Meiji Restoration
In 1868 a coalition of samurai from southwestern domains overthrew the Tokugawa shogunate and restored imperial rule, launching the rapid modernization of Japan.
Overview
The arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry in 1853 and unequal treaties with Western powers discredited the Tokugawa shogunate. Samurai from the domains of Satsuma and Choshu allied to restore power to the emperor. In January 1868 they seized the imperial palace in Kyoto and proclaimed the restoration under the young Emperor Meiji, and the Boshin War defeated shogunate loyalists. The new government abolished the feudal domains, ended the samurai class privileges, introduced conscription, and adopted Western technology and institutions. Within a generation Japan had become an industrial and military power, a transformation that has been studied as a model of revolution from above.
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