Figure 1.--Crown Prince Tōgu (Yoshihito) with his father the Emperor Mejii and mother strolling in Asukayama Park accompanied by the ladies of the court. Color woodblock print by Yōshū Chikanobu, done in 1890. It is difficult to know who is who. We believe the emperor is with his wife, Empress Shōken, and Yoshihito is with his royal concubine mother, Yanagihara Naruko. Click on the image to see the left side of the piece. We are not sure who the lady there is. Note the ladies are all weaing Western dress.

Emperor Meiji (明治天皇) was born (1852), He would be the 122nd Emperor of Japan according to the historical order of succession. Accounts of his boyhood are contradictory, desvribing him variously as a delicate, sickly child to aobust bully. He appeared to have taken little interest n academics, but later in life began tobecome a seriouspoet. He was raised by his uncle, the Marquess Nakayama Tadayasu, apparently as the Emperor could not be bothered. He became Japan's first modern emperor, emeging from the Shogun's shadow. He began his reign in a time of great change (1867). When he was born (1852), Japan was an isolated, agricultural, feudal country under the control of the Tokugawa Shogunate. The Daimyos, powerful fedual lords under the control of the Shogun, presided over ruled over the country's more than 250 decentralized jurisdictions. A year late Connodore Perry's Black Ships shocke the Jaanese and forced them out of their self-imposed isolation. The Shogun's image was shattered. In the midst of this the Emperor Kōmei unexpectedly died, propelling his teenage son to the throne. A civil war ensued between the traditionalists and modernzers. It is unclear how the teenage emperor understood all that was happending, but he became the symolic head for the moderizers. Their victoeytransformed the uouthful Emperor Mejii from a figurehead to a constitutional soverign--the Mejii Restoration. And the Emperor with reform minded advsers set out to convert traditional, feudal Japan into a modern, indstrailized nation whith major economic, political, ans social reforms. By the end of his regime, Japan had become the only modern, capitalist country in Asia with a still small, but growing industrial base. His son , Yoshihito, had limited capabiliyies would never bcome a real successor. This role fell to his granson Prince Hirohito.

Created: 6:53 AM 9/2/2015
Last updated: 6:53 AM 9/2/2015