Civilisation and enlightenment
After 1868 the Meiji leaders, a small group of former samurai who ruled in the emperor's name, wanted Japan to be strong enough to match the Western powers. Many educated Japanese believed this meant learning Western knowledge. Their slogan was civilisation and enlightenment. It meant that Western science, laws, clothes and ideas were signs of a modern country.
Key terms:
- Civilisation and enlightenment: the Meiji movement to copy Western knowledge and ways of life, seen as the road to a modern Japan.
- Missionary: a person sent abroad to teach their religion.
- Imperial Rescript on Education: the emperor's statement of 1890 telling schools to teach loyalty and duty.
🎓 Fukuzawa Yukichi
Fukuzawa had visited the United States and Europe in the 1860s. His books, such as Conditions in the West and An Encouragement of Learning, explained Western ideas in plain language and sold in huge numbers. He argued that Japan could stay independent only if its people learned Western knowledge, and that a person should be judged by learning, not by birth. His school in Tokyo grew into Keio University. In 1873 he joined other thinkers in the Meirokusha, a society that held talks and published a magazine on Western ideas.
📰 Newspapers
The first Japanese daily newspaper appeared in Yokohama in 1871. Newspapers carried news of the West and, in the 1870s and 1880s, arguments for a parliament. The government saw them as a threat as well as a help, and in 1875 it passed press laws to punish editors who attacked it.
🏫 New schools
The Education Order of 1872 planned schools for all children, boys and girls. In 1886 four years of elementary school became compulsory. The government hired foreign advisers to teach Western science and technology in colleges. Learning was no longer reserved for the samurai.
📝 Why it mattered
Ordinary people could now read about new ideas and rise through education. But the schools were run by the state, which decided what was taught.
Relations with Christianity
Under the Tokugawa, Christianity had been banned for over 200 years. Public notice boards still told people to report Christians. After the treaties of the 1850s, Western missionaries arrived in the treaty ports. They worked in schools and hospitals, and in 1875 a Japanese Christian, Niijima Jo, founded the Doshisha school in Kyoto.
The new government at first kept the ban. In the late 1860s more than 3,000 Christian villagers near Nagasaki were sent into exile. Western governments protested strongly, and the oligarchs wanted Western respect and the end of the unequal treaties. In 1873 the notice boards were taken down, and the ban ended.
Christianity did not spread widely. Only a small minority of Japanese became Christians. Many officials were suspicious because it came from the West, and they feared that loyalty to a foreign God might weaken loyalty to the emperor. The constitution of 1889 promised freedom of belief, but only so long as it did not disturb peace and order or clash with a subject's duties.
The turn back towards tradition
By the late 1880s some leaders felt that Westernising had gone too far. Schools were teaching foreign ideas but not enough duty to the nation. On 30 October 1890 the emperor issued the Imperial Rescript on Education. It told pupils to be loyal to the emperor, respect their parents, work hard and be ready to serve the state in an emergency. These ideas came from Confucian teaching, not from the West. Copies were sent to every school and read aloud at ceremonies.
Christians often found this hard. In January 1891 a teacher in Tokyo, Uchimura Kanzo, hesitated to bow deeply to the emperor's signature on the Rescript. Newspapers attacked him and he lost his job.
Change and continuity, 1867-95
🆕 What changed
The fixed classes of the Tokugawa were broken up. Boys and girls went to school. Men of all classes served in a conscript army. Newspapers spread new ideas. Christianity was no longer banned, and there was a written constitution.
🏯 What stayed the same
Power stayed with a small group of leaders. The emperor was treated as sacred. Loyalty and duty remained central. Education and the press were controlled by the state.
Common mistakes
- Saying Japan simply copied the West. The leaders chose what to copy and then pulled back towards tradition in 1890.
- Saying Christianity became popular. The ban ended in 1873, but few Japanese converted.
- Mixing up the two education dates: the Education Order was 1872 and the Imperial Rescript on Education was 1890.
- Writing only about what changed. A breadth question also needs what stayed the same.
Exam-style question
Remember that the Meiji Constitution of 1889 made the emperor sovereign, and only about 1 in every 100 Japanese could vote.
How far did Japanese society and culture change in the years 1867-95? [16 marks]
You may use the following in your answer:
- the Education Order of 1872
- the Imperial Rescript on Education (1890)
You must also use information of your own.
Model answer
Japanese society and culture changed a great deal in these years, but the change was controlled, because the leaders kept older ideas about loyalty and duty.
The Education Order of 1872 shows large change. Under the Tokugawa, schooling depended on class. The Order planned schools for all children, boys and girls, and in 1886 four years of elementary school became compulsory. Thinkers such as Fukuzawa Yukichi urged Japanese to learn Western ideas under the slogan of civilisation and enlightenment, and newspapers carried these ideas to ordinary readers. Learning was no longer limited to the samurai.
Other changes went beyond ideas. In 1873 the government began conscription, so men of every class served in the army, and in 1876 samurai lost their pay and the right to wear swords. These ended the old class system. In 1873 the ban on Christianity ended, after protests from Western governments. But this change was limited, since only a small minority of Japanese became Christians.
There was also strong continuity. The Imperial Rescript on Education of 1890 told pupils to be loyal to the emperor and respect their parents, using Confucian ideas, and it was read aloud in schools. It shows that the oligarchs wanted a loyal people, not a copy of the West. A Christian teacher, Uchimura Kanzo, lost his job in 1891 for hesitating to bow to it. The constitution of 1889 also kept power with the emperor and a small group of leaders, and few men could vote. The state still controlled schools and used press laws to punish editors who attacked the government.
Overall, change was greater than continuity in how people lived, learned and served the state, because a society of fixed classes became one of schools, newspapers and a national army. However, the leaders used Western methods to strengthen loyalty to the emperor, not to weaken it. So Japan changed most in its methods and least in its core beliefs about duty.
What lifts this to the top level: it weighs change against continuity throughout, uses points beyond the bullets (conscription, Christianity, the constitution), and ends with a judgement that is explained.
Exam tip
In a "how far" question on change, give at least three aspects, say what changed and what stayed the same for each, then finish with a judgement that names your criterion, such as "change in methods, but not in beliefs".