Thank you. Hello and welcome to the History of Japan podcast, episode 195, Fist of Legend, part two.

Before we get started, well, I just want to acknowledge that this is episode 195. We've made it quite a long

way in this series, and that's really awesome. It also means that it's been 100 episodes, or a

little over two years at this point, since we last did a question and answer episode. So that's a

tradition I would like to revive. So, five episodes from now for

episode 200, I'll be taking listener submitted questions and doing my best to answer them for the

entire episode. So if you've got anything you've been meaning to ask me, about Japan, about graduate

school, about teaching high school, recording a podcast, or something

else, feel free to send a question over, and for episode 200, I'll answer it.

So, let's get to the show. So with the risk of belaboring something I think we've gone over

plenty, but which I think it's really important to be clear about, the collapse of belaboring something, I think we've gone over plenty, but which I think

it's really important to be clear about, the collapse of the Tokugawa Shogunate, the

Meiji Restoration, and the end of samurai rule in Japan, created a dramatic series of changes

that revolutionized life in Japan.

If you're ranking the moments of real apocal change in Japan, I think the natural top

three would be the Meiji Restoration, the Taika reforms of 645, and the U.S. occupation.

And while the impact of each was relative to the social standing of those involved, for example,

I think the occupation was a bigger deal than the Meiji Restoration, for rural peasants

because of land reform, I also think it's hard to deny that all three represent real

moments of tremendous upheaval.

All of which is a rather circuitous way of setting up this basic point.

The Meiji Restoration in particular confronted practitioners of Japan's martial traditions

...