Emperor who only eats one meal a day: Emperor Meiji.

The 45-year reign of Emperor Meiji was the most remarkable period of modern Japanese reform. Japan has achieved social, economic and military development, established the first capitalist country in Asia, completed the transformation to imperialism and embarked on the road of militarism and world domination.

In the fifth year of Yongjia (1852), Emperor Meiji was born on 1654381October 3, and was the second prince of Emperor Xiaoming. Mother is Queen Ying Zhao. The real birth mother is Quanda Yan Na (Keiko Zhongshan). In the first year of Yan Hong (1860), it was designated as Chu Jun, and Muren was sealed.

In the seventh year of Yongjia (1854), after the western capitalist powers led by the United States forced Japan to sign an unequal treaty with it and knocked on the door of Japan, many people of insight in Japan also "gained considerable knowledge of western scientific thinking" and "understood the development trend at home and abroad", and liberated their minds earlier. Therefore, Mu Ren, who is in the growth stage, although living in the court, will be unconsciously impacted by the trend of the times and influenced by western civilization to varying degrees, and has great political ambitions to transform society.

In the third year of Keio (1867), Emperor Xiaoming died suddenly in the closing movement, and sixteen-year-old Mu Ren succeeded to the throne. In the third year of Qing Dynasty (1867), a spiritual practice ceremony was held in Mu Ren on January 9th (1February 3rd). Encouraged by the anti-foreign faction of respecting the king, on February 9 of the same year, in 65438, the "restoration of the king's government" was implemented.

At the beginning of Mu Ren's succession, the feudal rule of Tokugawa shogunate was crumbling. Because the Tokugawa shogunate was helpless in invading the western powers, the movement of "respecting the king and rejecting the foreign countries" which started in the 1950s of 19 gradually developed into the movement of "respecting the king and opposing the curtain". The main participants in the "Respect for the King" movement are the bourgeois lower-class warriors who advocate reform in the four major clans in southwest China, such as Changzhou and Samoyed, represented by Kubo Junyi and Koji.

In the fourth year of Keio (1868), in June of 5438+0, the insurgents staged a coup, forcing Tokugawa Yoshinobu, the Tokugawa shogunate, to hand over power to Emperor Mu Ren. In March, the five vows were issued, and then the shogunate army defeated the shogunate army near Kyoto and soon occupied Edo. In July, Mu Ren renamed Edo Tokyo. On August 27th, the ceremony of accession to the throne was held, and on September 8th, the title was changed to Meiji (the title was taken from Zhouyi, and the sage listened to the world in the south and ruled since the Ming Dynasty). In June 5438+10, Emperor Meiji arrived in Tokyo to take power. In February 65438, he returned to Kyoto and held a grand wedding with a beautiful child (Empress Dowager Zhao).

In the second year of Meiji (1869), Emperor Meiji arrived in Tokyo again and made Tokyo his capital in an attempt to appease the people. In the fourth year of Meiji (187 1), that is, at the age of 19, Emperor Meiji went all out to take the oath of "learning from the world" and "vigorously boosting the foundation of the emperor". In his first year in office, he sent a large diplomatic mission to the United States, led by Iwakura Tomomi, Koji Edo, Junichi Kubo and Hirofumi Ito. The expedition ended in September of the sixth year of Meiji (1873) and lasted nearly two years. In name, it seeks to amend the unequal treaties with western capitalist countries, but in fact, it aims to learn from the political, economic, military, cultural and educational experiences of Europe and America in order to carry out reforms and realize the modernization of the Japanese bourgeoisie.

In Meiji 1 1 year (1878), Japanese Army Minister Yamagata Aritomo issued a "Military Order", requiring soldiers to worship the Emperor as a superman god and take Bushido as the foundation of their military soul.

In the 14th year of Meiji (188 1), the imperial edict was issued. Meiji 15 (1882) issued an imperial edict, emphasizing the idea of loyalty to the emperor. Ito Bowen was sent to Europe to inspect the constitution-making and implement the constitutional principles of the emperor's sovereignty and constitution.

In the 22nd year of Meiji (1889), the Constitution of the Great Japanese Empire and the Royal Family Model were formulated and promulgated. In the 23rd year of Meiji (1890), an imperial edict on education was issued in June of 5438+00. It constitutes the basic legal and ideological pillar of modern Japanese Empire.

In the 15th year of Meiji (1882), the navy division Chunichi Qingchuan put forward an eight-year shipbuilding plan. It is estimated that 26 million yen will be invested in the construction of 32 large and small ships and torpedo boats in the eight years from Meiji 16 (1883). At that time, Japanese Lu Haijun's funds were as high as 27% of the national budget. In order to expand the navy, it will increase by 4.02 million yen every year. It is impossible to increase the military budget from the state finance, but increasing taxes will inevitably lead to boiling public grievances. In this regard, in Meiji 15 (1882) 1 1, Emperor Meiji issued an imperial edict to the local governors that it was necessary to expand their armaments, and in February 65438, he issued the following imperial edict to the central provincial governors: "Considering the situation in Lu Haijun today, it is really a last resort. According to the imperial edict of the Emperor, Zheng Tai's Minister Sanzhengsan also instructed the Finance Minister to take measures to increase the tax revenue of the brewing and tobacco industries to 24 million yen for naval shipbuilding.

Emperor Meiji took the lead in allocating 300,000 yen from the royal funds for shipbuilding expenses, and issued the following imperial edict on March 14, 20th year of Meiji: "I think we can't relax in strengthening coastal defense for one day in the affairs of founding the People's Republic of China. However, I am deeply disturbed that it is still difficult to allocate huge sums of money from the state treasury for coastal defense at once. I have decided to withdraw 300,000 yen from the internal vault to discuss the funding. I hope the ministers will deeply understand me. " As the Emperor took the lead in donating money, Prime Minister Ito Bowen immediately called local officials to give an encouraging speech at the Ming Road Pavilion, asking local people with lofty ideals to take the Emperor as an "example" and donate money for coastal defense. Chinese and rich people all over the country were "moved" by it, and donated 2.03 million yen within half a year, which set off a wave of expanding the navy.

In the 26th year of Meiji (1893) and 10 February, Emperor Meiji summoned cabinet ministers, speakers of both houses of parliament and advisers of the Privy Council to his palace, and immediately issued an imperial edict to them, saying that "if we delay national defense for one day, we will regret it for a hundred years" and asked the government and parliament to "help each other in the same boat". He also said that 300,000 yen will be allocated from the royal funds every year in the next six years, and ordered the civil and military officials to withdraw the salary of110 from the national treasury every month in the next six years to supplement the shortage of shipbuilding funds. Under the pressure of Emperor Meiji, the opposition party had to give up, compromise with the government, reconsider the budget and reduce the cuts. This move is the first example of the emperor suppressing parliament. In this way, with the support of Emperor Meiji, after years of painstaking efforts, before the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, Japan basically completed the naval shipbuilding plan and built a modern Japanese navy with 3/kloc-0 warships and 24 torpedo boats, with a total displacement of 6 1.373 tons. This is why Emperor Meiji only ate one meal a day in order to save money and build a navy.

In the spring of the 27th year of Meiji (1894), the Japanese ruling clique unanimously believed that it was a good opportunity to launch a war of aggression against Korea and China, and led it to the track of war step by step. Prime Minister Ito entered the palace to play Emperor Meiji. Emperor Meiji immediately summoned ōyama Iwao, Secretary of the Army, Saigou Jyuudou, Secretary of the Navy, Prince Chiren, Chief of Staff, and Sukeyoshi Nakamura, Secretary of Naval Operations, and personally issued the following imperial edict: "Today, civil strife in North Korea has mushroomed and the situation is rampant. In order to protect the citizens living in that country, we decided to send troops. You should negotiate carefully with others and handle it properly.

In the twenty-seventh year of Meiji (1894), 17 July, the second day of the anglo-japanese alliance Agreement, the first command meeting was held in the Japanese base camp, and Emperor Meiji personally attended. The decision to go to war with China was formally made at the meeting. In the twenty-seventh year of Meiji (1894), on July 23rd, Japanese troops stationed in Seoul, headed by Keiji Otsuka, occupied the Korean Palace, detained King Li Xi, bullied the king's father, Li Junyun, as the Regent, and organized a puppet government. On the 25th, Big Bird even forced Dayuanjun to announce the abolition of all commercial agreements between China and North Korea, and "authorized" the Japanese army to expel the Qing army from North Korea. On the same day, the Japanese invaders launched a surprise attack on Japanese warships in the waters near Toyoshima, outside Yashankou, and the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 officially broke out.

When the Japanese attack on Akio Toyoda's naval battle was successful, the first battle was successful, and Meiji's cautious dissatisfaction before the war was swept away, and he devoted himself to this unjust war and served as the supreme commander of the war. 1 in August, the war had begun, and Emperor Meiji issued a formal declaration of war against China. The imperial edict has done its best to reverse black and white, and it is even more nonsense to cheat the world and steal the name. Originally, it was a despicable means of sudden attack to provoke a naval battle in Toyoda, but it was smashed, saying that the Qing army "wanted to attack our ship in the Yellow Sea and was extremely arrogant", and so on. Its purpose is to impose the responsibility of launching the Sino-Japanese War on China. Finally, the imperial edict said: in this case, although I have always taken peace as the starting point in order to publicize the glory of the empire at home and abroad, I have to declare war publicly. Lai Ru has the loyalty and courage of many people. I hope that peace will last forever and the glory of the whole empire will be realized.

In the 28th year of Meiji (1895), China was forced to sign the treaty of shimonoseki, ceding Liaodong Peninsula to Japan. Tsarist Russia also had ambitions to the northeast of China, so it negotiated with the German Empire and France, and Emperor Meiji had to give up the permanent occupation of Liaodong Peninsula by imperial decree. This caused great repercussions in Japan, and the sense of revenge of "sleeping on the salary and tasting the courage" spread rapidly. Before the Meiji government declared war, it gave Russia a "real blow", pre-empted, hit the Russian fleet in Lushunkou, and mastered the initial sea control right; At the end of the war, when the armies of both sides were exhausted, the Japanese joint fleet almost wiped out the Baltic Fleet that Russia came to reinforce in the Japanese naval battle, and achieved an "unprecedented victory", completely controlling the sea power of the Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea, and soon forced Russia to defeat and make peace.

In the 40th year of Meiji (1907), Japan and France signed the Japan-France Agreement, recognizing each other's interests in China and surrounding areas. In the forty-second year of Meiji (/KOLOC-0/909)/KOLOC-0/65438+/KOLOC-0/0, Japanese Ambassador to the United States and US Secretary of State Robert signed an exchange of notes on the Pacific issue in Washington, which was called the "rotten-high agreement" in history, and actually recognized each other's vested interests in the Pacific. In order to strengthen the relationship with Britain, in the forty-fourth year of Meiji (19 1 1), Japan, Britain and Japan signed the third alliance treaty. Japan's active diplomatic offensive has its strategic considerations, but it also reflects that Japan's international status is increasingly recognized by western powers. "In the Asian continent, Japan has become a full member of imperialist competition." Through the above diplomatic activities, Japan's sphere of influence has been recognized by western powers, so no country can compete with Japan's long maritime interests outside the sovereignty line. In this way, Japan has become a veritable overlord of the East. At the same time, Emperor Meiji became the "overlord of East Asia". With the victory of the Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War, Emperor Meiji became more and more supreme.

Emperor Meiji suffered from diabetes in the 39th year of Meiji (1906). In the autumn of Meiji forty-four years (19 1 1), when Emperor Meiji went to Fukuoka Prefecture to inspect Japanese military exercises, urine protein suddenly increased greatly and his condition became worse. In the 45th year of Meiji (19 12), at 0: 43 am on July 30th, Emperor Meiji died at the age of 60. After the death of Emperor Meiji, Jiaren succeeded to the throne, held a ceremony to ascend the throne in the palace, and accepted three objects symbolizing the "throne"-an octagonal mirror, a blade of grass shovel and eight Sakamoto jade hooks. According to tradition, according to China's Book of Changes, the New Year's number was named "Taisho" and Jiaren became 123 Japanese Emperor-Emperor Taishō.

From the succession, reform, foreign wars and the development of capitalism to the establishment of capitalism in Japan, Emperor Meiji, who was originally a feudal vassal, followed the historical development and took the helm of Japan "accurately and timely" after his succession, which not only got rid of backwardness and national crisis, but also quickly became an advanced capitalist country. No wonder the Japanese called the rule of Emperor Meiji "Meiji Restoration". Therefore, the progressive role of Meiji in Japanese and world history should be affirmed. However, his militaristic policy of foreign expansion and aggression can only bring heavy war disasters to the Japanese people and people of other countries, which is the historical evil of Emperor Meiji.