The "Black Ship" incident in Edo Bay in June 1853 shocked all of Japan and triggered a chain reaction in Japanese society. The shogunate located in the center was undecided, and the response of the southwest vassals was extremely obvious. In the end, this incident also accelerated Japan's transformation to a modern country.
The response to the impact of this incident on Japanese society at the end of Makuma is also diversified, mainly including the increasing highlight of Japanese Summit system and domestic class contradictions, the emergence of crisis awareness, and the promotion of Japan towards aggressive expansion.
Japanese shogun system and domestic class contradictions became increasingly prominent
" black ship sailing", from the initial instructions of the shogunate Satsuma to "respond with sturdyness", and later acquiesced to Ryukyu trade and finally lifted the "Bank for the Construction of Large Ship", in this series of processes, the suggestions of the vassals played a role in forcing the shogunate. The reason why
"forced" was formed is because the shogunate and the various vassals themselves had conflicts, and the " Black Ship Incident " and other conflicts have expanded.
As early as 1609, in order to control the private outing of its own people to sea, shogunate confiscated more than 500 stones of military ships and merchant ships. Then, in 1653, it clearly stipulated in Article 17 of the Wujia Laws that "the suspension of ships of more than 500 stones". This is the famous "Ban on the Construction of Large Ship" in Japanese history.
For the shogunate, this method can block Japan's maritime transportation and foreign trade, but many shogun ministers do not agree with this, and some of them have put forward suggestions on "building a country with trade" and "promoting coastal defense through trade".
In fact, the suggestions of each vassal have their own reasons, and their main point of opposition is: the shogunate monopoly on domestic trade under the shogunate system.
The The Edo period is different from the centralized system in China. They are a "dual dual policy system", which is a "double-headed system" with the emperor as the symbol of ruling and the Tokugawa family as the ruling leader. More than 200 daimyos have affiliation with Tokugawa shogunate .
From a certain perspective, this is equivalent to more than 200 countries.
Therefore, the Tokugawa shogunate did not have absolute guarantees. They also needed to mobilize Daming to fulfill military and labor obligations to consolidate the Shogunate system. Before the "black ships arrived", the shogunate's control over Daming also had a tendency to relax, and even the internal internal of the Tokugawa family was weakened.
However, it was not until the financial tightening, peasant riots, trade obstructions and the emergence of "black ships" that there were stronger demands for trade and trade inside and outside. Many people pointed out: Without iron cannons, it is not economical. Western wealth originated from customs clearance trade, which is the way to get rich.
Under the influence of the concept of "poor thinking of change", the shogunate's indecision eventually prompted the vassals to rise up on their own. Some powerful figures of the powerful vassals began to implement fiscal reforms, and many reforms of vassal states also achieved certain results, which made the vassal finances improve day by day.
With these actions, the various vassals realized that trade is the best way to solve the financial dilemma.
The Daemons of the various vassals have been coveting this privilege of the shogunate for a long time, and they have borrowed the name of "black ship" to be able to "make a natural mistake".
Because of this, local markets based on rural small commodities production have gradually formed in various vassals, and commodity circulation has begun to be widely developed. Trade control under the shogunate system has become a state of name-based existence, which is also an important indirect effect of the "black ship" on Japanese society.
However, the impact of this history is immeasurable. It is simply agriculture that makes farmers difficult for a long time to make a living.
At that time, due to reform, the high tax rate was caused, which basically equals 32% of farmers' income to be earned by the country.
So in 1881 alone, more than 900,000 people sold land in Japan, and more than 2 million people mortgaged the land.
Between 1883 and 1884, there were 367,744 people punished for tax arrears, and the land was auctioned and confiscated, which even reached 47,281.
The emergence of crisis awareness
In the Edo era, Japan has always been in a state of "locking the country", but their learning of Western culture has never weakened.
In the early 19th century, the shogunate strengthened its efforts to "lock the country" not because they did not understand the outside world, but on the contrary, it was precisely because they realized that Western capitalist countries would gradually grow in the process of development, which was likely to pose a threat to the outside world.
But the shogunate could not calculate when the crisis would really come, so he had to numb himself by "locking the country".
is just that the shogunate rulers have already adapted to a stable life, and the bureaucrats do not think that the arrival of the West will cause "imminent" problems.
At that time, only some famous names and advanced intellectuals would actively search for relevant information overseas to understand the latest situations in European countries.
After the outbreak of the Opium War, many daimyos realized the existence of the crisis. The sources of intelligence they searched for mainly include "Tang Feng Story" and "Dutch Feng Story". The above also records in detail that the Qing Dynasty suffered a crushing defeat during the First Opium War . Moreover, the huge amount of compensation from the Qing government deeply stimulated a group of people in Japan.
These people were the first to believe that Capitalist The powerful ships and guns are very powerful. If they do not intend to make progress, the artillery fire will sooner or later extend to their own heads.
In August 1842, some people proposed to adjust the policy of locking up the country, but the power center of the shogunate felt a deep threat. At the same time, they also felt that this approach was just to uphold the "ancestral law" and was not willing to make fundamental changes.
The first time that really alerted the shogunate was a warning letter from the Dutch East India Company in 1852, which mainly expressed: several American ships will visit Japan the following year, intending to trade, and advise your country not to be locked up forever, not to be isolated from the world, and not to fight.
The situation at that time was also because the UK had seized great commercial rights in East India, China's coastal areas, and Singapore, and Japan and other islands on Pacific were not interfered with by the UK. For the United States, Japan happened to be an important position on the commercial route, so they had to take suppression measures.
The shogunate's attitude towards the "black ship" in the West is very interesting. The "coping preparation" mentioned by Tokugawa Shiaki refers to the naval warship that can compete with the "black ship". However, what Masahiro Abe seems to be a little "unclear", but in fact, it also considers a further problem, because the threat of "black ship" is not just Japan's coastal shipping, but the entire Japanese archipelago .
If a war occurs, then judging from the power of the artillery fire of the "black ship", the war will not last for too long.
In their understanding, the connotation of "black ship" is also diverse, and it was before and after the "black ship sailed", Japan finally formed a strong sense of crisis.
The change in thinking is also another huge change brought about by the "black ship sailing". As a landmark event in Japanese history, it even ended Japan's "close-off country" policy for 200 years. Even after Perry forced Japan to open its doors in a barbaric way, the Japanese regarded him as a hero.
After Meiji Restoration , Ito Hirobuki also wrote the "Monument to the Training of the Admiral of the Navy of the United States of North America" and erected this monument where Perry landed that year.
Later, Japan also built a "Perry Park" in Yokosuka City, where a grand commemorative event "Black Ship Festival" is held every year. This is enough to prove the profound impact of the "Black Ship" incident on Japan, and it mainly lies in its thoughts.
prompted Japan to embark on invasion and expansion
The reason why the expansion of imperialist countries had an impact on Japanese society is because Japan took the path of expansion after suffering losses.
After the First Opium War, some Japanese daimyos realized the crisis, but Britain had to deal with many post-war affairs at that time, and Russia also focused its main attention on Siberian , which ultimately gave the United States the opportunity to act.
Perry used tough measures to force Japan to open its doors with a large military force. Abe Masahiro and the shogunate bureaucrats were all in a state of anxiety. They sought advice from the Mito vassal lord, but they still found nothing.
In this case, Masahiro Abe finally decided to accept the letter of the United States and asked the other party to leave as soon as possible. After the death of the
12 General Tokugawa Kayoshi, Perry once again thought this was a good opportunity, so he came to Japan half a year earlier than the agreed time. After more than a month of negotiations, the two sides quickly signed the " Japan-US Peace Treaty ", and added the "Appendix to the Treaty" two months later.
After this, Japan successively signed treaties with Russia, Britain and the Netherlands with almost the same content, which means that Japan's door is completely unable to close.
After seeing the power of capitalist countries, the traditional shogun class, which had a relatively complex relationship, began to become increasingly irreconcilable.
These have jointly promoted the Meiji Restoration process, and have also prompted Japan to become the first country in Asia to move towards industrialization. It has also allowed Japan to accumulate a lot of wealth. The people's mentality is also quietly changing.
Ko Meiji Restoration process is also accompanied by the color of militarism. Many education regards the "Emperor" as the supreme leader. With the expansion of military equipment, a large number of low-level samurai and civilians were able to join the army, and they also began to implement Bushido Spirit .
These practices have also made Japan gradually deviate from the original intention of reform, but feudal ideas have not been eliminated with the improvement of the economy, and militarist ideas have also begun to expand in Japan.
plus Japan has always faced the disadvantage of "congenital deficiencies" in its development path. In their eyes, aggression has become the fastest way to improve the country's situation.
Therefore, Japan gradually embarked on the path of aggression and expansion, and launched several wars of foreign aggression, causing huge disasters to Asia.
It can be said that the reason why Japan has reached this point is also related to the "black ship sailing" back then. This is the last straw that broke the shogunate system and also injected a driving force into Japan's development.
Time goes back to Before , in order to expand the invasion, Japan has attached great importance to its own military to a terrible level.
At that time, the Japanese Army had 220,000 people, and achieved 100% of the per capita weapons and equipment.
. In terms of the Navy, Japan is equipped with 32 warships , 24 torpedo ships, and the navy has 20,000 people.
According to the statement at that time, the strength of Japanese Navy has actually ranked 16th in the world.
Reference
"Black Ship" impact and the social response of Makushima Japan Song Ning; Jiang Chunjie Nankai School Journal
