aritomo a Chōshū native who has been credited with the founding of the modern Imperial Japanese Army and was to become

3285-579: The establishment of a national assembly in 1890 and his dismissal from government. Rejecting the British model, Iwakura Tomomi and other conservatives borrowed heavily from the Prussian constitutional system. Itō Hirobumi , one of the Meiji oligarchy and a Chōshū native long involved in government affairs, was charged with drafting Japan's constitution . He led a Constitutional Study Mission abroad in 1882, spending most of his time in Germany. He rejected

3358-401: The first constitutional Prime Minister. The Supreme War Council developed a German-style general staff system with a chief of staff who had direct access to the emperor and who could operate independently of the army minister and civilian officials. When finally granted by the Emperor as a sign of his sharing his authority and giving rights and liberties to his subjects, the 1889 Constitution of

3431-402: The genrō made decisions reserved for the Emperor, and the genrō , not the Emperor, controlled the government politically. Throughout the period, however, political problems were usually solved through compromise, and political parties gradually increased their power over the government and held an ever larger role in the political process as a result. After the bitter political rivalries between

3504-433: The government were organized in five ranks: prince, marquis, count, viscount, and baron. Itō was put in charge of the new Bureau for Investigation of Constitutional Systems in 1884, and the Council of State was replaced in 1885 with a cabinet headed by Itō as prime minister . The positions of chancellor, minister of the left , and minister of the right , which had existed since the seventh century as advisory positions to

3577-418: The inception of the Diet in 1890 and 1894, when the nation was unified for the war effort against China , there followed five years of unity, unusual cooperation, and coalition cabinets. From 1900 to 1912, the Diet and the cabinet cooperated even more directly, with political parties playing larger roles. Throughout the entire period, the old Meiji oligarchy retained ultimate control but steadily yielded power to

3650-465: The meeting. Yoshinobu opposed this action, and composed a message of protest, to be delivered to the imperial court; at the urging of the leaders of Aizu, Kuwana, and other domains, and in light of the immense number of Satsuma and Chōshū troops in Kyoto, he dispatched a large body of troops to convey this message to the court. When the Tokugawa forces arrived outside Kyoto, they were refused entry, and were attacked by Satsuma and Chōshū troops, starting

3723-552: The name Yoshinobu. Upon the death of the 13th shōgun , Iesada , in 1858, Yoshinobu was nominated as a potential successor. His supporters touted his skill and efficiency in managing family affairs. However, the opposing faction, led by Ii Naosuke , won out. Their candidate, the young Tokugawa Yoshitomi , was chosen, and became the 14th shōgun Iemochi. Soon after, during the Ansei Purge , Yoshinobu and others who supported him were placed under house arrest . Yoshinobu himself

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3796-570: The new Meiji government summoned delegates from all of the domains to Kyoto to establish a provisional consultative national assembly. In April 1868, the Charter Oath was promulgated, in which Emperor Meiji set out the broad general outlines for Japan's development and modernization. Two months later, in June 1868, the Seitaisho was promulgated to establish the new administrative basis for

3869-404: The opposition parties. The two major figures of the period were Yamagata Aritomo , whose long tenure (1868–1922) as a military and civil leader, including two terms as prime minister, was characterized by his intimidation of rivals and resistance to democratic procedures, and Itō Hirobumi, who was a compromiser and, although overruled by the genrō , wanted to establish a government party to control

3942-407: The power of debate, and not legislation, they provided an important safety valve, without the ability to challenge the authority of the central government. In August 1869, during abolition of feudal domains and redrawing of local administrative boundaries, the central government itself was restructured to reinforce centralized authority. The idea of division of powers was abandoned. The new government

4015-523: The public eye for the rest of his life. Tokugawa Yoshinobu was born in Edo as the seventh son of Tokugawa Nariaki , daimyō of Mito. Mito was one of the gosanke , the three branch families of the Tokugawa clan which were eligible to be chosen as shōgun . His birth name was Matsudaira Shichirōmaro ( 松平七郎麻呂 ) His mother, Princess Arisugawa Yoshiko , was a member of the Arisugawa-no-miya ,

4088-543: The reorganization of government with an independent judiciary and an appointed Council of Elders tasked with reviewing proposals for a constitution. The emperor declared that "constitutional government shall be established in gradual stages" as he ordered the Genrōin to draft a constitution. In 1880, delegates from twenty-four prefectures held a national convention to establish the Kokkai Kisei Dōmei (League for Establishing

4161-463: The ruling circle, however, and despite the conservative approach of the leadership, Ōkuma continued as a lone advocate of British-style government, a government with political parties and a cabinet organized by the majority party, answerable to the national assembly. He called for elections to be held by 1882 and for a national assembly to be convened by 1883; in doing so, he precipitated a political crisis that ended with an 1881 imperial rescript declaring

4234-506: The serious leadership split over the Korean affair, generally agreed that constitutional government should someday be established. Kido Takayoshi had favored a constitutional form of government since before 1874, and several proposals that provided for constitutional guarantees had been drafted. The oligarchy, however, while acknowledging the realities of political pressure, was determined to keep control. The Osaka Conference of 1875 resulted in

4307-550: The way to the Japanese Alps, and can be reached on foot. However, the dam itself and its associated electrical power plant are not open to the public, and access to the area by car is prohibited. Meiji government The Government of Meiji Japan ( 明治政府 , Meiji seifu ) was the government that was formed by politicians of the Satsuma Domain and Chōshū Domain in the 1860s. The Meiji government

4380-405: Was also the provision for the creation of a Cabinet composed of ministers of State directly responsible to the Emperor and independent of the legislature. Functionally, the Diet was able to approve government legislation and initiate laws, make representations to the government, and submit petitions to the Emperor. Nevertheless, in spite of these institutional changes, sovereignty still resided in

4453-482: Was based on a national assembly (which met only once), an appointive Council of Advisors ( Sangi ), and eight Ministries: Decision-making in the government was restricted to a closed oligarchy of perhaps 20 individuals (from Satsuma, Chōshū, Tosa, Hizen, and the Imperial Court). The Home Ministry, which appointed all prefectural governors and controlled police apparatus, was the most powerful, and Ōkubo left

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4526-475: Was established to create a form of separation of powers in imitation of the western countries. The government instigated Fuhanken Sanchisei , dividing territory into urban prefectures or municipalities ( fu ) and rural prefectures ( ken ). Local government in Japan consisted of area confiscated from the Tokugawa, administered from the Department of Civil Affairs, and 273 semi-independent domains. Agents from

4599-644: Was established, and began studies and design work on plans to exploit the potential of the Ōi River and Fuji River in Shizuoka Prefecture. The British interests were bought out by 1921, and the company was renamed Hayakawa Electric ( 早川電力 , Hayakawa Denryoku ) , for its plan to divert water from the Ōi River to the Hayakawa River in Yamanashi Prefecture through a system of penstocks , and thus generate electricity. Work on

4672-551: Was made the daimyō of the new Shizuoka Domain , but lost this title a few years later, when the domains were abolished. Even after losing his position as ruling shogun, Yoshinobu strove to promote his son Iesato's political career so that he could attain the highest level of influence in the Japanese Imperial court, and also serve as a bridge between old world Japan and modern emerging Japan both domestically and internationally. The close relationship between father and son

4745-736: Was made to retire from Hitotsubashi headship. The period of Ii's domination of the Tokugawa government was marked by mismanagement and political infighting. Upon Ii's assassination in 1860, Yoshinobu was reinstated as Hitotsubashi family head, and was nominated in 1862 to be the shōgun ' s guardian ( 将軍後見職 , shōgun kōken-shoku ) , receiving the position soon afterwards. At the same time, his two closest allies, Matsudaira Yoshinaga and Matsudaira Katamori , were appointed to other high positions: Yoshinaga as chief of political affairs ( 政治総裁職 , seiji sōsai shoku ) , Katamori as Guardian of Kyoto ( 京都守護職 , Kyoto Shugoshoku ) . The three men then took numerous steps to quell political unrest in

4818-525: Was precisely their intermediate status and their insecure salaried position, coupled with their sense of frustrated ambition and entitlement to rule, that account for the revolutionary energy of the Meiji insurgents and their far-reaching program of reform”. most were in their mid-40s, and most were from the four tozama domains of western Japan (Chōshū, Satsuma, Tosa and Hizen ). Although from lower-ranked samurai families, they had risen to military leadership roles in their respective domains, and came from

4891-511: Was reached wherein Tayasu Kamenosuke , the young head of a branch of the Tokugawa family, was adopted and made Tokugawa family head; On April 11, Edo Castle was handed over to the imperial army, and the city spared from all-out war. Together with Kamenosuke (who took the name Tokugawa Iesato ), Yoshinobu moved to Shizuoka . Tokugawa Ieyasu , founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate, had also retired to Shizuoka, centuries earlier. Iesato

4964-508: Was short-lived: the Kenseitō split into two parties, the Kenseitō led by Itagaki and the Kensei Hontō (Real Constitutional Party) led by Ōkuma, and the cabinet ended after only four months. Yamagata then returned as prime minister with the backing of the military and the bureaucracy. Despite broad support of his views on limiting constitutional government, Yamagata formed an alliance with Kenseitō. Reforms of electoral laws , an expansion of

5037-424: Was supplanted by Japan's current constitution . The first national election was held in 1890, and 300 members were elected to the lower house . Voting was restricted to males over twenty-five who paid income tax of minimally fifteen yen , a qualification to be lowered in 1900 and 1919 with universal male suffrage passed after much debate in 1925. Women never obtained the franchise until after World War II when

5110-526: Was taught in the literary and martial arts , as well as receiving a solid education in the principles of politics and government at Kōdōkan . At the instigation of his father, Shichirōmaro was adopted by the Hitotsubashi-Tokugawa family in order to have a better chance of succeeding to the shogunate and changed his first name to Akimune (昭致). He became family head in 1847, coming of age that year, receiving court rank and title, and taking

5183-468: Was the 15th and last shōgun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan . He was part of a movement which aimed to reform the aging shogunate, but was ultimately unsuccessful. He resigned his position as shogun in late 1867, while aiming at keeping some political influence. After these efforts failed following the defeat at the Battle of Toba–Fushimi in early 1868, he went into retirement, and largely avoided

5256-526: Was the early government of the Empire of Japan . Politicians of the Meiji government were known as the Meiji oligarchy , who overthrew the Tokugawa shogunate . After the Meiji Restoration , the leaders of the samurai who overthrew the Tokugawa shogunate had no clear agenda or pre-developed plan on how to run Japan. They did have a number of things in common; according to Andrew Gordon, “It

5329-547: Was undertaken to initiate reforms that would strengthen the Tokugawa government. In particular, assistance from the Second French Empire was organized, with the construction of the Yokosuka arsenal under Léonce Verny , and the dispatch of a French military mission to modernize the armies of the bakufu . The national army and navy, which had already been formed under Tokugawa command, were strengthened by

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