Japan: Internal Regulations In Xix V.

The intervention of the Western powers in the internal affairs of Japan complicated the internal political situation. The government proved powerless before the threat of colonial enslavement of the country, and its surrender to the Western powers caused discontent among the broad masses, including part of the samurai. There was an opposition within the feudal elite, which sought to replace the Tokugawa shogunate with some other kind of feudal power.

The continuous uprisings of the peasants and the urban poor undermined the foundations of feudal domination. Despite the spontaneity and dispersal of peasant uprisings, at the end of the Tokugawa period they went beyond the struggle for the reduction of the feudal taxation, increasingly turned into a form of political struggle against the existing system.

However, in Japan, unlike the European countries at that time, the bourgeoisie did not yet appear as a revolutionary force capable of leading a peasant movement and carrying out a political revolution. The burghers were closely connected with the shogun-tom and daimyo, largely depended on them, which was due to the country's long-term isolation from foreign markets.

In fact, it was an accomplice in the feudal exploitation of the peasants, therefore, while in opposition to the feudal system, sought a compromise with feudal lords, was ready to reconcile with the preservation of feudal power, provided the government carried out certain reforms. Because of this, the movement for the overthrow of the shogun's government was in the hands of representatives of the reformist wing of the service nobility, local merchants and prosperous peasants and developed under the sign of the restoration of the imperial power usurped by the Tokugawa house. Japan: Inner position In Xix In ....

January 3, 1868 leaders of the opposition samurai, relying on the armed forces of the principalities and with the assistance of the highest dignitary of the court, Ivakura, seized the imperial palace in Kyoto and on behalf of the young emperor issued a decree to overthrow the shogun Keiki and the transfer of power to the emperor.

First of all, the insurgents had to resolve the issue of expanding their social base, creating unity, strengthening political power. To this end, during the civil war, they proclaimed the basic principles of the new government in the form of an imperial five-oath oath. It gave a solemn promise to create a representative body and solve all state issues through mass discussion, strengthen the financial system, improve the welfare of the people, end obsolete laws and harmful customs of the past, acquire knowledge throughout the world.

Japan: The Inside Position In Xix V.