Meiji Restoration Series | Episode 5: How Did Japan Become a Military Power in Just a Few Decades?

— Organizational Reform that Transformed Edo-Period Samurai into Talent for a Modern State —

The Most Difficult Reform Was Changing 'People'

The Meiji Restoration brought significant changes to Japan's political structure.
Through the Taisei Hokan, political power was returned from the Shogunate to the Imperial Court.
With the Abolition of the Han System and Establishment of Prefectures, approximately 270 domains were abolished,
and reorganized into a single centralized state.
However, to truly transform the nation,
there was one final, greatest challenge remaining.

That was,

changing the roles of people

itself.
The most difficult aspect of organizational reform is not changing systems.
Systems can be changed by law.
Organizational charts can also be rewritten in a day.
However, human consciousness and role perception do not change easily.
The same applies to companies.

You announce a new management policy.
You reorganize the structure.
You introduce a new evaluation system.
But if employees continue to think the same way,
and continue to act the same way as before, the company will not change.

The problem the Meiji government faced was the same.
How to change the talent system known as the 'samurai',
which had existed at the center of Japanese society for 260 years.
This was not merely a military reform.
It was one of Japan's largest talent reforms.

Samurai were not 'people who fight' but 'people who run the state'

Today, we imagine samurai as warriors carrying swords.
However, samurai in the late Edo period were not simple soldiers.
This is because they had not experienced large-scale war for 260 years.

In an era without war, the role of the samurai changed.
Rather than fighting ability,

administrative ability,
management ability,
educational ability,
and financial ability

became important.
Samurai worked in domain offices.

They managed rice taxes.
They enforced laws.
They provided education at domain schools.
They handled diplomatic negotiations.

In other words, the samurai of the Edo period were,

the management layer that ran Japanese society

itself.
To use a modern corporate analogy,
rather than soldiers,

they were a combination of,
executive management,
middle management,
administrative staff,and specialized professionals.

That is precisely why the treatment of samurai was difficult for the Meiji government.
They did not reform them because their abilities were low.
Rather,

the problem was how to transition them into the new state precisely because they were talented.

Why did the Meiji government not create a samurai-centered army?

Here, a question arises.
The central figures who made the Meiji Restoration a success were almost all samurai.

Saigo Takamori.
Okubo Toshimichi.
Kido Takayoshi.
Ito Hirobumi.
Yamagata Aritomo.

They themselves were samurai.
One might think, 'Wouldn't it have been better to build a modern military centered on the samurai?'
In fact, at the end of the Edo period, there were domains like Satsuma and Choshu that had already established modern military equipment.
However, the Meiji government saw the limitations in that approach.There is one reason.

The reason is one.
It is because the reason is one.

War in a modern nation-state
had reached an era where it could no longer be fought by only a handful of specialists.

The world had changed from the 'era of the samurai' to the 'era of the nation-state'.

In the 19th-century world, a major change was taking place.
It was the Industrial Revolution.

Mass production by factories.
High-speed transportation by railways.
Mass deployment of modern weaponry.

It was an era where a nation's economic power itself became its military power.
And the military changed as well.
In previous wars,
it was common for professional soldiers hired by kings or nobles to do the fighting.
However, since the French Revolution, a new way of thinking spread across Europe.

That wasthe national armyconcept.

It is not a specific social class that protects the nation.
The entire citizenry supports the nation.
This is that way of thinking.
The world the Meiji government saw was already moving in this direction.

The samurai system was not inherently bad.

There is something important here.
Just because the Meiji government dismantled the samurai system,
it does not mean the samurai system was wrong.

This is a very important perspective.
During the Tokugawa Shogunate, the samurai system was highly rational.

In a peaceful society,
• A small number of educated administrators
• Division of roles based on social status
• Long-term organizational culture

are major strengths.
However, the environment changed.
The national capabilities required by the world changed.

The warlord-type talent of the Sengoku period.
The administrative-type talent of the Edo period.
The citizen-type talent of the modern nation-state.

The required skills had changed.
In other words, the problem was not that 'the samurai were bad'.

The problem was,

that the talent model that succeeded in the past no longer fit the environment of the future

it was.

Conscription was not a military system, but a 'national talent system'.

In 1873, the Meiji government promulgated the Conscription Ordinance.
With this, Japan transitioned to a modern conscription system.

Generally,
'farmers became soldiers in place of the samurai'
is how it is often explained.
However, this is not the essence.
The greatest significance of the conscription system was,

It was transforming the entire Japanese population into stakeholders of the nation.

It was.
During the Edo period, people's sense of belonging was tied to their domains (han).

People from the Satsuma Domain.
People from the Choshu Domain.
People from the Aizu Domain.

There was a strong sense of belonging to their respective regional organizations.
However, in a modern state,
the unit becomes the nation, not the domain.

Through conscription,
people from different regions joined the same military,
learned the same discipline,
and formed the same national consciousness.

The military was not only a combat organization, but also a

national educational institution

it was.

In fact, it was an important element that is not well known.

The most significant change brought about by the Conscription Ordinance was not for the farmers.
Actually, it was for the samurai themselves.
This is because the 'role of protecting the nation,' which until then only the samurai possessed,
was opened up to the entire citizenry.
For the samurai, this felt like a denial of their pride.

'We have protected the nation for hundreds of years.'
'Why can anyone suddenly become a soldier?'

These thoughts emerged.
However, what the Meiji government intended to do
was not to deny the value of the samurai.
It was quite the opposite.

The samurai possessed,
discipline,
a sense of responsibility,
public consciousness,
and loyalty to the organization.

They sought to expand these capabilities,
from being the property of a single class,
to the entire nation.
This was not the destruction of human resources.

It was the democratization of human capability.

To change the samurai, it was necessary to change not just their 'jobs' but their 'livelihood foundations'.

Through the conscription system, the Meiji government changed the military system.However, that alone did not solve the samurai problem.This is because being a samurai was not merely a profession.

The samurai were,
a job,
a social status,a social standing,an income,and pride.

They were an existence where everything was integrated.
To use a modern corporate analogy,
it was not just about abolishing a certain department,

but also about changing their entire way of life.

It is a reform that changes everything, including the employee salary system,
the job title system,
the evaluation system,
and the company culture.
all of it.

Therefore, the problem the Meiji government faced was not
"removing samurai from the military."
The real problem was

how to redesign the social system of the samurai within a modern nation-state

.

The Chitsuroku (hereditary stipend) system was the largest personnel cost system of the Edo period.

During the Edo period, the lives of samurai were supported by "roku" (stipends).
Simply put, this was the salary provided by the domain.
Samurai did not own land directly to farm,
but lived on the rice given to them by their lord.

This was rational as a social system in the Edo period.
Because samurai were not farmers, but rather

administration,
public security,
and political management.
They were professionals in charge of these areas.

In modern corporate terms,
it is similar to a system where a company pays professional employees so they can focus on their main work.
However, problems arose when it became a modern nation-state.

Continuing to pay salaries to samurai across the country
was too great a burden on the national treasury.
Moreover, the new nation needed

military,
education,
industry,
railways,
and diplomacy.

and other areas required enormous investment.
In other words, the Meiji government

was forced to choose between
"past personnel costs" and "future investments."

The Chitsuroku-shobun (disposition of hereditary stipends) was a "personnel cost reform."

The Meiji government gradually reduced the salary system for samurai,
and eventually implemented the Chitsuroku-shobun.
This was a very significant change for the samurai.

Because the foundation of their lives, which had been guaranteed for 260 years
by "being a samurai," was lost.

What is important here is
that the Meiji government did not reject the samurai.
It was actually the opposite.

The Meiji government needed the skills of the samurai.
That is why many samurai

government bureaucrats,
military personnel,
police officers,
teachers,
and business leaders.

transformed into these roles.
In other words,
the samurai system disappeared, but
the capabilities of the samurai did not.

An important factor that is actually not well known

There is a reason for the success of the Meiji Restoration that is rarely discussed.
That is
not completely excluding the samurai class.

Many countries wipe out the old ruling class through revolution.
However, the Meiji government was different.
They transferred capable personnel to the new system.
For example,

Toshimichi Okubo.
Takamori Saigo.
Hirobumi Ito.
Aritomo Yamagata.

Many of the central figures in the Meiji government were of samurai origin.
Also, from among the former samurai class,

bureaucrats,
military officers,
educators,
and business leaders

emerged in large numbers.
This is a highly sophisticated organizational reform.
When breaking down an old organization,
you must not discard the old talent as well.

What is needed is

not to 'change the people,' but
to 'change the roles of the people.'

The Satsuma Rebellion cannot be understood solely as 'opposition to reform'

In 1877, the Satsuma Rebellion occurred.
It was the largest rebellion of the former samurai class and the final battle led by Takamori Saigo.

It is generally explained as
a 'rebellion of samurai who opposed the new government.'

However, one cannot understand the essence with that alone.
Takamori Saigo himself was a central figure of the Meiji Restoration.
He was on the side that overthrew the shogunate,
and on the side that built the new nation.

Then, why did that same Saigo end up fighting the government?
Therein lay

a clash between the logic of those pushing for reform and the logic of those losing out due to reform.

The differences between Takamori Saigo and Toshimichi Okubo

Takamori Saigo and Toshimichi Okubo.
The two were childhood friends and the greatest contributors to the success of the Meiji Restoration.
However, their perspectives on the future of the nation differed.

Saigo valued 'people.'
He cherished samurai pride,
human relationships,
community,
and morality.

On the other hand, Okubo valued the 'nation.'
He prioritized systems,
finance,
industry,
and the military.

It is not a question of which one is correct.
In major organizational reforms, this conflict always occurs.

Responsibility to the past and
the necessity for the future.

One must make judgments between those two.

The real reason Japan was able to become a military power

So, how was Japan able to become a modern military state in just a few decades?
The answer is,

It was not because they abandoned the samurai.
It was because they expanded the capabilities of the samurai to the entire nation.

The qualities the samurai possessed:
Discipline.
Sense of responsibility.
Ability to learn.
Loyalty to the organization.
Management skills.

These were transformed from the traits of a single class
into the capabilities of the entire citizenry.

And,

The conscription system.
The education system.
The bureaucratic system.
The industrial system.

supported this.
In other words, what the Meiji government created was not

a military to replace the samurai.
It was a modern state with samurai-like capabilities.

Connection to modern business

There is much that corporate leaders can learn from these Meiji government reforms.
When a company grows, there are always personnel and systems that were successful in the past.

Founding members.
Long-time employees.
Successful sales models.
Strong organizational culture.

However, when the environment changes,
these do not necessarily lead to future success.
What is important is
not to reject the past.
It is to redesign the strengths of the past to fit the future.

The Meiji government
did not make the samurai their enemy.
They transplanted the capabilities of the samurai into the new nation.
That is why Japan was able to become a modern state in a short period of time.

The greatest talent reform of the Meiji Restoration

The abolition of the han system was
a reform to integrate the 270 organizations known as han into one.
And the conscription system and samurai reforms were
reforms to change the talent structure, which had been fixed by social status,
into a national talent system that utilized individual capabilities.

The most difficult part of national reform is
not changing the systems.
It is changing the past success experiences,
pride,
and sense of role that people hold,
and directing them toward the future.

The biggest reason the Meiji government succeeded was
not that they destroyed the old things.
It was that they converted the capabilities cultivated in the old era into the power for a new era.

Next episode preview

Meiji Restoration Series | Episode 6
Why did the Meiji government place education at the center of its national strategy?
— Investing in human resources was the source of national growth —

Building an army alone does not make a modern nation.
What was needed was to cultivate a large number of human resources to support the future of the nation.
Why did the Meiji government prioritize education even when the national budget was tight?
At the heart of this was a philosophy of national management known as
“human capital investment,” which is still relevant to modern corporations.

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