> In 1873, which traditional role was abolished in Japan?And the answer is: The Samurai.Samurai, the military officer caste of medieval Japan, were the stewards andchamberlains of feudal estates. The Meiji Revolution, which consolidated thepolitical system under the Emperor of Japan, ended their feudal roles.When US Commodore Matthew C. Perry came to Japan in 1853 in large warships,Japan discovered they were far behind in the technologies of western countries.Consequently, Japan threw open its doors to foreign technology.In the 1870s Samurai comprised five percent of the population of Japan. But theyhad become to represent an obsolete feudal institution. Because they had apractical monopoly of military force, and to a large extent of education, itbecame a priority of the Meiji government to gradually abolish the entire classof samurai and integrate them into the Japanese professional, military andbusiness classes.