Historedia
Episode 2 of 6

Meiji Restoration Proclamation

When
3-4 January 1868
Where
Kyoto, Japan
Part of
Meiji Restoration declared and the Boshin War opens in Japan

Emperor Meiji proclaimed the restoration of imperial rule in Kyoto; sources date the proclamation to 3 or 4 January 1868.

Sources disagree on the date. The Toba–Fushimi and Meiji Restoration accounts state the restoration was formally proclaimed on 3 January 1868, with the emperor declaring power restored to the Imperial House. The Boshin War account states pro-Imperial elements seized the imperial palace in Kyoto on 3 January, and the following day the fifteen-year-old Emperor Meiji declared his own restoration to full power. The Emperor Meiji account dates the formal restoration, ending 265 years of Tokugawa shogunate rule, to 4 January 1868.

Sources

  1. Battle of Toba–Fushimi Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-22
  2. Meiji Restoration Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-28
  3. Boshin War Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-21
  4. Emperor Meiji Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-03

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.