Emperor Meiji
Under him the shogunate fell, the court moved from Kyoto to Tokyo and Japan rapidly modernised and expanded in the Meiji Restoration.
TokyoSee the world of Emperor Meiji in the interactive map
Who ruled these places in his lifetime
From the border maps nearest to each date; borders are approximate.
Events in his lifetime
| Year | Event | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 1868 | The Meiji Restoration; Edo is renamed Tokyo | Tokyo |
| 1869 | The emperor moves to Tokyo | Kyoto |
Battles and sites of the time
- Battle of Tsushima · 1905
Further reading
Contemporaries
| Lived | Person | |
|---|---|---|
| 1844 – 1913 | Menelik II | Emperor of Ethiopia |
| 1828 – 1910 | Leo Tolstoy | Writer |
| 1853 – 1910 | Chulalongkorn (Rama V) | King of Siam |
| 1835 – 1908 | Empress Dowager Cixi | De facto ruler of Qing China |
| 1856 – 1939 | Sigmund Freud | Founder of psychoanalysis |
| 1861 – 1941 | Rabindranath Tagore | Poet |
| 1819 – 1901 | Queen Victoria | Queen of the United Kingdom |
| 1815 – 1898 | Otto von Bismarck | Chancellor of Germany |
| 1866 – 1925 | Sun Yat-sen | Founder of the Republic of China |
| 1867 – 1934 | Marie Curie | Physicist and chemist |
Last updated 9 November 2026. Sources: border data from historical-basemaps, land and rivers from Natural Earth; texts written for Chronica Maps from standard reference works. How we make the maps.