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The Meiji Restoration does the fit the description of a classic revolution. A
classic revolution consists of mass-based uprisings that brought about radical
changes to the political and societal structure. The Meiji Restoration is often
regarded by many as a classic revolution due to its massive changes in the
political and societal structure. Even though there is indeed massive changes
in the two important factors, the lack of mass-based uprisings that led me to
believe that it is not a classic revolution. Another point of the Meiji
Restoration that differs from a classic revolution would be the extensive
economic changes that was so great that Japan changed from a little known
country to a super power that is known throughout the world. It is due to
these two points that suggests that the Meiji Restoration should be
considered a revolution in its own right, and cannot be considered as a
revolution in the classical sense. Even though there are arguments debating
on whether these points are indeed correct, there are several flaws in the
logic of the arguments, which will be discussed in later points. The Meiji
Restoration is not a classic revolution as not only were there radical changes
to the political and societal structure, but economic changes were also
prevalent, and mass-based uprisings were absent.
The Meiji Restoration brought about radical internal political changes and
societal changes as the event not only changed the ruling power of Japan but
also changed the power held by most of the society of Japan. Normally, the
transfer of power would go from Shogunate to Shogunate. However, due to
the Meiji Restoration, the power was transferred from Shogunate to Emperor,
and the Shogunate was completely eradicated from the societal structure of
Japan and a Provisional Government consisting of other clans were formed in
their place. Not only that, but the Samurais were also taken away from the
structure and Daimyos lost much of their powers. This can be seen from the
paper, A Modern History of Japan: From Tokugawa Times to the Present,
where it is stated that top leaders of the new Provisional Government
consisting of leader from clans like Choshu and Satsuma abolished all
Daimyo domains and bribed Daimyos with yearly salaries for them to retire.
When the Daimyos relinquish their power, samurais were also incorporated
into armies and slowly eradicated from the system. Besides the figures in the
societal structure that lost power, other figures such as the Chonin gained
power and status due to the increase in trade with the foreign powers. This
can be seen in the Charter Oath signed by Emperor Meiji, rule 5, which states
that Knowledge shall be sought throughout the world so as to strengthen
the foundation of imperial rule. One can see from these events that there
are many changes made in the society and politics, where power and status
were changed throughout the whole of Japan. However, arguments can be
made that the political changes were not as radical as it was believed to be.
know that the Shogunate is helpless and cannot reject their demands, they
will want to keep them helpless. They might stop introducing new
technologies to Japan so that the Shogunate can never fight back and reject
their demands. Rather, they will resort to threatening in order to obtain the
resources from Japan. End result might be that Japan would essentially
become a footstool for the foreign powers to become more powerful, while
they still remain in their third-world state. From this, one can see that should
the Meiji Restoration not happen, the economic situation would not increase
at a slow rate but rather stop entirely after some time. That is why the Meiji
Restoration indeed changes the economy and is not redundant in changing
Japan economically.
From the above points, it can be seen that the Meiji Restoration is a
revolution as it is the reason for Japans rapid progress, but cannot be
considered a classic revolution due to the lack of a mass uprising.