Bakumatsu

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/bakumatsu

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the historical period?1853-1867
2. What is the key ideological slogan?Sonnō jōi ('revere the Emperor, expel the barbarians')
3. What was Bakumatsu and when did it happen?Bakumatsu was the end of Japan’s long period of isolation. It lasted from 1853 to 1867.
4. Why did Japan stop being isolated during Bakumatsu?In 1853, Commodore Matthew Perry’s American fleet arrived with powerful ships. Their presence forced Japan to open its ports and end its isolation.

Tokugawa Shogunate: The military dictatorship that ruled Japan from 1603 to 1867.
Tozama Daimyo: Regional lords whose families had opposed the Tokugawa clan historically.
Meiji Restoration: The political revolution that ended the shogunate and restored imperial rule in 1868.