to restore the emperor to power but to change the political
and economic institutions completely. On the Tosa side,
one of the treaty’s signers was Sakamoto Ryūma. As
Satsuma and Chōshū mobilized their armies, Sakamoto
Ryūma presented the shogun with an eight-point plan,
urging him to resign to avoid civil war. The plan was radical,
and though clause 1 stated that “political power of the
country should be returned to the Imperial Court, and all
decrees issued by the Court,” it included far more than just
the restoration of the emperor. Clauses 2, 3, 4, and 5
stated:
2. Two legislative bodies, an Upper and Lower house,
should be established, and all government measures
should be decided on the basis of general opinion.
3. Men of ability among the lords, nobles and people at
large should be employed as councillors, and
traditional offices of the past which have lost their
purpose should be abolished.
4. Foreign affairs should be carried on according to
appropriate regulations worked out on the basis of
general opinion.
5. Legislation and regulations of earlier times should
be set aside and a new and adequate code should be
selected.
Shogun Yoshinobu agreed to resign, and on January 3,
1868, the Meiji Restoration was declared; Emperor Kōmei
and, one month later after Kōmei died, his son Meiji were
restored to power. Though Satsuma and Chōshū forces
now occupied Edo and the imperial capital Kyōto, they
feared that the Tokugawas would attempt to regain power
and re-create the shogunate. (Ōkubo Toshimichi wanted
the Tokugawas crushed forever. He persuaded the
emperor to abolish the Tokugawa domain and confiscate
their lands. On January 27 the former shogun Yoshinobu
attacked Satsuma and Chōshū forces, and civil war broke
out; it raged until the summer, when finally the Tokugawas
were vanquished.
Following the Meiji Restoration there was a process of
transformative institutional reforms in Japan. In 1869
feudalism was abolished, and the three hundred fiefs were