Reviews for Choshu In The Meiji Restoration

The average rating for Choshu In The Meiji Restoration based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-12-09 00:00:00 William Fenlon I read this book in college, when I was studying a lot of Asian history. I'd known that Choshu had played a significant role in the Meiji Restoration, but not much more than that. I found this by browsing the appropriate shelves in the school library, and it had more detail on how Choshu and its samurai reacted to Perry's forcible opening of Japan than I was expecting. Or rather, what happened when Perry opened Japan was a bigger deal than I was expecting, with more second and third-order effects, which eventually caused the Meiji Restoration. Professor Craig (this was his masters or doctorate thesis, I believe) goes into fantastic detail about the economic, social, educational, and military background of Choshu, including details about what the Mori family had ruled before the Battle of Sekigahara (where they opposed Tokugawa Ieyasu), and the downsizing the Mori clan suffered as a result, arguing that this had predisposed the Mori clan of 1850 to opposing the Shogunate. There's also a lot of detail about the economic situation in Choshu, and how that played into the situation, as well as the Mori clan leadership's willingness to send young samurai to schools to gain a European-style education and begin modernization. Not that everything went smoothly for the Mori clan, as their agitation in favor of deposing the Shogun was noticed. Prof. Craig covers the Mori clan's abortive attempt to depose the Shogunate around 1863 and subsequent backlash against them from the Shogunate, as well as the later alliance with Setsuna and the final uprising against the Shogunate. This book has a great deal of information packed into it. I recall it not being terribly easy to read, unfortunately, but when working for a degree in history one gets accustomed to dry texts. And stiff wording is a small price to pay for the wealth of information in this volume. It is not a book for those with a casual interest in the subject of the Meiji Restoration, but invaluable for the more serious student.

Review # 2 was written on 2014-07-20 00:00:00 Anthony Soto While this book is rather specific, it features information not easily found elsewhere. For anyone with more than a passing interest in the Meiji Restoration, this book will be extremely useful. Focused but fantastic at what it sets out to do.