Meiji Period

Meiji Period 1868-1912

Meiji Period, also known as Meiji restoration, was a turning point for Japan as it created equality amongst all Japanese people. The new Japanese government (after the failure of the Tokugawa government) successfully broke down the boundaries between the social classes, established human rights such as the religious freedom, and took all the land that belonged to the former feudal lords (daimyo) and returned it to the government. With an effort to expand to acquire Western skills in all fields of technology, legislation and science, Japan sought all aspects of western culture and education. While receiving the skills and knowledge, Japan also received its first European style constitution in 1889.

In order to carry out the expansion effort to turn Japan into an Industrial country, exchanges of educators and students within the Western and Eastern countries frequently took place. Foreign experts entered Japan to teach the Western culture, while some Japanese students migrated to the West to learn what the West had to offer. In 1880, 140 Japanese lived in the United States. Within ten years time, the number of Japanese living in the United States increased to 2038. This alarming figure triggered the United States government, which led to the implementation of the Immigration Act in 1924, targeting directly to Japanese Immigrants in the United States.

While seeking westernization of all parts of society and culture, Japanese brought back the "Western style methods in painting, print-making, carving and architecture made their way." Just like the Bauhaus School in the United States, art schools were being founded in Japan and teachers from countries like Italy were brought in. Art movements were brought into Japan and modified according to the cultural preferences. Prior to the Meiji era, Japanese paintings called Ukiyo-e were made by the techniques of woodblock printing, which mainly involved the development of the artists in designing, engraving, and printing their own works. Woodblock paintings were the earliest attempt to create commercial graphics to the mass audience. Katsushinka Hokusai's work, 'Kisoji no oku Amida ga taki' (1832), is featured here as a sample of the Ukiyo-e painting.

With the western influences, Shin-hanga and Sosaku-hanga were developed as the new art movements that combined the traditional Japanese skills with the new Western style. Shin-hanga concentrated on the lighting of traditional subjects like beautiful women, actors, and landscapes, very much inspired by the European Impressionism. Sosaku-hanga, also known as creative art, adopted the Western style of freedom and creativity, allowing them to craft work that is similar to abstract art. Shin-hanga and Sosaku-hanga artists also successfully transformed a cheap commercial woodblock printing product to an expensive product of art enthusiasts overseas.

As for drama and literature, San'Yutei Encho was a comic oral storyteller in the Meiji era. Standard literary language was of fundamental importance and was "put into practice with linguistic theories formulated by intellectuals of the time." Encho was a leading figure for the development of modern literature in the Meiji era.

While commercialized art works were transported overseas and literatures were being standardized, Japan revitalized its religious beliefs internally. "Shinto was revived as the dominant religion, largely to re-establish the cult of the emperor, while Buddhism was suppressed. " This was known as State Shinto, which was a period of extreme nationalism where