Background and career
Emperor Kōmei (孝明天皇, Kōmei-tennō; 22 July 1831 – 30 January 1867), personal name Osahito, was the 121st emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. Kōmei's reign spanned the years from 1846 through 1867, corresponding to the final years of the Edo period.
During his reign there was much internal turmoil as a result of Japan's first major contact with the United States, which occurred under Matthew C. Perry in 1853 and 1854, and the subsequent forced re-opening of Japan to Western nations, ending a 220-year period of national seclusion. Emperor Kōmei did not care much for anything foreign, and he opposed opening Japan to Western powers. His reign would continue to be dominated by insurrection and partisan conflicts, eventually culminating shortly after his death in the collapse of the Tokugawa shogunate and the Meiji Restoration in the beginning of the reign of his son and successor Emperor Meiji.
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