Bakumatsu

B3A1K5U1M3A1T1S1U1

proper noun

The final years of the Edo period, between 1853 and 1867, when Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy and changed from a feudal Tokugawa shogunate to the pre-modern empire of the Meiji government.

OriginJapanese 幕末 →
Scrabble 17
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

proper noun
  1. historicalThe final years of the Edo period, between 1853 and 1867, when Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy and changed from a feudal Tokugawa shogunate to the pre-modern empire of the Meiji government.

Origin

  1. Japanese幕府
  2. Japanese幕末
  3. EnglishBakumatsu

Borrowed from Japanese 幕末 (bakumatsu), literally "end of the curtain". The "curtain", 幕 (baku), is from Japanese 幕府 (bakufu), originally referring to a military encampment for a commander, and then extended to the Shogunate's government.

More words from Japanese

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Bakumatsu. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Bakumatsu

MLA

“Bakumatsu.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Bakumatsu. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Bakumatsu,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Bakumatsu.

Source: Bakumatsu on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.