Meiji Period

(1868–1912) When the Japanese Tokugawa shogun lost his power in 1868, it ended the Edo Period and the Tokugawa military government (shogunate). The emperor was restored as head of Japan until 1912. It was a time of major political, economic and social reforms that brought Japan out of isolation to modernization and some Westernization, as the Meiji sought to create a country equal to other world powers. Overseas demand for Japanese art began in the Meiji period, Japanese artists began to study western art and there was an expansion of artistic subject, styles and influences that created a new national style.