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Emperor Meiji was born in 1852 as Prince Mutsuhito. He was only 15 years old when, in 1868, loyal followers helped him regain the power in the Japanese government.
The path had been laid for the Emperor only a year after he was born. For 200 years, the Shoguns had controlled Japan and strictly controlled all growth and contact with outsiders. They strove to keep Japan "as it was" - with the samurai safely in power. However, in 1853, Commodore Perry blockaded the bay of Tokyo and forced Japan to open its borders and begin trading - with treaties that were very biased towards the US. The resulting civil strife is what gave the emperor's followers the opportunity to put him back in control.
Saigo Takamori led the final charge against the shogunate samurai in a section of Tokyo called Ueno. With that victory, the teenaged Emperor Meiji now held the reins of power. Seeing Tokyo as the real power base, the Emperor moved his court from Kyoto to Tokyo.
Emperor Meiji wanted desperately both to help the lack of education and money of his people, and to become strong enough as a nation to hold its own against the western countries who were currently taking advantage of Japan. He and Takamori began a series of education reforms, tax reforms, and infrastructure building. Hundreds of scholars were sent to the west to study their technology and to come back to help implement it in Japan.
Takamori wanted to have the samurai become a fighting force and attack Korea, but the Emperor and his team wanted to focus on building up Japan first. Takamori staged a rebellion and, when it failed, took his own life.
The Emperor did indeed move against Korea in 1894 and defeated China to control that region. In 1904 the Japanese defeated the Russians when it moved into Manchuria. These victories were an impressive display of just how much the Japanese had grown since 1868.
Emperor Meiji died in 1912.
