Tradition as justification for change

THE MEIJI RESTORATION in 1868 marked the end of 250 years of Tokugawa rule. The changes that took place in Japan in the following years were so profound that some scholars have preferred the term ‘revolution’ to characterise the events of 1868. ¹ However, the motto of the leaders of the Meiji Restoration was fukko (restoration, revival). They justified the overthrow of the Tokugawa Bakufu by calling for a return to Imperial government. To examine the question of legitimation as distinct from motives for the Meiji Restoration may contribute to our understanding of it and enable us to compare different types of legitimation in Japanese history and in Japan and other countries. For example, in Europe the general line of argument changes in the course of the seventeenth century from a return to a supposed old order to a breakthrough to a new order. ²