| dc.description.abstract | On encountering the West midway through the nineteenth century, Japan
was diverted, reluctantly, from the long- travelled, twisting paths that it
had been following into its own interior for centuries. These westernising
forces came embodied in the black ships of Commodore Matthew Perry.
As well as troops, they were carrying letters from the US government
insisting (as was the way with this enthusiastic, upstart nation) that it
be allowed to establish trading ports along the Japanese coast. After
much procrastination (or so it seemed from a Western point of view)
the Shogunate acceded, and the islands changed irrevocably. For one, the
political turmoil that ensued overturned the Shogunate and enacted the
country of Japan. The destinies of different dynastic prefectures that
had historically gathered in little more than loose alignments became
braided in increasingly tighter and more intricate patterns. As the ports
were established and grew in size and wealth, new political and social
structures also emerged in an attempt to administer them. Without any
explicit design the islands found themselves acting together. | |
