The civilization and enlightenment is the phenomenon of absorption and intake of Western civilization flew into Japan in parallel with the renovation of political system, during the time when the strongly feudalistic Japanese culture that had been unbrokenly continued throughout the Edo period was coming to the limits due to the isolationism and the like.
文明開化は、江戸時代を通じて連綿と続いてきた封建制色濃い日本文化が鎖国などの事情で飽和状態に達していた所に、政治体制の刷新にも伴い流入した西洋文明によって発生した日本での西洋文明の吸収・取り込み現象である。