Meiji Emperor

Biography

Mutsuhito was 14 when the Tokugawa fell, Meiji restoration in his name. The Charter Oath 1868, knowledge sought worldwide. His reign, samurai stipends abolished, constitution 1889, Diet, industrialization, army that beat China 1895 and Russia 1905, the first modern Asian victory over a European power. Korea annexed 1910. From feudal isolation to great power in one reign, the emperor as symbol of nation transformation.