[Author’s Name]
[Institution’s Name]
Essay on Education In Japan From 1855-1945
The introduction of a modern education system into Japan, taking several Western countries as models, began in a real sense in the latter part of the 19th century. The arrival of modernization in Japan was therefore comparatively late, but since Japan was fortunate enough to be blessed with socio-cultural environmental factors (initial conditions), education underwent very rapid development within a short space of time.
In 1868, a political revolution took place in Japan, marked by the collapse of the political power held by the Tokugawa Shogunate which had long dominated Japan as the head of the samurai warrior class, and the birth of a new system of political authority with the Emperor at its head. The beginnings of the modernization of Japan can be seen in this revolution, known as the Meiji Restoration.
The period of domination by the Tokugawa Shogunate, which began at the start of the 17th century and continued for about 260 years, came to be known as the Edo era, because its power base was located in the town of Edo (present-day Tokyo). The Shogun exercised direct rule over Edo, Osaka and Kyoto as politically important locations, while the rest of the country was divided into about 250 feudal domains, each of which was ruled over by a feudal lord who had sworn an oath of loyalty to the Shogun. During the Edo era, Japan adopted a policy of excluding the outside world, so that trade and contact with foreign countries was effectively forbidden. In the early part of the 19th century, as the Edo era drew to a close, the political rule by the Tokugawa Shogunate became the target of mounting criticism....
