Modern History of Japan

Final Exam January 2023

2023/01/20

Answer to all the questions. The answers must be simple and short. A simple copy of my lecture note will be downgraded. Follow the following instruction.

1. Convert your file to a PDF format (.pdf).

2. Name the file as< LAST-First-Course title> like <YAMADA-Taro-History>

3. Upload your pdf file to my JTW-history folder at the file sharing system of the Kyushu University by Friday, February 10. No late submission will be　accepted.

4. I will let you know the password in the class.

5. Do not send your work by e-mail. Do not bring it to my office in a USB memory. Thank you for your cooperation

PART A: Edo: True or False?

Is each of the following statements True of False? If it is false, replace the false word(s) with true one(s), and correct the wrong statements.

1. Oda Nobunaga was defeated by Toyotomi Hideyoshi and lost his kingdom.

2. Toyotomi Hideyoshi conquered Korean peninsula but was defeated by China.

3. Tokugawa Ieyasu defeated Toyotomi Hideyori, the heir of Hideyoshi, in the Sekigahara Battle in 1600.

4. Under the Bakufu's rule, Daimyos are mandated to regularly commute to Edo from their domains, while leaving their family in the domains.

5. Tozama daimyos have been in alliance with the Tokugawa since Ieyasu won the Sekigahara Battle.

6. The Bakufu system is essentially different from the European Feudal system in the sense that the Daimyo domains are separated from the Bakufu territory.

7. Samurai resided in the rural area of the domain, and lived on farming.

8. Commoners were mandated to register with a local Buddhist temple, because Christianity was strictly banned.

9. Edo is considered to be the largest city in the world in the early 18th century.

10. Around 1800, Japan's population started to stagnate, due to limited agricultural production.

11. Nobunaga built the grand Toshogu shrine of Nikko in order to let people worship him as the God.

12. Hayashi Razan established the Sage Hall at Yushima as the shogunate University.

13. In Love Suicide at Sonezaki, Chikamatsu Monzaemon lamented a hopeless love, torn by the conflicts between social obligation and private desire.

14. Chushingura is the one of most honorable samurai tales, which exposes the tension between the loyalty to a particular lord and the one to social order.

15. The Mito domain was unique, in the sense that they claimed that the imperial rule must be occasionally subject to the Tokugawa Bakufu.

16. Tanuma Okitsugu, a bakufu regent, promoted economic reform based on mercantilism.

17. Motoori Norinaga was a founder of the School of Ancient Thought, claiming that Japanese people must learn more from their own ancient classics, such as Kojiki and the Tale of Genji,

18. In Tokugawa era, the western knowledge was brought to Japan through the Nagasaki port.

19. In the 1858 trade treaty, Japan lost tariff autonomy and the extraterritoriality.

20. After opening ports for international trade, the price of gold soared against silver.

21. The shogunate chief counselor, Ii Naosuke, executed the anti-bakufu samurai activists, and was assassinated by the Choshu loyalists.

22. The Satsuma-Choshu alliance against the bakufu was brokered by Katsu Kaishu.

23. In 1867, the last shogun, Yoshimune, finally returned the ultimate power to rule to the emperor, accepting the advice from Yamanouhi, the Tosa Daimyo.

PART B: Meiji

Discuss the following issues by using the listed key words. Underline the key words you use.

24. How did the former Samurai leaders react to the Satcho-dictatorship in the early Meiji era? Discuss it by using all the following 5 words within 150 words.
Saigo Takamori, Itagaki Taisuke, Movement for Freedom and People’s Rights, Kagoshima, Kumamoto.

25. Discuss the relationship between the diet and and the military, by using all the following 3 words within 150 words.
Meiji constitution, right to supreme command, de facto veto over cabinet formation,

26. Discuss the industrial development by using all the following 5 words within 150 words.
hired foreigners, textile, coal mining, Yahata Steel, zaibatsu

27. Discuss the difference of education between the elementary-middle schools and the higher schools, by using all the following 4 words within 150 words.
Imperial Rescript on Education, authoritarian, autonomy, loyal

28. Discuss Japan’s presence through the military aggression by using all the following 5 words within 150 words.
Korea, Sino-Japanese War, Japanese British Alliance, Russo-Japanese War, Tripartite Intervention

PART C: Taisho

Discuss the following issues by using the listed key words. Underline the key words you use.

29. Discuss the development of party politics by using all the following 5 words within 150 words.
Hara Kei, Movement to Protect Constitutional Government, normal constitutional governments, Yoshino Sakuzo, the Oligarch

30. Discuss the rural and urban life in the prewar time by using all the following 5 words within 150 words.
Narikin, Great Kanto Earthquake, bank runs, landlords, tiny business

Part D: Japan and the Great Divergence

31. What is the “Great Divergence”?

32. Explain the “Small Divergence” in Europe.

33. Explain the “Small Divergence” in Asia.

34. Why is it so important to identify the forces that dampened growth reversals, rather than the forces responsible for growth itself?

35. What is the major difference in economic growth between Europe and Japan in the interwar period (1920-1940)?

36. What occurred to the industrial composition of Japan in the Edo era?

37. What did Clark and Ishii find from their study on the names of Japanese people?