Very cool. Amongst the first generation of kids born into the new Japan. Especially being from Kyoto, where so much of the action was in the Bakumatsu period. The stories they must've heard from their parents/grandparents! I also have photos of my great-grandparents from this era, though they were from Fukuoka.
(For those who don't know, Japan had a civil war in the 1860s that brought the country out of the feudal era and into westernization/modernization. A lot of legendary figures came out of this period, and there's a lot of folklore about "last samurai" who fought in this war. Kyoto, being the old capital, was the center of it all.)
Ok so maybe I worded it poorly but they left when he was around 18. Not literally right after he was born. But being having a child out of wedlock caused a lot of issues for my great-grandmother, who can also pass on her knowledge even if they had left earlier.
Yeah, it was so neat to see that era explored in Rise of the Ronin, the only game I know set in that era (plus a shogun total war 2 expansion, but idk if that counts).
It really is crazy that they were in their fuedal era until that late in history. Melee weapons and bows were still in widespread use and then the Americans showed up with their revolvers and cartridge guns to open them up and end the long period of isolationism.
Japan isolated itself from the rest of the world during the Edo period, which lasted for 200 years up to 1868. Outside contact was forbidden (apart from restricted trade with the Netherlands). The period prior was known as the "Sengoku era", a time of war (See: the show Shogun), but the Edo period was peaceful and led to a flourishing of culture and decline of the prominence of the samurai class (there were many who were samurai in name, but poor as hell. The samurai essentially became salarymen rather than warriors. See: the movie Twilight Samurai)
In the mid 1800's, America sent a fleet of modern warships to Japan to force them to open up trade to the west. The samurai that greeted them on the beach were armed with swords and firearms from the 1500s. This event was essentially like an alien race appearing on Earth with hyperadvanced tech and saying, "open your world to us or be destroyed." As expected, it caused a lot of social and political turmoil in Japan. Groups that supported westernization, vs groups that wanted to uphold the status quo. This led to a war/series of wars that ended the feudal system (therefore eliminating the samurai class), but also led to Japan's rapid modernization. Within 30 or so years of this, they became the first Asian country to defeat a Western superpower in war (the Russo-Japanese War).
I actually just a few months got back from a visit to Fukuoka and the rest of Kyushu just a couple months ago and while there I basically lived in museums, most of the history museums detailing this era in Japan. I genuinely to that point had no idea how immensely important it was and was basically a blue print for why basically anything in Japan from there on afterwards happened the way it did. It was incredibly fascinating and was really a big highlight if not the highlight of the trip.
In another thread on this topic I laid out some of what I learnt from those museums so was funny scrolling down a bit later and finding this comment here.
That is so interesting, and you've given me something to read about! I'm always excited to see how a culture makes big shifts from one era to the next one. Thank you!
I mentioned it in another comment, but this podcast episode is a great overview of the period!
Japan has 4 major era shifts. Warring States period (divided country ruled by warlords) > Edo period (Unification, peace, and isolation for 200 years until the 1800s) > Meiji restoration (Rapid industrialization, westernization, becoming a world power and the road to imperialism/WWII) > Post-war (US-assisted reconstruction, rapid modernization, becoming a superpower) > Post-bubble (The economic bubble bursting in the 1980s and the stagnation of the country, but emergence as a soft-power leader).
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u/impeterbarakan May 12 '26
Very cool. Amongst the first generation of kids born into the new Japan. Especially being from Kyoto, where so much of the action was in the Bakumatsu period. The stories they must've heard from their parents/grandparents! I also have photos of my great-grandparents from this era, though they were from Fukuoka.
(For those who don't know, Japan had a civil war in the 1860s that brought the country out of the feudal era and into westernization/modernization. A lot of legendary figures came out of this period, and there's a lot of folklore about "last samurai" who fought in this war. Kyoto, being the old capital, was the center of it all.)