Changes

The feudal domains (''[[han]]'') were [[abolition of the han|abolished]] in 1871, and the [[provinces of Japan|provinces]] reorganized into [[prefectures of Japan|prefectures]]; though the precise names and borders of the prefectures fluctuated for some time, by the late 1880s they had settled down into the 47 prefectures which remain today. This came after [[Choshu han|Chôshû]], [[Satsuma han|Satsuma]], [[Tosa han|Tosa]], and [[Kumamoto han|Kumamoto (Higo)]] petitioned the government in [[1869]]/1 to return their fiefs to the Emperor. As the remainder of the former ''daimyô'' gave back their lands to the Imperial institution, the central government also took control of most of the country's [[castles]]. Many were demolished at this time. Some were turned over to governmental or military purposes. Many former ''daimyô'' clans relocated to secondary residences, turning these into primary family mansions; the [[Hotta mansion]] which survives in [[Sakura (city)|Sakura]], [[Chiba prefecture]], and the Shimazu clan's Iso mansion at [[Sengan'en]] in [[Kagoshima]] are examples of this. Many [[daimyo yashiki|domain mansions]] in [[Edo]], [[Kyoto]], and [[Osaka]], though not seized by the government, were abandoned or sold. The existence of so many large compounds, now able to be turned over to other purposes, proved a boon to the development of these modern cities, as many were converted into public schools, government buildings, public parks, and the like.

The feudal domains (''[[han]]'') were [[abolition of the han|abolished]] in 1871, and the [[provinces of Japan|provinces]] reorganized into [[prefectures of Japan|prefectures]]; though the precise names and borders of the prefectures fluctuated for some time, by the late 1880s they had settled down into the 47 prefectures which remain today. This came after [[Choshu han|Chôshû]], [[Satsuma han|Satsuma]], [[Tosa han|Tosa]], and [[Kumamoto han|Kumamoto (Higo)]] petitioned the government in [[1869]]/1 to return their fiefs to the Emperor. As the remainder of the former ''daimyô'' gave back their lands to the Imperial institution, the central government also took control of most of the country's [[castles]]. Many were demolished at this time. Some were turned over to governmental or military purposes. Many former ''daimyô'' clans relocated to secondary residences, turning these into primary family mansions; the [[Hotta mansion]] which survives in [[Sakura (city)|Sakura]], [[Chiba prefecture]], and the Shimazu clan's Iso mansion at [[Sengan'en]] in [[Kagoshima]] are examples of this. Many [[daimyo yashiki|domain mansions]] in [[Edo]], [[Kyoto]], and [[Osaka]], though not seized by the government, were abandoned or sold. The existence of so many large compounds, now able to be turned over to other purposes, proved a boon to the development of these modern cities, as many were converted into public schools, government buildings, public parks, and the like.

A number of the chief government officials took part in a two-year [[Iwakura Mission|mission]] led by [[Iwakura Tomomi]] in [[1871]]-[[1873]], in which they toured the United States and a number of European countries, in order to learn about Western modes of government, industry, and education, among other fields, and to consider which to potentially implement in Japan.<ref>Schirokauer, et al, 171.</ref>

A number of the chief government officials took part in a two-year [[Iwakura Mission|mission]] led by [[Iwakura Tomomi]] in [[1871]]-[[1873]], in which they toured the United States and a number of European countries, in order to learn about Western modes of government, industry, and education, among other fields, and to consider which to potentially implement in Japan.<ref>Schirokauer, et al, 171.</ref>

History was also reconceptualized at this time, as Meiji discourse constructed a "national" history, one in which "Japan" had always existed as a single unit under an unbroken line of Emperors, and in which the Tokugawa period was repressive and backwards, and the Meiji period one of progress and modernity. In the course of writing this history, numerous terms were either coined anew, or appropriated from the Chinese classics, and applied retroactively, anachronistically, to the past. It was in these histories that the feudal domains of the Edo period were first called ''[[han]]'',<ref>Mark Ravina, ''Land and Lordship in Early Modern Japan'', Stanford University Press (1999), 28.</ref> that the emperors were for the first time invariably called ''tennô''<ref>In actual historical usage, the term ''tennô'' fell in and out of usage over the centuries.; Shillony, 69-71.</ref>, and that the term ''bakufu'' (lit. "tent government") was adopted as the chief, standard term for the three [[bakufu|shogunates]].<ref>Watanabe Hiroshi, Luke Roberts (trans.), "About Some Japanese Historical Terms," ''Sino-Japanese Studies'' 10:2 (1998), 32-35.</ref>  

History was also reconceptualized at this time, as Meiji discourse constructed a "national" history, one in which "Japan" had always existed as a single unit under an unbroken line of Emperors, and in which the Tokugawa period was repressive and backwards, and the Meiji period one of progress and modernity. In the course of writing this history, numerous terms were either coined anew, or appropriated from the Chinese classics, and applied retroactively, anachronistically, to the past. It was in these histories that the feudal domains of the Edo period were first called ''[[han]]'',<ref>Mark Ravina, ''Land and Lordship in Early Modern Japan'', Stanford University Press (1999), 28.</ref> that the emperors were for the first time invariably called ''tennô''<ref>In actual historical usage, the term ''tennô'' fell in and out of usage over the centuries.; Shillony, 69-71.</ref>, and that the term ''bakufu'' (lit. "tent government") was adopted as the chief, standard term for the three [[bakufu|shogunates]].<ref>Watanabe Hiroshi, Luke Roberts (trans.), "About Some Japanese Historical Terms," ''Sino-Japanese Studies'' 10:2 (1998), 32-35.</ref>  

==References==

==References==