I think this an important moment in Japanese history.
From the museum notes: In 1953, Commodore Matther Calbraith Perry (1794-1858) and his squadron of four "black ships" arrived at Uraga Bay, with a letter from the American President, Millard Fillmore, demanding the opening of Japan's harbors.
This appearance sent shock waves troughout Japan and set Edo into an uproar. The bakufu attempted to stall by promising an answer the following year.
The next year, Perry arrived again at Edo Bay, forcefully demanding the signing of a treaty with the bakufu. The bakufu bowed to this pressure, and in 1954 signed a "Treaty of Peace and Amity" between the two nations.
In 1856, the first american consul, Townsend Harris, pressured the bakufu to secure the first commercial compact with Japan, which was signed in 1858. This treaty effectively put an end to over two-hundred years of Japanese isolation. In subsequent events, the bakufu elder, Ii Naosuke (1815-60) who had not waited for an imperial command before signing this treaty of "unequal provisions", was assassinated. Thereafter, the strength of the bakufu declined quickly.
In 1867, the fifteenth shogun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu (1837-1913) returned the rights of governing the land to the imperial court. Leaders of those who had stood firmly against the Tokugawa bakufu, issued a proclamation of the restoration of imperial rule. They then attempted to establish a military government by those who were claiming to be protecting the emperor. In the beginning of 1868, battles broke out to what was known as the "Boshin war". In the third month of 1868, Katsu Kaishu (1823-99), the leader of the bakufu army, met Saigo Takamori, a leader of the anti-bakufu forces, and negotiated for the bloodless surrender of Edo castle. Some two thousand disgrunted bakufu supporters, however, formed a company of resisters, and retreated to the Kan'eiji Temple at Ueno. There an army of 12000 men from Satsuma, Choshu, and some 21 other domains defeated them in ten hours of battle.
This defeat spelled the end of over 200 years of Tokugawa rule. Edo, which had once been the home of more than one million inhabitants, also declined in vigor. The new government aimed to establish a unified state with centralized rule. Old practices were discarded: the new era was named "Meiji", and Edo was renamed Tokyo ("east capital").
For a short time Tokyo was a kind of desert wasteland, but with the establishment of a street of governmental offices adjacent to the palace, the city, with its center around the Nihonbashi area, returned to normal.
