order to govern effectively. In the years leading up to 1868 members .
of the Satsuma and Choshu clans were part of the imperialist .
opposition. This opposition claimed that the only way that Japan could .
survive the encroachment of the foreigners was to rally around the .
Emperor.Footnote4 The Imperialists, claimed that the Tokugawa .
Shogunate had lost its imperial mandate to carry out the Imperial Will .
because it had capitulated to Western powers by allowing them to open .
up Japan to trade. During this time the ideas of the imperialists .
gained increasing support among Japanese citizens and intellectuals .
who taught at newly established schools and wrote revisionist history .
books that claimed that historically the Emperor had been the.
ruler of Japan.Footnote5 The fact that the Tokugawa's policy of .
opening up Japan to the western world ran counter to the beliefs of .
the Emperor and was unpopular with the public made the Tokugawa .
vulnerable to attack from the imperialists. The imperialists pressed .
their attack both militarily and from within the Court of Kyoto. The .
great military regime of Edo which until recently had been all .
powerful was floundering not because of military weakness, or because .
the machinery of government had broken but instead because the .
Japanese public and the Shoguns supporters felt they had lost the .
Imperial Will.Footnote6 .
The end of the Tokugawa regime shows the power of the .
symbolism and myths surrounding the imperial institution. The.
head of the Tokugawa clan died in 1867 and was replaced by the son of .
a lord who was a champion of Japanese historical studies and who .
agreed with the imperialists claims about restoring the Emperor. .
Footnote7 So in 1868 the new shogun handed over all his power to the .
Emperor in Kyoto. Shortly after handing over power to the Emperor, the .
Emperor Komeo died and was replaced by his son who became the Meiji .
Emperor.Footnote8 Because the Meiji Emperor was only 15 all the power .