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| 1868–1912 |
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| THE MEIJI PERIOD. The policy of antiforeignism of the Loyalist Party was dropped as soon as it came to power, as Japan entered a reform period that involved great borrowing from the West, comparable only to the much earlier period of borrowing from China. The remnants of military rule and feudalism were systematically dismantled, a strong centralized bureaucratic government fashioned along Western lines was created under the leadership of the Meiji emperor, and Japan became a modern world power. Rapid industrialization on Western models took place, and, as a consequence, the wealth and population of the land multiplied. In the fields of science, education, philosophy, and even art and literature, great transformations were wrought by the impact of Western civilization, and for a few decades many Japanese traits and institutions were somewhat discredited, if not completely superseded. Shinto was at first declared the state religion; Buddhist elements were to be purged from it, and a Department of Shinto was created, but the department was abolished (1872) in the face of widespread opposition. | 1 |
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| 1869, March |
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Kido K in (1833–77) and  kubo Toshimichi convinced the daimyos of Satsuma, Chsh , Tosa, and Hizen to offer their lands to the emperor as a step toward the public abolition of feudalism. Others followed this example. | 2 |
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| May |
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| The bakufu's navy surrendered to the new government, ending all resistance. | 3 |
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| July |
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| Daimyos were appointed as governors of their former estates with one-tenth their former revenue. Representatives of the 276 fiefs, appointed by their lords, met in an assembly (Kgisho); this body lacked legislative power, was suspended in 1870, and abolished in 1873. | 4 |
| The Yasukuni Shrine was established in 1869 as a memorial to those who had died fighting for the Restoration. | 5 |
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