# Bakumatsu

> English word · Proper noun

## Definitions
1. 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.

## Etymology
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.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/bakumatsu