Meiji Era Japan – Change in the Social Climate for the Samurai

here is a copy of my final paper.

299-research-paper

299bibliography

Currently i am combing the books that i have collected for the paper and taking notes for each book. Several of the books that i have been waiting on have come in and they should help to improve upon my pool of source material. My main question is essentially the same since last time: What was the reaction that the samurai had to the dissolution of their traditional caste brought about by the Meiji government during the 1800′s, I did change the scope of time in the question but the hypothesis remains the same: the samurai felt that the new Meiji regime threatened their traditional way of life and rebelled against it during the 1860′s through 1880′s. I am still on the look out for any new potential primary sources. My progress on looking into adding bushido into my paper is turning out well with several secondary sources that mention it. My next immediate order of business is condensing my literary review for the four minute presentations that are due next week.  I would like to thank Kyle for pointing me in the direction of some new material for me to look at. I always appreciate comments left here on the blog.

Progress is going along well in regards to my research development. Currently my main question is: What was the reaction that the samurai had to the dissolution of their traditional caste brought about by the Meiji government from 1868 to 1880? The hypothesis that I am working with right now is: The samurai felt that the new Meiji regime threatened their traditional way of life and rebelled against it from 1868 – 1880. This rebellion caused a swift and harsh crackdown against the samurai resulting in their permanent termination. I am having some historiographical hiccups in finding new original secondary sources. Many of the sources that I am finding now seem to be saying the same thing and I am currently waiting on some books from the interlibrary loan service. My thanks goes out to Brain and Shion from class in pointing me in the direction of two possible primary sources and by suggesting I look into the topic of bushido. I had not thought of this before and I am going to look into it as a possible addition to my paper. This brings up a new question: How did Bushido, the samurai’s warrior code, influence the rebellion they held against the Meiji government?

So far my working title is: Change in the Social and Political Climate for the Warrior Class. Professor Fernsebner’s guidance proved fruitful and supplied me with several promising resources. My research is going fairly well and I have eleven sources that i have begun to sift through. I have kept all the questions that i have so far and I will add several new ones to my list, including, What caused the events at Aizu?, What happened there?, How did the incident at Aizu effect the samurai’s cause? What happened at the Satsuma revolt of 1877?, Did this revolt positively or negatively effect the samurai’s cause? and the what extent? What things did the samurai do to sustain themselves after they were said to be unnessisary? From my reading thus far these two topics of the revolt of Satsuma and the incident at Aizu may hold some interesting information to further my research. I think that for now I will stick with my original hypothesis:It is my hypothesis that the regime change put the samurai out of a job because the move toward nationalism and imperialism had no need for the traditional individualistic practices of the samurai and forced them to find jobs in the government and amongst the peasants.

My topic is on the social change that Japan went through after the formation of the Meiji regime from 1868-1878 and how the samurai were left behind as the rest of the country moved forward. During this time, the old ways and customs with the Tokugawa shogunate were replaced with the more liberal and forward thinking Emperor Meiji. My questions thus far are: How did the change to a more nationalistic and imperial state affect the samurai? And, how did the samurai respond to this shift in ideology that was trying to cast them out? It is my hypothesis that the regime change put them out of a job because the move toward nationalism and imperialism had no need for the traditional individualistic practices of the samurai. I think the samurai felt betrayed and tried to fight back against society to regain their traditions and way of life. By understanding this event we can learn more about the nature of humans and their desire for power, prominence, and acceptance within a society. This event also shows us how progress has two sides, the side of advancement and new ideas, and the side of disintegration of tradition and the loss of parts of a society’s culture.

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