Opposition movements in early Meiji, 1868–1885

Like all modern era revolutions, the Meiji Restoration generated intense opposition from groups and classes displaced and disadvantaged by revolutionary change. There were 343 incidents between 1868 and 1872. Peasant protests increased steadily at the end of Tokugawa, and reached a historical peak of 110 in 1869. After abolishing the feudal domains in 1871, the Meiji leadership grappled with the problem of how to reform the feudal land tax system to meet the demands of national development. Viewed as the organized, political response of a dispossessed social class, the half-dozen shizoku rebellions between 1874 and 1877 can be explained as the predictably violent reaction of a traditional elite displaced by a modern revolution. Espousing liberty, equality, and the right to elect government officials, the People's Rights movement brought together at various times former Restoration leaders and intellectuals, urbanites and villagers, shizoku and wealthy commoners, and, finally, radicals and impoverished farmers for opposing the oligarchic rule.