In the autumn of 1867, Okubo Toshimichi, a leading courtier of the feudal Japanese Satsuma domain, traveled from the capital of Edo, now Tokyo, to the regional city of Yamaguchi. On October 14 he met with leaders of the choshu domain. He had a simple proposal: they would join forces, march their armies to Edo, and overthrow the Shogun, the ruler of Japan. By this time Okubo Toshimichi already had the leaders of the Tosa and Aki domains on board. Once the leaders of the powerful Choshu agreed, a secret Satcho Alliance was formed.
In 1868 Japan was an economically underdeveloped country that had been controlled since 1600 by the Tokugawa family, whose ruler had taken the title shogun (commander) in 1603. The Japanese emperor was sidelined and assumed a purely ceremonial role. The Tokugawa shoguns were the dominant members of a class of feudal lords who ruled and taxed their own domains, among them those of Satsuma, ruled by the Shimazu family. These lords, along with their military retainers. The famous Samurai, ran a society that was similar to that of medieval Europe, with strict occupational categories, restrictions on trade, and high rates of taxation on farmers. The shogun ruled from Edo, where he monopolized and controlled foreign trade and banned foreigners from the country. Political and economic institutions were extractive, and Japan was poor.
But the domination of the shogun was not complete. Even as the Tokugawa family took over the country in 1600, they could not control everyone. In the south of the country, the Satsuma domain remained quite autonomous and was even allowed to trade independently with the outside world through the Ryukyu Islands. It was in the Satsuma Capital of Kagoshima where Okubo Toshimichi was born in 1830. As the son of a samurai, he, too, became a samurai. His talent was Spotted early on by Shimazu Nariakira, the lord of Satsuma, who quickly promoted him in the bureaucracy, At the time, Shimazu Nariakira had already formulated a plan to use Satsuma troops to overthrow the Shogun. He wanted to expand trade with Asia and Europe, abolish the old feudal economic institutions and construct a modern state in Japan. His nascent plan was cut short by his death in 1858. His successor, Shimazu Hisamitsu, was more circumspect, at least initially.
By 1890 Japan was the first Asian country to adopt a written constitution, and it created a constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament, the Diet, and an independent judiciary. These changes were decisive factors in enabling japan to be the primary beneficiary from the industrial Revolution in Asia
Okubo Toshimichi had by now become more and more convinced that Japan needed to overthrow the feudal shogunate, and he eventually convinced Shimazu Hisamitsu. To rally support for their cause, they wrapped it in outrage over the sidelining of the emperor. The treaty Okubo Toshimichi had already signed with the Tosa domain asserted that “a country does not have two monarchs; a home does not have two masters; government devolves to one ruler.” But the real intention was not simply to restore the emperor to power but to change the political and economic institutions completely. On the Tosa side, one of the treaty’s signers was Sakamoto Ryuma. As Satsuma and Choshu mobilized their armies, Sakamoto Ryuma presented the shogun with an eight-point plan, urging him to resign to avoid civil war. The plan was radical, and though clause I stated that “political power of the country should be returned to the Imperial Court, and all decrees issued by the court, it included far more than just the restoration of the emperor. Clauses 2, 3, 4 and 5 stated:
Two legislative bodies, an Upper and lower house, should be established, and all government measures should be decided on the basis of general opinion.
Men of ability among the lords, nobles and people at large should be employed as councilors, and traditional offices of the past which have lost their purpose should be abolished.
Foreign affairs should be carried on according to appropriate regulations worked out on the basis of general opinion.
Legislation and regulations of earlier times should be set aside and a new and adequate code should be selected.
Shogun Yoshinobu agreed to resign, and on January 3, 1868, the Meiji restoration was declared; Emperor Komei and, one month later after Komei died, his son Meiji were restored to power. Though Satsuma and Choshu forces now occupied Edo and the imperial capital Kyoto, they feared that the Tokugawas would attempt to regain power and re-create the shogunate. Okubo Toshimichi wanted the Tokugawas crushed forever. He persuaded the emperor to abolish the Tokugawa domain and confiscate their lands. On January 27 the former shogun Yoshinobu attacked Satsuma and Choshu forces, and civil war broke out; it raged until the summer, when finally, the Tokugawas were vanquished.
Following the Meiji Restoration there was a process of transformative institutional reforms in japan. In 1869 feudalism was abolished and the three hundred fiefs were surrendered to the government and turned into prefectures, under the control of an appointed governor. Taxation was centralized, and a modern bureaucratic state replaced the old feudal one. In 1869 the equality of all social classes before the law was introduced, and restrictions on internal migration and trade were abolished. The samurai class was abolished, though not without having to put down some rebellions. Individual property rights on land were introduced, and people were allowed freedom to enter and practice any trade. The state became heavily involved in the construction of infrastructure. In contrast to the attitudes of absolutist regimes to railways, in 1869 the Japanese regime formed a steamship line between Tokyo and Osaka and built the first railway between Tokyo and Yokohama. It also began to develop a manufacturing industry, and Okubo Toshimichi, as minister of finance, oversaw the beginning of a concerted effort of industrialization. The lord of Satsuma domain had been a leader in this, building factories for pottery, cannon, and cotton yarn and importing English textile machinery to create the first modern cotton spinning mill in Japan in 1861. He also built two modern shipyards. By 1890 Japan was the first Asian country to adopt a written constitution, and it created a constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament, the Diet, and an independent judiciary. These changes were decisive factors in enabling Japan to be the primary beneficiary from the industrial Revolution in Asia.
The writer is a former director, National Institute of Public Administration (NIPA) Government of Pakistan, a political analyst, a public policy expert and a published author