Symbol of the Meiji Restoration, the emperor who pushed Japan into the modern age
The symbolic sovereign of Japan’s modern turning point. During his reign Japan overthrew the Tokugawa shogunate that had ruled for over two centuries, restored imperial rule, and in his name drove the sweeping "Meiji Restoration": abolishing the domains, promoting industry, enriching the country and strengthening the army, promulgating a constitution, and building a modern military and industry. In a few decades Japan leapt from a closed feudal island nation to a modern power able to stand with — and even defeat — Russia. It is one of the most successful and swiftest cases of modernization in the non-Western world. His own power was limited, yet he became the banner of a nation’s total transformation.
Before the Meiji Restoration Japan was still under the shogunate, its samurai wearing swords; a few short decades after, it had railways, factories, a modern navy, and a constitution, and won the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese wars in turn. An ancient feudal country completed industrialization and modernization at astonishing speed. "Meiji Restoration" thus became the most-cited success story for how a latecomer nation can catch up with the modern world.
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