Tokyo

Tokyo, formerly Edo, was the seat of the Tokugawa shogunate and the focal point of Japan’s transition from feudal rule to a centralized modern state. The city’s shift from shogunal capital to the center of imperial government accompanied reforms that dismantled feudal arrangements and helped Japan become the first Asian country to adopt a written constitution.

Shogunal Capital

In the mid-nineteenth century, Edo was the seat of a political order dominated by the Tokugawa family. The shogun ruled from the city, controlled foreign trade, and maintained restrictions on contact with the outside world. Japan’s feudal lords governed and taxed their own domains, while strict occupational categories, limits on trade, and high taxes on farmers shaped the wider society.

The Restoration and Civil War

In autumn 1867, Ōkubo Toshimichi traveled from Edo to Yamaguchi, where he met leaders of the Chōshū domain. He proposed joining forces to march on Edo and overthrow the shogun. With the leaders of Satsuma, Tosa, and Aki also committed, the alliance that came to be known as the Satcho Alliance was formed. Its plan advanced as the shogun Yoshinobu agreed to resign.

The Meiji Restoration was declared on January 3, 1868. Satsuma and Chōshū forces occupied Edo and the imperial capital, Kyōto, but feared that the Tokugawa family would try to restore the shogunate. Ōkubo pressed for the Tokugawas to be permanently defeated and persuaded the emperor to abolish their domain and confiscate its lands. When Yoshinobu attacked Satsuma and Chōshū forces on January 27, civil war began; it lasted until the Tokugawas were defeated that summer.

From Edo to Tokyo

After the Restoration, the new government replaced the feudal order with centralized institutions. In 1869 the domains were surrendered to the government and reorganized as prefectures under appointed governors, taxation was centralized, and feudalism was abolished. The government also ended restrictions on internal migration and trade, established equality of social classes before the law, abolished the samurai class despite rebellions, and introduced individual land-property rights and freedom to pursue trades.

The reforms were accompanied by infrastructure and industrial development. In 1869 the Japanese regime established a steamship line between Tokyo and Osaka and built the country’s first railway, between Tokyo and Yokohama. By 1890 Japan had adopted a written constitution, established a constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament, and created an independent judiciary. Tokyo’s place in this transformation marks the larger change from shogunal rule centered in Edo to a modern state able to take advantage of industrialization.