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Citizenship and National Identity in Early Meiji Japan, 1868–1889: A Comparative Assessment*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 February 2009

Eiko Ikegami
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After the collapse of the long-standing Tokugawa regime (1603–1867), Japan under the Meiji emperor (1867–1912) rapidly implemented the process of modern nation-building by effectively utilizing the venerable institution of the emperor (Tennō) as its new national symbol. Following the imperial restoration, the Meiji government abolished the socioeconomic and political privileges of the samurai class, namely its exclusive right to bear arms, hold office and receive hereditary stipends. By 1900, Japan had already equipped itself with a modern Constitution that defined citizens' rights and obligations, a parliamentary system, an updated judicial system, universal education, a restructured national and local bureaucracy, national standing army, private ownership of land, and a nation-wide taxation system. None of these institutions had existed prior to 1868. All of the developmental innovations listed above were instituted within little more than a quarter century after the collapse of their predecessor's political structures. Before the Meiji restoration, Japanese society had been governed exclusively by its hereditary samurai elites for two and a half centuries. It was only during the early Meiji period – a little more than two decades or so – that the concept of kokumin (usually translated as “citizen”, more literally “country-person”) entered the popular vocabulary for the first time in Japanese history. The complex social and political dynamics of this initial period of development for Japanese citizenship rights is the primary object of my inquiry.

Type
Research Article
Information
International Review of Social History , Volume 40 , supplement S3: Citizenship, Identity and Social History , December 1995 , pp. 185 - 221
Copyright
Copyright © Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis 1995

References

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15 Since the gōnō had been village leaders during the Tokugawa period, and had often been appointed as village officers, they had absorbed some aspects of samurai culture.

16 A status category ranking immediately below formal samurai status. Since gōshi had not been formally employed by the daimy˜, they were not samurai vassals, although they claimed descent from families of samurai status.

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20 Samurai, farmers, craftsmen and merchants. These four groups comprised the feudal status categories which defined the samurai as rulers and all others as subjects.

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