Rurouni Kenshin takes place in 1860s Japan in the Meijii Era.  The Meijii Era proved the end of the Tocugawa reign.  The Tocugawas had ruled for two hundred years and saw the rise of the class system.  They had four classes:  the samurai, peasants, artisans, and merchants.  This was a time when the country was completely controlled my one person and a time of isolationism with the outside world.  Chaos and anit-government mentality developed over time and and emperor was restored to power, which began the Meijii Restoration.      The Meijii Era saw a government who aimed to make Japan a democratic state with equality among people.  Human rights such as religious freedom became important and education was modeled after the French and Dutch.  They wanted to catch the military up to the rest of the world, the parliament was formed and the Bank of Japan was formed in this time.