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The Meiji era (明治時代 Meiji jidai, lit. "Age of Enlightened Rule") is the official name of the era of Japanese history spanning from October 23th, 1868, to July 30th, 1912.
Coinciding the succession of Emperor Meiji in 1867, the Tokugawa Shogunate was being pressured to modernize Japan, an idea the Emperor was sympathetic towards. With political support, the shogunate would come to its official end and Imperial power would be restored, remembered as the Meiji Restoration. Shortly thereafter, the Boshin War began in 1868, and later that year, Edo was renamed to Tokyo, the Emperor was crowned in October, and officially the Keiō era was formally changed to the Meiji era. The Boshin War ended in Imperial victory in 1869.
It was a time of hasty modernization and westernization, as Japan transitioned from being a feudal society to an emergent regional great power by Western standards. It was followed up by the Taishou era.