MEIJI TENNO (Mutsu Hito), Tenno, or Emperor of Japan (1852-1912), was born on Nov. 3, 1852, succeeded his father, Komei Tenno, the former emperor, in Jan. 1867, and was crowned at Osaka on Oct. 31, 1868. The country was then in a ferment owing to the concessions which had been granted to foreigners by the preceding shOgun Iyemochi, who in 1854 concluded a treaty with Commodore Perry by which it was agreed that certain ports should be open to foreign trade.
This convention gave offence to the more conservative daimios, and on their initiative the mikado suddenly decided, in the face of strong opposition, to abolish the shogunate. The reigning shogun, Keiki, yielded to the decree, but it was only by force of arms that the new order was imposed. The main object of those who had advocated the change was a reversion to the primitive condition of affairs, when the will of the mikado was absolute and when the presence in Japan of the hated foreigner was unknown.
But the reactionary party was not to be allowed to monopolize revolutions. The powerful daimios of Satsuma and Choshia suddenly declared themselves to be in favour of opening the country to foreign intercourse, and of adopting far-reaching re forms. With this movement Meiji Tenno was cordially in agree ment, and he invited foreign representatives to an audience on March 23, 1868. As Sir Harry Parkes, the British minister, was on his way to this assembly, he was attacked by samurai. The outrage was regarded by the emperor and his ministers as a reflection on their honour, and they made reparation. Meanwhile, the emperor, with his advisers, was maturing a political constitu tion providing for the assumption by the emperor of direct personal rule. As a step in this direction, Meiji Tenno transferred his capital from KiOto to Yedo, the former seat of the shoguns' government, and marked the event by renaming the city Tokyo.
In the same year Meiji Tenno took oath to institute certain reforms, including the establishment of a deliberative assembly. He was supported by the majority of the daimios, who in a su preme moment of patriotism surrendered their estates and privi leges to their sovereign. This was the death-knell of the feudalism which had existed for centuries, and gave Meiji Tenno a free hand. A centralized bureaucracy arose, and the nation rapidly progressed. Torture was abolished (1873), and a judicial code, adapted from the Code Napoleon, was authorized. The first rail way—from Yokohama to Tokyo—was opened in 1872; the European calendar was adopted, and English was introduced into school curriculums. In all these reforms Meiji Tenno took a
leading part.
There was opposition to such sweeping changes between 1876 and 1884. Three serious rebellions took Place in the provinces.
These the emperor suppressed ; and simultaneously he inflicted a check on the empire of China. As the Chinese government de clared itself unable to punish Formosan pirates for outrages com mitted on Japanese ships (1874), Meiji Tenno landed a force on the island, chastised the bandits, and remained in possession of certain districts until the compensation was paid. The unparalleled advances made by the new government were now held to justify a demand for the revision of the foreign treaties, and negotiations were opened. They failed, and the consequent disappointment gave rise to a strong anti-foreign reaction. Foreigners were as saulted and even the Russian cesarevich, afterwards the Tsar Nicholas II., was attacked in the streets of Tokyo. A renewed attempt to revise the treaties in 1894 was more successful, and in that year Great Britain concluded a revised treaty with Japan. Other nations followed, and by 1901 all those obnoxious clauses suggestive of political inferiority had disappeared from the treaties. In the same year (1894) war broke out with China. Meiji Tenno reviewed the troops as they left Japan for Korea and Manchuria, and personally distributed rewards to those who had won distinction. In the war with Russia, 1904-5, the same was the case, and it was to the virtues of their emperor that his generals ascribed the Japanese victories.
In his wise patriotism, as in all matters, Meiji Tenno always placed himself in the van of his countrymen. He led them out of feudalism, and lived to see his country advanced to the first rank of nations; and he was the first Oriental sovereign to form an offensive and defensive alliance with a first-rate European power. In 1869 Meiji Tenno married Princess Haru, daughter of Ichijo Tadaka, a noble of the first rank. He had one son and several daughters. Mutsu Hito adopted the epithet of Meiji, or "Enlightened Peace," as the nengo or title of his reign. Thus the year 1901, according to the Japanese calendar, was the 34th year of Meiji. He died at Tokyo on July 3o, 1912. He was posthu mously styled the Emperor Meiji Tenno, according to the custom of Japan. He was succeeded by his son, Yoshihito.