Soumrak samurajů - Válka, velmoci, revoluce a vznik moderního Japonska (1850–1880) – Kodet Roman (2024)

For centuries, the military class – the samurai – dominated the Land of the Rising Sun. Under their rule, Japan experienced a period of prosperity, internal stability, and peace from the early 17th century. All this came at the cost of isolating the country from the 'corrupting' influence of foreigners from the West and a military dictatorship on the domestic scene. However, from the early 19th century, the interest of the 'southern barbarians' in the Japanese islands steadily increased. After 1854, Japan had to open its ports to European and American vessels and subsequently establish official relations with Western powers. This clash with a completely different culture destabilized the military government of the Tokugawa shogunate, which shook to its very foundations. This was followed by two decades of internal and external conflicts that irrevocably changed Japan. Faced with the Western threat, the military class proved incapable of effectively defending the country, and with the emergence of modern institutions and armed forces, it became an anachronism. After years of upheaval, assassinations, wars, and revolutions, the samurai suddenly became a thing of the past, and Japan moved towards the modern world. This book offers a view of this complex and turbulent process in the Czech language for the very first time. The Czech reader is thus opened to...