The Meiji reformers also transformed several other feudal
institutions. A key focus of their attention was the army.
The Sat-Cho reformers had been struck by the weakness
of the Japanese armed forces in clashes with the Western
powers and embarked on a major program to create a
modern military force that could compete in a Darwinist
world governed by the survival of the fittest. The old
feudal army based on the traditional warrior class was
abolished, and an imperial army based on universal conscription
was formed in 1871. The army also played an
important role in Japanese society, becoming a route of
upward mobility for many rural males.
Education also underwent major changes. The Meiji
leaders recognized the need for universal education, including
instruction in modern technology. After a few
years of experimenting, they adopted the American
model of a three-tiered system culminating in a series of
universities and specialized institutes. In the meantime,
they sent bright students to study abroad and brought foreign
specialists to Japan to teach in their new schools.
Much of the content of the new system was Western in
inspiration. Yet its ethical foundations had a distinctly
Confucian orientation, emphasizing such values as filial
piety and loyalty to the emperor.
The Meiji reforms also had an impact on the role of
women in Japan. In the traditional era, women were constrained
by the “three obediences” imposed on their sex:
child to father, wife to husband, and widow to son. Husbands
could easily obtain a divorce, but wives could not
(one regulation allegedly decreed that a husband could
divorce his spouse if she drank too much tea or talked too
much). Marriages were arranged, and the average age of
marriage for females was sixteen years. Females did not
share inheritance rights with males, and few received any
education outside the family.
By the end of the nineteenth century, women were beginning
to play a crucial role in their nation’s effort to
modernize. Urged by their parents to augment the family
income, as well as by the government to fulfill their patriotic
duty, young girls were sent en masse to work in textile
mills. From 1894 to 1912, women represented 60 percent
of the Japanese labor force. Thanks to them, by 1914, Japan
was the world’s leading exporter of silk and dominated
cotton manufacturing. If it had not been for the export
revenues earned from textile exports, Japan might
not have been able to develop its heavy industry and military
prowess without an infusion of foreign capital.
Japanese women received few rewards, however, for
their contribution to the nation. In 1900, new regulations
prohibited women from joining political organizations
or attending public meetings. Beginning in 1905, a
group of independent-minded women petitioned the Japanese
parliament to rescind this restriction, but it was not
repealed until 1922.
World History
