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Person1852 – 1912

Emperor Meiji

Also called: Mutsuhito

Emperor of Japan (r. 1867–1912) in whose name the shogunate was overthrown, the Meiji reforms carried out and the Meiji Constitution promulgated

Son of Emperor Kōmei, he came to the throne in 1867 at fourteen. After the shogunate fell through the return of power and the imperial restoration, he set out the course of the new regime in the Charter Oath of 1868 and moved to Tokyo the next year. Real power lay with leaders from Satsuma and Chōshū, but the abolition of the domains, the Meiji Constitution and the Imperial Rescript on Education were all issued in his name. His reign saw victories over China and Russia and the forced annexation of Korea in 1910.

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2 related events

  1. 1
    1871Abolition of the Domains and the Meiji Reformsmonarch

    The Meiji government abolished the feudal domains and replaced them with prefectures, creating a centralised state, then drove modernization from above with the end of status distinctions, conscription, land-tax reform, a school system and state-led industry.

  2. 2
    1889Promulgation of the Meiji Constitutionmonarch

    Japan promulgated the first modern constitution in East Asia and opened the Imperial Diet the following year. It was a constitution granted by the emperor, in whom sovereignty resided.

People who appear alongside

  • Ōkubo Toshimichi1830 – 1878

    Satsuma statesman who led the early Meiji government, pushing through the abolition of the domains and state-led industry, and opposed invading Korea

  • Saigō Takamori1828 – 1877

    Satsuma leader of the Meiji Restoration who resigned when his call to send a mission to Korea was rejected, and died leading the Satsuma Rebellion

  • Itō Hirobumi1841 – 1909

    First prime minister of Japan who forced the 1905 protectorate treaty and became the first Resident-General; shot by Ahn Jung-geun at Harbin

Themes this person appears in

  • The Opening of East Asia1839 – 1901

    From the Opium War to the Boxer Protocol — sixty years in which China, Japan and Korea, forced open by Western gunboats, each tried to reform and went separate ways