Another long-term reason that the Shogun was overthrown was because of the worsening position and the growing resentment of the samurai. The daimyo tried to reduce their economic problems by reducing the wages of the samurai, by the end of the 18th century these reductions in wages had became frequent. Pyle suggests that by the end of the 18th century the position was also difficult for the samurai as they too had rising expenditures, often they were economically in a worse position then their social inferiors, peasants and merchants thus causing resentment against the Bakufu. Some younger samurai were also unhappy at the lack of opportunities available to them as the appointment of bureaucracies of the shogun and daimyo were being based on hereditary success when there was a common belief that these appointments should be based on ability and “ they felt unjustly cut off from positions of power and respect;” The historian Sir George Sansom argued that among all the causes of the anti-Tokugawa movement which led to the downfall of the Bakufu, the ambition of the young samurai could be seen as the most ambitious. The change in the Japanese society and economy made life became more “complex and diverse” and Japan couldn’t be put back into the system of the early Tokugawa and this led to the eventual downfall of the shogun.
The shogun was overthrown because the Bakufu were still dealing with their unresolved problems when, as Pyle argues, a “catalyst” of foreign crisis sped up the reaction to the domestic problems in Japan, thus the declining power of the bakufu led to the downfall of the shogun. The arrival of the Perry in Japan was the start of the sort term causes of the downfall of the Shogun. The Bakufu first showed their signs of weakness when they consulted the daimyo about Perry’s demands. This showed the weakness of the bakufu as they were unable to make decisions themselves and it proved to be time wasting as the result was a variety of responses. The Bakufu was further weakened 1858-63 when the head of government Mayoshi, asked for the approval of the Harris treaty from the court, this showed the increasing weakness and the declining authority of the bakufu. Through Ili Naosuke, who was attempting to reinforce the bakufu’s authorization these was a brief resurgence of the bakufu’s strength, when he was assassinated the bakufu was further weakened as they were proving to be less forceful and successful. Beasley argues that “the assassination of Ili Naosuke left the Tokugawa government without firm leadership at a time when its problems were growing rapidly more serious.” There was a union of the court and the bakufu but this was not successful and only weakened them further. The shogun’s decision to travel to Kyoto and go the emperor only showed further signs of his weakness as he had never been to the emperor before.
Other short term causes that caused the shogunate to be overthrown were the attitudes being further developed by the young samurai activists in 1865. This anger and resentment was already being built up from before but the signing of the Harris treaty was the final straw from these samurai as the shogun was allowing invaders into their country. The samurai also wanted to increase Japan’s military and scientific knowledge after the attacks of Choshu in 1864 where they were exposed to much higher technology of Britain, France, Holland and the US.
The final event that led to the downfall of the shogun was the alliance of the Satsuma and the Choshu, both domains had a tradition of hostility against the Tokugawa and their mutual interest in preventing a reassertion of the Tokugawa brought them together against the Shogun. This was vital as both domains were among the largest in production capacity and a large number of supporting samurai. “They were extremely strong domains, and their strength was enhanced by financial solvency”
In a conclusion, as Beasley suggests the shogun’s failure to solve the problems of Japan’s relations with the west was the cause that eventually led to the downfall of the shogunate. The other causes such as the discontent of the samurai and the fact that expenditure was above income were long term causes which led to the downfall of the shogun but were not immediate causes like the shogun’s failure to solve the problems with the relationships with the west and the alliance of the Choshu and Satsuma domains.
