The Making of Modern Japan / An Account of the Progress of Japan from Pre-feudal Days to Constitutional Government & the Position of a Great Power, With Chapters on Religion, the Complex Family System, Education, &c.

This work traces the transformation of Japan from pre‑feudal origins through the rise and consolidation of feudal rule, national closure and subsequent reopening, and the restoration that dismantled the old order. It surveys institutional reforms in land tenure, taxation, administration, education, and religion; the dispatch of missions abroad and difficult treaty negotiations; the framing and promulgation of a constitution and the emergence of parliamentary parties; recurring local uprisings and military conflicts with neighboring states; and the social and legal adjustments that accompanied rapid modernization and the growing assertion of central authority.