A History of Japan: From Stone Age to Superpower (44 page)

Japan’s good fortune was that the British and other western powers had easier pickings elsewhere – not the New World this time, for America
itself was now one of those western powers, but the ancient world of China. It is traditionally Australia that is known as ‘the Lucky Country’, but to Shiga and those who shared his views, perhaps the epithet should apply more properly to Japan.

In its short preamble the Charter Oath also promised a constitution. This was actually promulgated in some haste just three months later, but was a surprisingly low-profile affair. The so-called ‘Constitution of 1868’ was to be overshadowed by a later and much better known Meiji constitution, but it did provide in theory for a national assembly, public ballot, and a Grand Council of State.
⁸
The Grand Council was the only item to be put into effect at the time, and its various ministries and offices further conferred legitimacy upon the young leaders of the government.

Again mirroring the practice of Japan’s Yamato-Nara government, the Meiji government wanted a single capital to be the hub of centralised power, as opposed to the ‘dual capitals’ of Edo and Ky
to. Edo was chosen, and given a new name T
ky
(‘eastern capital’). The emperor moved there from Ky
to in 1869. The new Grand Council was also based there.

And in yet another Nara-style policy, the nation’s land was nationalised. The former sh
gunate’s territory, which accounted for about a quarter of the land, was the first to be nationalised. Then in March 1869 the Satsuma-Ch
sh
government leaders persuaded the
daimy
of their home domains to return their territories to the emperor, for reorganisation into prefectures. Other
daimy
soon followed suit. In some cases the relinquishing of their territory was not done with complete goodwill, though they did not wish to incur the displeasure of the government and had little real choice in the matter. In August 1871, the government went a step further, legally abolishing the domains and replacing them with prefectures.
⁹

The
daimy
were persuaded to accept these changes partly by generous financial arrangements and/or governorships of the new prefectures. Not only did the
daimy
receive generous incomes, but the government took over their domain debts, and also took over responsibility for paying the stipends of their samurai retainers – which it reduced by about a third. This generous treatment of the
daimy
and to a lesser extent the samurai was important politically, for it helped reduce the risk of armed resistance against the regime.