What is the Meiji Restoration and Bakumatsu? They are a series of events which took place during the collapse of the Tokugawa military government, or the Bakufu, and the transfer of power to the Imperial family.. Thus the name Bakumatsu was sprung, meaning end of Bakufu.
The Tokugawa can be loosely compared to feudalism. The Tokugawa shoguns, a dynasty of of rulers, strategically controlled Japan from the 17th century until the late 19th century. The dynasty started when a rather 'powerful' man named Tokugawa emerged and took control. Tokugawa assigned land to feudal lords, kept peace through a complicated, rigid system, and had members from each of the feudal lords to live in Edo, now Tokyo. Within this system, there were nobles, samurai, clergy, the peasants, and lastly, the merchants. This system went on throughout the successive rule fifteen shoguns for 250 years. During this time, the Emperor had been reduced to a symbolic person who had little or no say in any matter. Around the 1850s, Japan began to have trouble with rising foregin countries and didn't know whether to give in or assert itself. The Bakufu was beginning to look weaker and weaker to the feudal lords.
During these early times of struggle, a group called the shishi emerged. This group wanted to restore the Emperor to power and bring down the Bakufu. The shishi were terrified that a foregin country would seize Japan and turn it into a colony, so they were often considered terrorists. One of the shishi's greatest obstacles were the Shinsen-gumi, the Bakufu's secret police.
These were dreaded times filled with violent assassinations and battles, and the strict system the Bakufu had tried to preserve started to collapse. Finally, in 1868, power was restored to the Emperor. Japan began to reconstruct itself, and during this time, swords were banned and the honor of the samurai that they once had was revoked. This happened because many were afraid from the Bakumatsu, and were terrified with what they might cause with a sword.
So what does all this have to do with Rurouni Kenshin? Not much besides the fact that Kenshin and Saitou's history ties in with all of this. However, all of Kenshin's babble about more peaceful times and the times he has seen makes a little more sense now, doesn't it?
