The Black Ship
Scrolls
Teachers’ resource on the opening of Japan to the West
Introduction of the Restoration Sho’in Yoshida
Part of the Kyoto University Library database on the Meiji Restoration, this exhibit
honors the memory of the teacher who inspired the ideas and character of many of the Meiji leaders.
There’s even more if you can read Japanese.
Nagasaki in the
Meiji Restoration: Choshu Loyalists and British Arms Merchants
Article on the ties between the leaders of Choushuu and Western merchants, particularly
Thomas Glover
Internet East Asian
History Sourcebook
Comprehensive online resource of Asian history, including several sections on Japan.
Of particular interest are articles on pre-Meiji schools, an 1890 dinner party, and a description of a
ladies’ shopping trip.
Nakasendo Highway: A Journey to the Heart
of Japan
This less-known road from Tokyo to Kyoto has escaped much of the
“improvement” that all but obliterated the Tokaido. Follow it through history as well
as more or less rural Japan.
Kochi City: History:
Meiji Period
Capsule bios of Ryoma Sakamoto and other leaders from Tosa
Narrative of a Japanese
Diary of Joseph Heco, a shipwrecked sailor who witnessed many key events of the Meiji
Restoration.
Christopher Mayo: Shinsengumi
Internet Archived version of what was probably the best Shinsengumi site on the Web.
Mayo-san no longer maintains this information; he says he has passed it on to someone else but I have
not yet found its new home.
China and Japan
Another first-person narrative, this the memoir of an American naval officer in
1860.
The Battle of the
Straits of Shimonoseki, July 16, 1863
US account of the battle, where Choushuu forces fired on American, French and Dutch
ships.
The First Japanese to be
Photographed
Interesting article tracing the history of a group of daguerrotypes of castaway
sailors.
Three Essays by Romulus Hillsborough
Three essays by historian Romulus Hillsborough are posted here. His publisher’s
site, Ridgeback Press, has apparently vanished from the Web.
Hagi, where Japan’s
Revolution Began
Retrospective on the career of Yoshida Sho’in
Books on the Meiji Restoration:
Totman, Conrad. The Collapse of the Tokugawa Bakufu, 1862-1868. University of Hawaii Press, 1980. ISBN 0-8248-0614-X
Jansen, Marius B. The Making of Modern Japan. Belknap Press, 2000. ISBN 0-674-00334-9
Huber, Thomas M. The Revolutionary Origins of Modern Japan. Stanford University Press, 1981. ISBN 0-8047-1755-9 (pbk.)
Statler, Oliver. Shimoda Story. Random House, 1969
Shiba, Ryotaro. The Last Shogun: The Life of Tokugawa Yoshinobu. Kodansha America, 1998. ISBN 1-56836-217-X
Walthall, Anne. The Weak Body of a Useless Woman: Matsuo Taseko and the Meiji Restoration. University of Chicago Press, 1998. ISBN 0-226-82737-8