Meiji Japan · 1868-1912

The Meiji Restoration

In 1868 a group of young samurai put the emperor back at the head of Japan and set out to build a "rich country, strong army". In one generation Japan gains railways, schools, a constitution and an empire. Students ask how, and at what cost.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
50 minutes
Ages
12–15
On the map
3 steps, AD 1868 to AD 1872
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

In 1868 a group of young samurai put the emperor back at the head of Japan and set out to build a "rich country, strong army". In one generation Japan gains railways, schools, a constitution and an empire. Students ask how, and at what cost.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Explain what the Meiji Restoration of 1868 was.
  • Describe three reforms of the Meiji era, such as schools, conscription and the constitution of 1889.
  • Explain how Japan became an empire with colonies of its own by 1910.
2

Explore the map

15 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1868

Japan in 1868

Open the map in 1868 and zoom in on Japan. Find Kyoto, where the emperor lived, and Edo, which became Tokyo. Why move the capital to the shogun's old city?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1914

An empire grows

Drag the slider from 1880 to 1914 and zoom out. Which lands has Japan added? Look at Taiwan and Korea.

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1872

The first railway

Zoom in on Tokyo Bay. Japan's first railway opened in 1872 between Tokyo and Yokohama, built with British help. Why start with these two cities?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

15 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. The new leaders said power was "restored" to the emperor. Who really held power after 1868?
  2. Japan copied ideas from Britain, Germany, France and the United States. Is copying a weakness or a strength?
  3. Samurai lost their special rights and their swords. How would you feel if your family's status disappeared?
  4. Factories like the Tomioka silk mill (1872) employed many young women. What might their lives have been like?
  5. How might people in Korea and Taiwan have seen Japan's "modernisation"?
4

Game round

10 min

Play Tokugawa Ieyasu in Rule History. The Meiji leaders ended the system his family had built. Discuss: which of Ieyasu's choices would the Meiji reformers have approved of, and which did they overturn?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.