"One hundred volumes of public laws of all nations are not as good as a few cannons, and several volumes of goodwill treaties are not as good as a basket of ammunition." Hegemony has always been an extreme temptation, especially for Japan during the Restoration period.

"A hundred volumes of Law of All Nations are not as good as a few cannons, a few volumes of goodwill treaties are not as good as a basket of ammunition." Hegemony has always been an extreme temptation, especially for Japan during the Restoration period.

Fukuzawa Yukichi once wrote in his autobiography that he took enlightenment as his mission throughout his life and had no regrets. He hoped to guide our people to move towards a civilized country. "In 1901, in the 19th century, Japan's most famous careerist, instigator, The first rebel of the shogunate died of cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 66.

His " Essay on Leaving Asia" did not make Japan more civilized, but became more barbaric and cruel. It was just the Japanese version of " society." Darwinism", thirty years after his death, a group of governments established by bloodthirsty samurai eventually surrendered to militarism.

Fukuzawa Yukichi in his youth

Why did Fukuzawa Yukichi's "Easing Theory" have such a huge impact on modern Japan? Why is a theory so destructive?

Since 1840, violent movements have broken out in modern China, but From the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to the Westernization Movement , and then to the Reform Movement of 1898 , they all ultimately failed due to various reasons.

But the Japanese reformers , who were also rebellious, overturned the Tokugawa shogunate. Why was Japan able to complete rapid changes in modern times? What does this have to do with Fukuzawa Yukichi's "On Dea"? This article of will take you to find the reasons behind it.

Historical crossroads

Ancient times Although modern Japan has been deeply influenced by Chinese civilization since the Tang Dynasty, , the two have completely gone on two different historical evolution paths.

Since the Qin and Han dynasties, China has ended the feudal system of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and formed a unified centralized system , with power and authority concentrated in the emperor and his leadership of the bureaucracy.

Japan, on the other hand, has developed in the opposite direction and has never formed a unified situation. Historically, Japan has had a long history of power and authority. Separated, The Japanese Emperor has no real power most of the time, but he has god-like authority, a line that continues to this day.

The Emperor of Japan

The power to govern society is mainly concentrated in the hands of the samurai class headed by the shogun, and the status of samurai is hereditary. In addition, Japan has not formed an imperial examination system similar to China, so Japan has been a wealthy society since ancient times.

The dominant forces in society are aristocratic families and powerful families, which can still be seen in today's Japanese political arena. China has gradually become a civilian society since the Song Dynasty, forming a situation where scholar-bureaucrats and the emperor rule the world together.

China's scholar-bureaucrats formed a huge civil service system, supporting the entire centralized system, and Japan was different. Instead, it was similar to the social structure of the Western Middle Ages. The shogun ruled society through indirect rule, and formed large and small vassals by dividing land. country.

Many vassal states in Japan

Those whose grain output exceeds 10,000 koku are called "Daimyo", and their territories and administrative agencies are called "vassals". During the more than 260 years of Japan's rule by the Tokugawa Shogunate, nearly 500 vassal states appeared.

Each feudal state is ruled by a family, such as the Shimadzu clan of Satsuma clan, the Mori clan of Choshu clan, etc. This meant that local vassals had more independence and initiative.

The relationship between the shogun and the daimyo is similar to the relationship between kings and nobles in the Western Middle Ages. The emperor's status in Japan is similar to the pope's status in Europe. He is a "god" in a symbolic sense and does not interfere in social governance.

In this way, the Tokugawa shogunate had much weaker control over the entire society than the Manchu government. Therefore, once faced with colonial invasion by Western powers, the probability of a vassal rebellion being successful would be much higher. This is from the perspective of the political system.

If we look at it from the perspective of civilization, it may be more profound. Chinese civilization is one of the axial civilizations. It is one of the three major civilizations in the world besides Christianity and Islam. The three religions of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism are integrated with each other and form the foundation of Chinese civilization.

One of the characteristics of the Axis civilization countries is that they are highly integrated with the geographical and humanistic environment. They have a long history and are difficult to replace each other. Unlike Japan, it is not a civilization center itself and can only be influenced by other civilizations.

Ancient Japan was deeply influenced by Chinese culture. However, due to the decline of modern China, there was a vacuum in its cultural influence. The invasion of Western civilization could quickly make Japan change its direction and follow the strong. In short, it is easy for a small boat to turn around. What does this have to do with Fukuzawa Yukichi's "On Deia"? Which group of people does this theory affect?

The Declined Samurai

The Meiji Restoration In essence, it was a rebellion movement by a group of lower-class samurai, united with rich farmers and wealthy businessmen, and Fukuzawa Yukichi's theoretical thoughts became the theoretical tools of the reformists. In 1885, "The Theory of Departure" was formally formed, but its brewing process took at least twenty years .

During the Tokugawa shogunate period, Japanese society had a strict hierarchy, with each performing his or her duties in the order of "scholars, farmers, workers, and merchants." They were hereditary, and professions were divided by status. Each class received different education. Since the samurai were away from work for a long time, the only source of income was the salary paid by the master.

At the end of the shogunate, the entire middle- and lower-class samurai group declined. Many samurai were in poverty and relied on borrowing money from businessmen to survive. The samurai were noble but not noble, and had a high social status, but their survival was worrying.

The economic type based on agriculture and handicrafts has created a group of large landowners and businessmen, who have become very wealthy through several generations of management and accumulation. However, businessmen have the lowest social status and are noble but not respectable. This is the background of the era when Fukuzawa Yukichi's theoretical thoughts were born.

Japanese samurai at the end of the shogunate

He was born in a samurai family in 1835. His father, Fukuzawa Momosuke, was a lower-class samurai with a meager salary. He loved collecting ancient Chinese books and had a deep knowledge of Sinology.

However, his father died of illness when he was less than two years old. Fukuzawa Yukichi grew up in a social environment with extremely strong family values ​​and hated this kind of life.

In 1853, Matthew Perry, commander of the U.S. East India Fleet, led four warships to Edo , which was the center of power of the Tokugawa shogunate at that time and threatened the shogunate with force to open the country and trade.

It was renamed Tokyo in 1868. There were two black steam iron-clad warships in Matthew Perry's fleet, so it was called the " Black Ship Incident ", and then Western powers came one after another.

In order to get rid of the shackles of the clan system, the 21-year-old Fukuzawa Yukichi went to Nagasaki to study Western learning (Ranxue) and became a disciple of Ogata Koan, the "father of modern Japanese medicine". In 1858, he came to Edo to teach and learn English. Later, he went to the United States with the shogunate's envoy.

The colonization of Western powers intensified social contradictions in Japan. After industrialized goods entered Japan, they not only affected the interests of rich farmers and businessmen, but also caused a large number of handicraftsmen to lose their jobs.

The privileges enjoyed by the samurai have also disappeared. When he was about to swing his sword to kill someone, he was shot down before he could react. Facing the Western colonial colonists in the industrial age, the entire Japan seemed weak and powerless.

Some young lower-class samurai began to assassinate those in power in the shogunate who had colluded with Western forces. They formed the "Respect and Fight Faction" with wealthy farmers and wealthy businessmen, and put forward the slogan of "Respect the King and Expel Foreign Aggressors" and "Respect the Emperor and drive away foreign invaders."

However, at this time, the anti-barbarian party still had illusions about the Tokugawa shogunate and did not clearly propose the overthrow of the shogunate's rule. The shogunate's army suppressed it with the support of the Western powers. Just as the anti-barbarian movement was flourishing, a turning point occurred.

The murder case that changed Japanese history

In September 1862, Charles Richardson, a British businessman traveling between Yokohama and Shanghai, and three companions met on the road with an honor guard of nearly 700 people, Shimazu Hisamitsu, the leader of the Satsuma domain.

According to convention, if civilians encounter a daimyo's honor guard, they must kneel down and give way. Of course, the British businessman refused to kneel down and did not carry a gun. As a result, he enjoyed the "one-cut" service and received the box lunch directly.

Shimazu Hisamitsu

The British Embassy in Japan asked the shogunate and Satsuma Domain to severely punish the perpetrators and pay huge compensation. Fukuzawa Yukichi happened to be the translator. I don’t know whether it was intentional or the translation level was not high enough, which led to the collapse of the negotiations between the two parties.

Britain immediately dispatched the East India Company's fleet to bombard Kagoshima, the hometown of the Satsuma Domain. This was the " Samoan-British War ", and Britain actually started fighting with a Japanese vassal.

Result The 80 artillery used by the Satsuma Domain for defense played a key role, and the British did not take advantage. They originally thought that the Satsuma Domain was vulnerable, but unexpectedly it was quite capable of fighting.

The British just wanted to expand their interests in Japan. It didn't matter whether it was a shogunate or a vassal state, so they turned to support the reformists of the Satsuma Domain. They advocated overthrowing the shogunate rule and following the path of a Western capitalist power.

The soil where heresy came from

In order to directly contact Western countries, the Tokugawa shogunate decided to send envoys to Europe. Fukuzawa Yukichi accompanied him as a translator. This trip to Europe had a huge impact on him.

During this period, he conducted in-depth research on many issues in Western society, such as political party elections, conscription regulations, banks, hospitals, etc.

After returning to Japan, he wrote a book "The First Edition of Western Affairs", which soon became a best-seller with 250,000 copies published. Ironically, most of Fukuzawa Yukichi's fans and supporters, who worked for the Tokugawa Shogunate, were reformers.

actually became the opinion leader of this group of people and a big V in the industry. This is one of the reasons why his later publication of "De-Asia Theory" was so influential.

Whether the reformers can successfully rebel depends on whether Japan can complete the transformation of capitalist industrialization . However, Japan does not have the objective conditions to develop capitalism .

Capital, industrial raw materials, and consumer markets are not available, and there is no first-mover advantage in front of Western powers. This makes the Meiji Restoration destined to be a "freak."

has set the tone for foreign aggression and expansion from the beginning. One of the "Three Heroes of the Restoration", Saigo Takamori, , once publicly stated that "what was lost to Europe and the United States will be compensated for in Korea and Manchuria."

Saigo Takamori, one of the "Three Heroes of the Reform",

Japan, which was suppressed by the Western powers, could only pick up the weak persimmons. This was the internal logic of its path to militarism. In 1868, the Reformists stepped onto the stage of history, and Fukuzawa Yukichi's thoughts naturally became the development guide for the Meiji government.

Therefore, "The Theory of Leaving Asia" links the war of foreign aggression with "Japan's rise in wealth and power". The most sinister thing about it is that it elevates this act of aggression to a theory.

and gave it the so-called "justice", Yukichi Fukuzawa became the culprit who instigated a nation to commit crimes. A theory can brainwash a nation, and its believers must see the effect. Japan's foreign war of aggression made "The Theory of De-Asia" take root in Japan.

The Bloodthirsty Beast

"The Theory of Leaving Asia" was officially published in 1885. By the 1894 Sino-Japanese War of 1894 , in the past few years, the Meiji Restoration had a serious economic crisis , and the launch of the Sino-Japanese War was already in the plan of the Meiji government of Japan. The Sino-Japanese War was an extremely important historical turning point.

The Japanese economy that should have collapsed came back to life. The victory of the Sino-Japanese War changed Japan's national destiny. More than 230 million taels of silver were seized from the Qing government, which was equivalent to more than four times Japan's fiscal revenue in 1895. It directly resolved Japan's economic crisis. 83.7% of the compensation was used to expand military expenditures, especially the navy.

From 1907 to 1914, before the outbreak of World War I , Japan had been in a chronic economic depression, just in the second year of the Russo-Japanese War.

In 1905, a rare famine occurred in Japan. Millions of people nearly starved to death. It is difficult to imagine that this was Japan's so-called "rise of a great power."

As long as there is no war, this economic model is unsustainable. Before World War I, Japan once again experienced an economic crisis, and not long after, the world's first war broke out.

The outbreak of World War I was a disaster for European countries, but it created opportunities for the formation of Japanese imperialism. Because they were far away from Europe and did not have to worry about being affected by the war, both Japan and the United States became the beneficiaries of World War I.

The Japanese Navy during World War I

It was precisely because the European powers were busy fighting wars that when they entered wartime, supplies would be in very short supply, and trade exports to Asia stopped. European powers withdrew from the Asian market one after another, so a vacuum appeared in the entire market, which indirectly created a huge market for Japanese goods.

The war boosted the demand for wartime supplies. Japan took this opportunity to reduce imports from Europe, speed up exports to Europe, and reverse the trade deficit . Soon Japan's financial situation turned around, and a large amount of gold flowed into Japan.

Gold reserves increased from 350 million yen in 1914 to 2 billion yen in 1919. Japan changed from a debtor country before the war to a creditor country. It also purchased the national debt of Britain and Tsarist Russia. After the end of World War I, Japan's total industrial output increased by 391%, accounting for 56.8% of the total economic output.

Before and after the third war, Japan's capitalism developed rapidly, which made the reformers more highly esteemed "The Theory of Leaving Asia" and accelerated the reform of the reformists. As the reformers stepped onto the stage of history, "The Theory of Leaving Japan" became the national policy of the Meiji government.

The reason why "Left Asia Theory" was able to set off a huge storm was that it captured the demands of the reformers and won several successive wars, allowing Japan to achieve industrialization.

This greatly stimulated the emotions of the Japanese people, and the Japanese nation only worships the strong, and strength is justice. Therefore, the evil idea of ​​"De-Asia Theory" soon became the collective ideology of the entire nation.

The Reformers were mainly lower-class samurai from the Satsuma and Choshu Domains. They were originally a group of profit-making machines who practiced martial arts and killed people. "The Theory of Leaving Asia" came after the Reformers stepped onto the stage of history.

naturally evolved into Japan's national policy, running wildly on the chariot of imperialism.