The Boshin War pitted the Tokugawa shogunate against the imperial court, while competing clans also disagreed over what role Western states and expertise should have in Japan. Once victorious, the imperial coalition moved away from exclusion and toward importing knowledge under Japanese control. The shift made military and institutional modernization a means of resisting the subordination experienced elsewhere in Asia.
Notable Point · 8:29-9:54
From anti-Western coalition to selective modernization
The Boshin War coalition changed rapidly from opposing Western influence to using Western knowledge on terms intended to preserve Japanese sovereignty.