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The Emperor Meiji was the surviving son of the Emperor Komei by the lady-in-waiting Nakayama Yoshiko ( 1834– 1907), the daughter of Lord Nakayama Tadayasu, sometime minister of the left (sadaijin) and a scion of the FujiwaraFujiwara can refer to: The Fujiwara clan and its members Kamatari Fujiwara Fujiwara-no-Sai, character of Hikaru no Go Takumi "Tak" Fujiwara, character of Initial D Zakura Fujiwara, character of Tokyo Mew Mew (Known as "Renee Roberts" in the Mew Mew Power. He was born eight months before the arrival of Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry and the United StatesThe United States of America also referred to as the United States U. America ¹ or the States is a federal republic in central North America, stretching from the Atlantic in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west. It shares land borders with Canada in squadronSquadrons are groupings of aircraft, naval vessels or armoured fighting vehicles. An air force squadron typically consists of three or four flights,with 12 to 24 aircraft, depending on aircraft type and air force. An armoured squadron typically consists o of " black shipsJapanese history United States history The Black Ships (in Japanese, : kurofune) was the name given to four ships, the Mississippi Plymouth Saratoga and Susquehanna under the command of United States Commodore Matthew Perry that arrived in 1853 at Uraga H" in EdoThis article is about the former city name of Tokyo, for the Nigerian state, see Edo (state Edo ( Japanese: 江戸, literally: bay- door, " estuary"), once also spelled Yedo or Yeddo is the former name of the Japanese capital Tokyo. The pronunci BayTokyo Bay (; Tokyo-wan) is a bay in the southern Kanto region of Japan, surrounded by the Boso Peninsula ( Chiba Prefecture) and the Miura Peninsula ( Kanagawa Prefecture). The ports of Tokyo, Chiba, Kawasaki, Yokohama, and Yokosuka are all located on Tok and two years before the first of the so-called unequal treaties which the Tokugawa shogunate signed with Perry. Originally titled Sachi no miya (Prince Sachi), the future emperor spent most of his childhood at the Nakayama household in Kyoto, as it was customary to entrust the upbring of imperial children to prominent court families.
He was formally adopted by Asako Nyogo (later Empress Dowager Eisho), the principal consort of Emperor Komei, on 11 July 1860. He also received the personal name Mutsuhito, the rank of shinno (imperial prince, and thus a potential successor to the throne) and the title of Kotaishi ( Crown Prince) on the same day. Crown Prince Mutsuhito ascended to the throne on 3 February, 1867 at the age of fifteen, taking the title of Meiji, or “enlightened rule”.
On 2 September 1867, the Emperor Meiji married Lady Haruko ( 28 May 1849– 19 April 1914), the third daughter of Lord Ichijo Tadaka, sometime minister of the left (sadaijin)). Known posthumously as Empress Shoken, she was the first imperial consort to receive the title of kogo (literally, the emperor's wife, translated as Empress consort), in several hundred years. Although she was the first Japanese empress to play a public role, she bore no children. Emperor Meiji had fifteen children by five official ladies-in-waiting. Only five of his children, a prince born to Lady Naruko ( 1855– 1943), the daughter of Yanagiwara Mitsunaru, and four princesses born to Lady Sachiko ( 1867– 1947), the eldest daughter of Count Sono Motosachi, lived to adulthood. They were:
The Meiji Emperor was the symbolic leader of the Meiji Restoration, in which the Tokugawa shogunate was abolished by Imperial forces following the Boshin War. The Charter Oath, a five-point statement of the nature of the new government abolished feudalism and proclaimed a modern democratic government for Japan. Although a parliament was formed, it had no real power, and neither did Meiji. Power had passed from the Tokugawa into the hands of the daimyo who had led the Restoration. Japan was thus controlled by an oligarchy, which comprised the most powerful men of the military, political, and economic spheres. Meiji, if nothing else, showed greater political longevity than his recent predecessors, as he was the first Japanese monarch to remain on the throne past the age of 50 since the abdication of Emperor Ogimachi in 1586.
The Meiji Restoration is a source of pride for the Japanese, as it and the accompanying industrialization allowed Japan to become the preeminent power in the Pacific Ocean and a major player in the world within a generation. On the other hand, it is a source of shame, as it was the beginning of Japan's imperialism in the Pacific and prepared the nation to join the Rome- Berlin Axis in the 1930s.
Meiji's role in the Restoration is debatable. He certainly did not control Japan, but how much influence he wielded is unknown. It is unlikely it will ever be clear whether he supported the Sino-Japanese War ( 1894- 1895) and the Russo-Japanese War ( 1904- 1905). One of the few windows we have into Meiji's own feelings is his poetry, which seems to indicate a pacifist streak, or at least a man that wished war could be avoided.