Page:Home Life in Tokyo (homelifeintokyo00inouuoft).djvu/17
HOME LIFE IN TOKYO.
CHAPTER I.
TOKYO THE CAPITAL.
The youngest of the capitals—Yedo—The feudal government—Prosperity of Yedo—Its population—The military class—The Restoration—The new government—National reorganisation—Centralisation—Local government—Tokyo the leader of other cities—Struggle between Old and New Japan—The last stronghold of Old Japan.
TOKYO is the youngest of the great capitals of the world, for it was only in 1868 that the present Emperor of Japan left the old city where his ancestors had for centuries lived in seclusion and made the Shogun's stronghold his new home and seat of government. It was a politic move; because though the Shogun had already resigned his office and surrendered the absolute authority he had exercised in the government of the country, there were still many among his followers who were unwilling to give up their hereditary offices. Had the Emperor then remained in Kyoto and there established his government, it would have been comparatively easy for these discontented partisans of the Shogun to foment an insurrection in the largest city of the Empire, which might assume serious proportions before it could be quelled, especially in those days when the means of communication and transportation were yet very primitive. Hence, it was decided to remove the central government to the possible hot-bed of disaffection and, by the strong arm of the newly-constituted administration, to nip in the bud all signs of rebellion. And so the Emperor and his Court forsook the city which had been the nominal capital for a thousand years and took up their abode in the great military centre which was known as Yedo; but when the Emperor arrived at the old