Meiji Revolution in Japan. Essay "meiji reforms in japan"
Japan has experienced a truly dramatic change: from a feudal island country located at the very edge of the world, it has become a powerful state and a full-fledged player on the imperialist map of the world. It was the Meiji era, named after the motto of the reign of Emperor Mutsuhito, who himself went down in history as Emperor Meiji. the site tells about the era of the reign of this outstanding leader.
The future monarch-reformer was born on November 3, 1852 at the Imperial Palace in Kyoto. Mutsuhito was the son of Emperor Komei and his concubine Yoshiko. Although she was not the official wife of the emperor, Mutsuhito was considered a prince under Japanese law, and since the rest of the Komei children died in early childhood, Mutsuhito was eventually the only contender for the Chrysanthemum Throne.
Mutsuhito was the only contender for the Chrysanthemum Throne
Emperor Meiji was the symbolic leader of the Meiji Restoration, a revolution that overthrew the government of the Tokugawa shogunate, which had ruled Japan for 250 years. After the revolution, a stormy process of the destruction of feudalism and the construction of modern society. A parliament was organized, although it did not have real power. The main levers of power were concentrated in the hands of those daimyo who were the leaders of the Meiji revolution. Japan was thus ruled by an oligarchy that included major military, political and economic figures.
Young emperor Mutsuhito (Meiji) in traditional dress, 1872
After the Restoration, the emperor left Kyoto and moved to the new capital, Tokyo. Political power passed from the hands of the Tokugawa shogunate to a small group of nobles and former samurai.
The new government dreamed of a democratic Japan of universal equality
The new Japan decisively began to catch up with the West in economic and military terms. Large-scale reforms took place throughout the country. The new government dreamed of making Japan a democratic country of universal equality. The boundaries between social classes created by the Tokugawa shogunate were blurred. The most dissatisfied with this reform were the samurai, because they had lost all their privileges. Guarantees of human rights were also proclaimed, for example, in 1873 freedom of religion was declared.
The education system was reformed first according to the French and then according to the German model. Mandatory elementary education. After approximately 20–30 years of intensive “Westernization” in programs educational institutions emphasis was placed on the study and veneration of Confucianism and Shintoism (including the cult of the emperor).
It was extremely important for Japan to equalize militarily with the imperialist states. After all, like other Asian countries, Japan was forced to sign unfavorable agreements by force. Conscription was introduced, the land army was reorganized along the lines of the Prussian troops, and the navy was reorganized along the lines of the British Navy.
In order to accelerate the transformation of Japan from an agricultural country to an industrial one, some of the students went to the West to study sciences and languages, and foreign teachers were invited to teach the rest. Enormous funds were invested in the development of transport and communications. The government supported the development of business and industry, especially the zaibatsu monopolies, the Japanese oligarchies.
Japan received its first constitution in 1889
Japan received its first constitution in 1889. A parliament appeared, but the emperor retained his independence: he was at the head of the army, navy, executive and legislative powers. However, the main political power remained in the hands of the Genro members - Emperor Meiji agreed with most of their actions. Political parties have not yet had sufficient influence, primarily due to constant internal strife.
Emperor Meiji was supposed to serve as an example for his subjects, with all his appearance he showed that reforms were being carried out in the country. To this end, it was necessary to decisively change its appearance. If he used to wear traditional clothes and wore a traditional hairstyle, blackened his teeth and plucked his eyebrows, then from 1873 he had to abandon the customs of his ancestors. Meiji cut his hair, grew a mustache and a beard, dressed in a European-style military uniform. Following him, all the officials changed into European clothes.
The subjects had no right to look at Meiji's father, Emperor Komei. Images of emperors were also taboo. Meiji, on the other hand, was a model already visible to the subjects. He traveled around the country, gave audiences, attended various public events. His funeral also turned into a ceremony attended by millions of Japanese people. The main part of the ceremony was held on the parade ground in Tokyo's Aoyama district, where during his lifetime Meiji used to review the troops. In accordance with Meiji's wishes, he was buried near Kyoto. Under the direct influence of the Russian symbolic experience in Japan, the concept of "two capitals" (St. Petersburg and Moscow) was adopted. Administrative functions were completely performed by Tokyo, but a significant part of the ceremonial functions were transferred to Kyoto. This city was supposed to demonstrate the antiquity of Japanese culture. Previously, only the closest people took part in the funeral of the emperor; the publication of a medical bulletin, as was the case with Meiji, was out of the question. Covering up death for days or even weeks was common. Now the "body" of the emperor became visible not only during his lifetime, but also after death.
In January 1868, political power in the country passed to Emperor Mutsuhito, whose reign motto was the concept of "Meiji" ("Light Rule") (since 1868, Japan introduced the chronology according to the mottos of the reign of emperors).
In the 1870s-1880s, the Japanese government began to modernize all spheres of socio-economic and political life. Western states serve as role models. The reforms were ideologically justified as a "restoration" of the emperor's power and a return to native Japanese values.
As a result of the Meiji Renewal, Japan became a westernized state capable of competing with Western powers. The administrative-territorial reform finally abolished the principalities and introduced the prefectural division of the modern model. As part of the agrarian reform, a significant part of the land was transferred to private hands. The state apparatus was reformed along Western lines; in 1885 a government headed by a prime minister was formed. Significant transformations have affected the area of financial and credit relations, education, the army, transport infrastructure and other areas.
In 1889, Japan's first constitution was adopted, which was the logical outcome of the ongoing reforms. Despite the formal separation of the three branches of government, the recognition of the rights and freedoms of citizens, the constitution consolidated the virtually unlimited power of the emperor ("living god"). In practice, the country was ruled by a group of advisers to the emperor genro, which until the mid-1920s concentrated all the levers of power in their hands.
From the mid-1880s, the formation political parties, in 1890, for the first time, general elections were held for the lower house of parliament.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, expansionist sentiments began to grow actively in Japan. First between Japan and China, later between Japan and Russia, a rivalry begins to establish control over Manchuria and the Korean Peninsula. During the successful war with China (1894-1895) and with Russia (1904-1905), Japanese expansion to the continent is carried out. In November 1905, Japan establishes a protectorate over Korea. In August 1910, Korea was completely annexed and turned into a colony. Expansion into China was initially of an economic nature.
The main result of the Meiji period was the emergence of Japan from international isolation and its transformation into a world colonial power. At the same time, the widespread borrowing of Western achievements and active industrial development did not destroy the national identity of Japan.
In 1868, an event occurred in Japan that dramatically changed the course of historical development this country. For the first time since the twelfth century imperial power was restored. Not just the Tokugawa shogunate, which began in 1603, ended. The entire system of the shogunate, which had existed in Japan for almost seven hundred years, collapsed.
Transformations in Japan
The new government embarked on the path of reforms and transformations that unrecognizably changed the face of Japan. From a backward medieval country, it has turned into a modern power on Far East. This truly revolutionary event took place during the lifetime of one generation, before the eyes of the whole astonished world. The rapid breakthrough of Japan is still of interest not only to scientists, but also to simply inquisitive people.
From the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, 1823-1829. Katsushik on Hokusai (1760-1849). It was this series of works that made the artist famous, and Mount Fuji became a symbol of Japan.
Crisis of the Tokugawa shogunate
In the first half of the XIX century. many European countries embarked on the path of industrial development. Japan, by contrast, remained a backward feudal country. supreme power was still in the hands of military rulers - shoguns from the Tokugawa princely family. Imperial family was under their control and did not take part in the government. The policy of "closing" the country, or isolation from the outside world, continued. European ships have long plowed the seas and oceans, sailing to the most remote corners of the Earth. The Japanese did not have their own fleet and had only small fishing boats.
The economic situation of the country with its 30 million population was very difficult. The area of cultivated land did not expand, remaining the same as it was in early XVIII V. The harvest of rice, the staple food, did not increase. The birth rate exceeded the death rate by only one percent per year. The crop failure of the 1930s turned out to be a terrible tragedy for the Japanese. 19th century
About 1 million people died as a result of the famine. It is not surprising that peasant and urban uprisings literally shook Tokugawa Japan. All of them in the first half of the XIX century. about one thousand happened. The masses of the people in their own way, in a plebeian way, sought justice and a better life. Representatives of the samurai class also went bankrupt, especially those who received scanty rations of rice from the shogun and princes for military service. Finding no use for themselves, the samurai roamed the country in search of a livelihood.
At the same time, they often led the performances of the peasant and urban poor. Where, in the history of what other country can you find something like this?
Formation of anti-Shogun opposition
Under these conditions, the princes, the highest representatives of the samurai class, began to show their hostility to the shogun and sympathy for the emperor more and more. Some of them no longer took into account the harsh decrees of the shoguns about the "closure" of the country and allowed themselves what they could not afford before. For example, secretly from the government, several small ships were built according to the European model, as well as enterprises for the production of glass and iron. Previously, such violations of the decree on self-isolation were punishable by death. Now they were getting away with it, because the shoguns had lost their former influence and power. Many samurai, including some princes, increasingly thought about the restoration of imperial power and reforms along the European lines. The impetus for their performance was the forcible "discovery" of Japan by the Western powers in the 1950s. 19th century
Forced "opening" of Japan and its consequences
In the middle of the XIX century. The capitalist powers of the West sharply increased their pressure on Japan. They persistently sought to end the self-isolation of this country, which still refused to contact foreign powers. The United States of America and Russia have been especially active in this pursuit.
The Americans were the first to impose unequal treaties on Japan under the threat of force: the first in 1854 and the second in 1858. England, Holland, France and Russia immediately followed suit. Foreigners received the right to unlimited trade, low customs duties were established on their goods.
Europeans actively exported from Japan copper and tea, cotton and rice, porcelain, silk fabrics and raw silk, which was not enough even for domestic consumption. The government tried to restrict the export of valuable raw materials, but to no avail.
Overthrow of the shogunate
The patriotic samurai were unhappy with the shogun and foreigners. Putting forward the slogan of the restoration of imperial power, they united around the 15-year-old Emperor Mutsuhito. On the night of January 2-3, 1868, in the history of Japan, a major event- A decree was announced on the "restoration" (restoration) of imperial power, the abolition of the shogunate and the establishment of a new government. The shogun did not obey, and the country broke out Civil War. In the summer of 1869, the shogun pleaded defeated. The military-feudal system of the shogunate ceased to exist.
The restoration of the emperor's power went down in history as the Meiji Restoration. Meiji means "enlightened rule" in Japanese. (Remember where you've heard of him before.) That's the name given to the reign of Emperor Mutsuhito (1868-1912). These events are sometimes referred to as the Meiji Revolution.
Mutsuhito (1852-1912) - the first emperor of Japan after the overthrow of the Tokugawa shogunate. After his death, he became known as Emperor Meiji
Reforms 1868–1873
The overthrow of the shogunate was truly a revolutionary event. Reforms 1868-1873 marked the beginning of the transformation of Japan from a feudal country to a capitalist country.
The division of the country into principalities was abolished. Instead of them, new territorial-administrative units were created - prefectures, subordinate to the imperial government. It was announced the liquidation of the estates and the equality of all before the law. The privileges of the nobility - samurai were canceled and marriages between persons of different classes were allowed. Free trade and freedom of movement throughout the country were introduced. Peasants without restrictions could cultivate any crops and engage in trade. All taxes in kind were replaced by cash taxes.
Agrarian reform was an important transformation. It established private ownership of land with the right to purchase and sell and mortgage it. Most of the peasants received small plots of land without redemption payments. However, the high tax on land led to the rapid ruin of the small and middle peasantry. By the end of the XIX century. about 70% of the peasants lost their land and became tenants. From the agrarian reform, the richest villagers, urban merchants and usurers, who turned into landowners, benefited the most from the agrarian reform.
had huge implications for Japan. military reform. The samurai militias were transformed into a regular army, which was subordinate to the imperial government and was recruited on the basis of a general conscription. The samurai played a leading role in the army. Only they had the right to be appointed to officer positions. The code of honor of the samurai - bushido (the way of the warrior) was put at the basis of the education of soldiers and officers. All this gave the Japanese army a particularly warlike and aggressive character.
Reforms 1868-1873 were moderate and bourgeois in character. Their significance lay in the fact that they opened the way for the capitalist development of Japan.
Japanese politeness
The Japanese, even my friends, do not say - no, their traditions do not allow it - and when it is necessary to say - no, they do not understand and do not hear me. (Boris Pilnyak, 1927)
In the West, people either tell you the truth or they lie. The Japanese, on the other hand, almost never lie, but it never occurs to them to tell you the truth. (Bob Dunham, 1964)
One of the main features of the Japanese national character is politeness. Rules of polite behavior have developed in distant medieval times. Their violation has always been considered the most serious crime in Japan. Traces of this ancient tradition are still preserved in the behavior of the Japanese.
The captain of the Russian fleet V. M. Golovnin, who was a prisoner of the Japanese in 1811-1813, noted in his Notes:
“In getting around, the Japanese of all fortunes are extremely courteous: the courtesy with which they treat each other shows the true enlightenment of this people. We lived with the Japanese, who were not of the best condition, but never saw them quarreling or quarreling among themselves. Arguing passionately is revered by the Japanese for great indecency and rudeness; they always offer their opinions in a courteous manner with many apologies and with signs of incredulity in their own judgments, and they never openly make objections to anything, but always in a blunt manner and for the most part by examples and comparisons.
Indeed, in a conversation, the Japanese in every possible way bypass or smooth out sharp corners, avoid direct statements that can hurt someone's pride. They do not accept excessive frankness, a straightforward manner of communication. In speech, they strive to belittle themselves, and exalt the interlocutor. Often they use expressions that can be interpreted as both "yes" and "no". Politeness of speech is valued above its availability. After all, it is not so much truthfulness that is important, but prudence and courtesy. Therefore, the means of communication often becomes silence, which is more eloquent than words. The Japanese especially avoid the use of the words “no”, “I can’t”, “I don’t know”. Even refusing a second cup of tea, the guest instead of "no, thanks" uses an expression denoting: "I'm already so pleased." A great connoisseur of Japan, journalist Vsevolod Ovchinnikov, noted in his book "The Sakura Branch": "Politeness of the Japanese is like a straitjacket that restricts verbal communication between people."
First Russian Consul in Japan
One of the founders of Russian Japanese studies is our countryman Joseph Antonovich Goshkevich (1814-1872). He was born in the Minsk region in the family of a priest. In 1839 he graduated from the St. Petersburg Theological Academy and was sent as part of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission to Beijing. There he studied Chinese culture, Chinese, Korean and Japanese And. With his participation, the Russian-Japanese treaty of 1855 was concluded. In 1858, I. A. Goshkevich was appointed Russian consul to Japan. He became the first foreigner to be allowed to visit the hinterland of Japan and the shogun's court in Edo (today's Tokyo). In 1865, Goshkevich returned to his homeland with his family and lived in the Mali estate (now the Ostrovets region), where he continued to study philology. He published the first in Russia "Japanese-Russian Dictionary", awarded the prize of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. A bay in North Korea (Josanman) is named after him.
References:
V. S. Koshelev, I. V. Orzhehovsky, V. I. Sinitsa / The World History New time XIX - early. XX century., 1998.
Main development trends. The incompleteness of the revolution of 1868 complicated the formation of bourgeois culture. Foreign influences burst into the open country after two hundred years of seclusion. The original culture of the urban estates, which developed in the depths of the feudal formation, along with the influence of the fading culture of the feudal class, was strongly influenced by the developed bourgeois culture of Europe and America.
Soon after the events of 1868, the new government began to implement a policy of extensive borrowing of European and American culture, science and technology, which led to the revival of the economy, the development of industry, transport and communications, at the same time, the publication of periodicals began (in the years preceding revolution, a printing house was opened in Nagasaki, using the experience of European typesetting technology). The following newspapers became widely known: the semi-official "Tokyo Niti-Niti", the liberal "Yomiuri"; at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the workers' and socialist press appeared. In 1903, Heimin Shimbun was published in Tokyo by socialists Kotoku Shusui and Sakai Toshihiko.
Along with the technical sciences, the humanities also developed. Historical science experienced, on the one hand, the influence of advanced Western science, on the other hand, the patronage of the new government, which was interested in the "historical justification" of the "legality" of both imperial power and Japan's claims to Korea and other territories bordering it. Evidence of this should have been references to various ancient sources. In 1869, the government created a special department that collects chronicles, annals, historical documents, in 1898 publication began. historical materials. The first were the publications of two series of sources: "Materials on the History of Japan" and "Collection of Ancient Japanese Historical Documents". Significant progress was noted at this time in the development of archeology. Public interest in the antiquity of the country, in its prehistoric culture, made it possible to open in 1884 the Anthropological Society, in 1895 - the Archaeological Society. However, the general development of history and, as part of it, archaeological science was hampered by the need to recognize the uniqueness of the ancient period - the special, divine origin of the emperor, the exclusive mission of the Japanese people, the reliability of the myths included in the first written monuments of the Kojiki and Nihongi (VIII century) as the beginning of the actual history of the nation. Scientific criticism of such an interpretation of history was not allowed, scientists trying to reconstruct true story of their people were subjected to repression.
In seeking the abolition of unequal treaties, the Japanese government tried to give foreigners the impression of actively accepting everything Western, introducing European customs and practices in the country. In 1872, instead of the lunar calendar, a pan-European one was introduced. In the same year, the European dress was introduced as ceremonial dress, and a few years later it became everyday wear for officials. Women's European dress and European hairstyle came into fashion. In the Rokumeikan club - the capital's center of "westernization" - lavish balls were held in the Western style for representatives of the upper strata.
However, the government policy of "Westernization" (and in fact - Europeanization), which assumed mostly half-hearted reforms - borrowing scientific, primarily technical achievements for the modernization of the army and navy, caused dissatisfaction with the progressive-minded nobility and bourgeoisie. The question of charity or destructiveness of the West has been the subject of many years of discussion in the press. Active adherents of the West (Minister of Education Mori Arinori) were ready to abandon everything national, including the language, while those who shared opposite views rejected everything coming from abroad. A group that supports government reforms put forward the need for a compromise - "Japanese spirit, European knowledge." Young Japanese were sent to Western countries, primarily to Germany, England, France and Italy, for training. They studied here the natural and human sciences, art, politics, economics, actively joined the rich European culture. Eagerly absorbing knowledge, almost all of them worked in several fields of science, tried themselves in different types art.
The formation and development of the bourgeois culture of the post-Meiji period was significantly influenced by the confrontation of two trends - Europeanization and the desire to preserve national identity. Opposition to the governmental planting of everything Western, to the rejection of national traditions, had positive side- Increasing interest in national heritage. But at the same time, the excessive exaggeration of this interest inevitably led to nationalism and chauvinism. However, none of these tendencies could become the main one in the public life of the country.
By the mid-1990s, the discussion of the problems of Europeanization policy began to lose political urgency in the public life of the country. This was due to a decrease in general liberal sentiments, with the transition of the opposition to the full support of the expansionist foreign policy and the reactionary domestic policy government. At the same time, the fragile organizations of the working class could not lead the struggle for democratic, progressive social development. All this is reflected in the comparative underdevelopment democratic trend in Japanese culture of this time.
Literature. At the end of the XIX century. in Japanese literature, the direction of the so-called political novel is taking shape. This genre provided an opportunity for progressive journalists and politicians to popularize cutting-edge ideas, to influence young people.
There has been a major change in the nature of translated literature. For the first time in 1888, a genuine artistic (and not just a transcription of the text) translation of a part of the “Notes of a Hunter” (the story “Date”) by I. S. Turgenev appeared. The translation was done by Ftabetei Hasegawa. It marked the beginning of the publication in Japan of the works of Russian writers: Pushkin, Turgenev, Goncharov, Dostoevsky, L. Tolstoy, Chekhov, Gogol, Gorky, which won great interest and appreciation from Japanese readers.
Acquaintance with Western literature, with its various trends, had a great influence on the young Japanese intelligentsia, who sought to fully join European culture. A wide literary renewal began, the creation of new trends and genres. The romantic upsurge and ideals of the progressive Japanese intelligentsia in the post-revolutionary years were reflected in the emergence of a romantic trend in Japanese literature in the 1990s. Its prominent representative was Ishikawa Takuboku (1886-1912), who published several poetry collections in the spirit of this trend. However, from 1907-1908. begins his transition to the position of realistic poetry. His extensive literary heritage included short stories and critical articles. The main achievement of Ishikawa is the reconstruction of the traditional form of the "tank". The poet introduced into the structure of a short verse social problems and vocabulary that were not characteristic of him, new artistic images. Deeply democratic in spirit, Ishikawa's poetry breathed new life into traditional poetic form.
Renewal in poetry was also associated with the name of Kitamura Tokoku (1868-1894), a brilliant publicist who published the first anti-war magazine in Japan, Mir (1892). Kitamura Tokoku tried to develop new poetic forms. Shimazaki Toson (1872-1943), Japan's greatest writer, is known for his commitment to romanticism at an early stage of his career. In the 90s he acted as a lyric poet, creator new form free verse. However, since the beginning of the 20th century he becomes one of the most prominent representatives of the realistic novel. His most famous works raise acute social problems: the novel "The Broken Covenant" is dedicated to the fate of Japanese pariahs - this one; "Spring" tells about the collapse of the illusions of the younger generation; "Family" gives a picture of the death of the family under capitalism.
Since late XIX V. in Japanese literature, the tendencies of a realistic depiction of social life are becoming more and more clear. This was facilitated by the influence of European literature and Russian critical realism. In the first decades of the XX century. In Japanese literature, two trends are emerging: naturalistic and realistic, the boundary between which is to a certain extent conditional. A distinctive feature of the first is not so much the elements of naturalism (although they exist), but the principle of strict adherence to the truth of life, the desire to show the phenomenon in all its harsh unvarnished. Japanese literary scholars consider major Japanese writers to be representatives of the naturalistic trend: Kunikida Doppo (1881 -1908) - "Fate", "Special Issue", and Tayama Katai (1871 -1930) - "Life", "Kinship". In reality, the works of these writers (especially Kunikida Doppo), reflecting the conflict of the individual with the social environment, are closer in their acute social themes to the second direction - the realistic novel.
Ftabetei Hasegawa, the first translator of Turgenev and propagandist of Belinsky's ideas, is considered the founder of the realistic novel. He was the initiator of the movement for the creation of a new, more democratic literary language accessible to the general public. His novels criticize the elite that came to power after the revolution and the social orders it established.
For the first time in Japanese literature, a "little man" appeared in the writer's field of vision - a petty official, a city dweller (the novel "Floating Cloud"). The works of Ftabetei Hasegawa reflect the strong influence of Russian literature. His passive, suffering and helpless heroes discover new theme in Japanese literature - the theme of merciless criticism of the social system through showing the destinies broken by it. Unlike Russian literature, which created images of active fighters, Ftabetei and his followers do not go beyond simple rejection, denial of the world around them - they are far from the ideas of a revolutionary reorganization of society.
The largest writer of this time - Tokutomi Roka (1868-1927) created works on which more than one generation of his compatriots was brought up. He was the first to translate the works of Leo Tolstoy into Japanese. Thanks to him, not only large-scale social problems were raised in Japanese literature, but also for the first time the theme of a deep study of the inner world of a person was revealed. Literary studies of the work of Leo Tolstoy, various essays, stories, novels - "Black Current", showing a negative attitude towards the political and social structure of society, "Better not to live", giving criticism of family foundations - everything that Tokutomi Roka wrote is marked by deep penetration into the essence of the phenomena he depicts.
A special place in Japanese literature is occupied by Natsume Soseki (1867-1916), a humanist writer who wrote sixteen novels in just eleven creative years, many novels and short stories, and essays that made up an entire era in the history of Japanese literature. Soseki's works show Japan in the 20th century, a difficult post-reform period, when various sections of the population, including the intelligentsia, were freed from idyllic ideas about the progressive role of capitalism and beneficial social changes supposedly natural for it. in the society of a woman, the novels “Then”, “Gate”, “Traveler” are devoted. A sharp satire on the writer's contemporary society is presented by the novel "Your Obedient Servant the Cat".
In the beginning. 20th century new literary trends appeared - “neo-romanticism”, which focuses on emotionality as a factor in revealing reality (Nagai Kafu), “neorealism” (perception of the world through a system of intellectual and psychological values (Akutagawa Ryunosuke).
Theater. The Europeanization policy played a significant role in the fate of the Japanese people. With the fall of the shogunate, the privileged position of the Noo theater changed. Without the support of the bakufu, the theater fell into disrepair. The troupe broke up, the actors were engaged in activities that had nothing to do with playing on stage in order to somehow feed themselves. Selling theater props musical instruments, the craftsmanship, which had centuries-old traditions, was lost. The same situation was typical for the Kabuki theater, although, created by the urban class, it was supposed to meet the needs of bourgeois Japan more in terms of themes and less conventionality. The policy of borrowing in theatrical culture led to the creation of buildings for performances, equipped according to the European model, designed to accommodate spectators in the hall on chairs, and not on flat cushions - zabutons, as was the case before.
In 1875, the European-style theater "Simpudza" was opened, in whose repertoire there were historical and everyday dramas - sevamono, created by the talented playwright of that time, Kawatashi Makuami. Unlike the previous "petty-bourgeois" dramas, they were not a detailed cast of modernity, but tried to reflect the emergence of a whole knot of contradictions in society - a natural consequence of the country's entry into the capitalist path of development, the interaction of two cultures opposite in spirit - East and West. Even Kabuki during this period, to win the audience, puts on plays of topical modern themes.
However, the European organization of the performance demanded appropriate European dramaturgy, performing techniques and props. The formation and activity of the theater using European drama is associated with the name of Tsubouchi Shoyo (1859-1935). At first he made free translations of Shakespeare's plays for joruri productions, later he made first-class translations of all Shakespeare's plays, and also tried to create a theoretical program for the transformation of the theater in accordance with the requirements of the time.
The most famous groups that worked at that time were Simpa, which staged modern plays and performances in the style of imitation of Kabuki, as well as the Free Theater, which built its repertoire exclusively on modern Western dramaturgy.
Art and architecture. In the first years after the revolution of 1868 art experienced a period of active interest in everything Western, characteristic of the entire national culture. Works of Japanese painting and applied crafts, works of national jewelers were not in demand among buyers.
However, in the 1980s, the situation changed - against the backdrop of a general economic recovery, interest in the national artistic heritage arose. A movement emerged to renew Japanese national art. In 1888, the Tokyo Art College was established, where artists were trained and prepared to work in the traditions of the national school, specializing in painting, lacquer carving, and metal art. Gradually, attention is being restored to the traditional types of national art: to the dances of the Noo theater, ancient palace music, the tea ceremony, bonsai (growing in special conditions dwarf trees), etc.
In the 1990s, a trend emerged for the development of Japanese classical art using the methods of Western schools. The initiative in this movement belonged to well-known artists - Yokoyama Taikan, Hashimoto Masakuni and others. A department of Western painting was opened at the Tokyo Art School, artists from Italy, England and other European countries were invited.
Applied art began to develop in a somewhat different way. Directly connected with everyday life, it experienced the most intense Western influence, especially in the first decades after the revolution, new art crafts appeared with Western techniques, methods of aesthetic design.
However, the traditional applied arts of Japan received an unexpected impetus for development during these years in the form of an ever-increasing attention in the West to the artistic culture of the country. The products of the Kyoto craftsmen who make nishiki brocade, ceramics and porcelain, lacquer and enamels, and decorative metalwork using only traditional techniques have gained wide popularity and distribution in the West.
In the last decades of the 19th century, during the period of the accelerated development of capitalism, significant changes took place in the Japanese city - in the formation of its physical structure and architectural appearance.
Unlike the Middle Ages, centralization political power led to the centralization of the system of cities and their transformation into key points for the development of the national economy. Of the 46 capitals of the former provinces, 34 became prefectural centers.
The castle grounds and the surrounding area now became the seat of prefectural and city official offices, institutes, colleges, "headquarters" of the business world. The rest of the urban development until about the beginning of the 30s of the XX century. kept intact the national residential construction of wooden two-story houses) and the intricate network of streets.
Most of the castle towns, even during the years of the so-called industrial revolution (80s XIX years c.), when an active breakdown of the structure of the traditional city begins, it keeps the central part of the building unchanged for a long time - industrial enterprises only in the 90s moved from the outskirts of the city to its middle part. The development of industry and the growing concentration of the working class necessitated the creation of non-traditional structures - factory buildings, residences of firms, etc. They were designed by foreigners. Multi-storey construction using stone and brickwork did not take into account the natural and climatic conditions of Japan
In 1872, after a fire that destroyed most of the center of the capital, the reconstruction of Ginza, the leading shopping district of the city, began. However, the rebuilding of the city center did not take place. The center, called "Brick Ginza", consisted of two lines of five-six-story brick houses on the sides of the main street of the district. Behind them, the quarters of wooden two-story buildings of the feudal city still stretched.
Famous Western architects built in Japan during these years - the Frenchman Bouanville, the British Condor and Waters, the American Bridgens, representatives of the German school. The appearance of the city, and above all the capital, acquired the features of eclecticism, a bizarre mixture of styles. The absence of a unified plan for urban transformations led to the fact that the capitalist city of Japan took shape according to the type of introduction of industrial, civil (bourgeois mansions) and public construction objects into the old feudal buildings. Large buildings of these years include the buildings of the Imperial University of Tokyo (Waters, 1882), the buildings of the Parliament and the Ministry of Justice (1887). Japanese architects who were educated in Europe, Tatsuno Kingo, Katayama Tokuma, Sone Tatsuzo and others, also began to build. Significant works of Tatsuno Kingo are the buildings of the Japanese Bank and Tokyo Station.
After the earthquake of 1901, Japanese and Western architects began to develop the principles of anti-seismic construction, suggesting the use of reinforced concrete structures with a steel frame. Buildings of this type include the Imperial Hotel, built in the center of the capital by the American architect F. Wright. The building withstood the strongest earthquake of 1923 and even kept the water supply and electric lighting systems working. During these years, Japanese architects begin to use new European technology and non-traditional materials in national character buildings - theaters, museums, Buddhist and Shinto temples.
The complex, often contradictory and multifaceted process of establishing wide contacts between the centuries-old original culture of Japan and the advanced bourgeois culture of Western countries had a beneficial effect on its further development.
