Abe Masahiro was the chief senior councillor in the Tokugawa shogunate of Bakumatsu period Japan at the time of the arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry on his mission to open Japan to the outside world.
According to at least one author, he had an extra consultative approach, and he broke Tokugawa tradition by going so far as to consult the Emperor about what to do relative to the Perry Expedition. By breaking the tradition, he both publicly highlighted/revived pro-Emperor sentiment among the elite and public, and gave the unusually forceful Komei a platform to speak his mind on political questions repeatedly.
Implied in this is that Abe created an opening for a Restoration and end of the Shogunate that might not have existed otherwise.
What are your thoughts?
Could the Shogunate have lasted into the 20th century, or transformed itself into the 20th century Japanese government, without an Imperial restoration taking place? What might have been the consequences?
According to at least one author, he had an extra consultative approach, and he broke Tokugawa tradition by going so far as to consult the Emperor about what to do relative to the Perry Expedition. By breaking the tradition, he both publicly highlighted/revived pro-Emperor sentiment among the elite and public, and gave the unusually forceful Komei a platform to speak his mind on political questions repeatedly.
Implied in this is that Abe created an opening for a Restoration and end of the Shogunate that might not have existed otherwise.
What are your thoughts?
Could the Shogunate have lasted into the 20th century, or transformed itself into the 20th century Japanese government, without an Imperial restoration taking place? What might have been the consequences?