Those people who wanted to end Tokugawa…

Those people who wanted to end Tokugawa rule had not envisioned a new government or a new society; they had merely sought the transfer of power from Edo to Kyoto while retaining all their feudal prerogatives.

Instead, a profound change takes place.

The emperor emerges as a national symbol of unity in the midst of reforms that are much more radical than had been envisioned.