The Meiji Restoration

On 3 January 1868 a coup in Kyoto ended the Tokugawa shogunate and proclaimed the rule of the young Meiji emperor; its leaders, having watched China's defeats in the Opium Wars, set out to modernise Japan quickly to keep it independent. The Charter Oath of April 1868 pledged a worldwide search for knowledge, and within a generation the state had built heavy industry, including the Yawata steel works (production from 1901).

The mechanism

INDUSTRIALISATION

How it was checked

• EvidenceT5 INDEPENDENT SECULAR; Status: ADDED 2026-09-19
• Letter eraTHE SEAT MOVES TO THE BENCH 1713 to 1945
• SourcesRECORD — Britannica, 'Meiji Restoration'; Britannica, 'Empire of Japan: Social and economic changes' · checked 19 September: Britannica (read in a browser; WebFetch is refused by the site), 'Meiji Restoration'; Britannica (read in a browser; WebFetch is refused by the site), 'Empire of Japan: Social and economic changes'