Because of the Satsuma Rebellion, the government faced serious financial difficulties. opposition to the Meiji Restoration In Japan: Abolition of feudalism the greatest, revolt came in Satsuma in 1877. Fearing a rebellion, the Meiji government sent a warship to Kagoshima to remove the weapons stockpiled at the Kagoshima arsenal on January 30, 1877. How the Samurai Ended During the Satsuma Rebellion, Overview of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, A Long History of Japanese Women Warriors, The Four-Tiered Class System of Feudal Japan, J.D., University of Washington School of Law, B.A., History, Western Washington University. On September 24, 1877, at 3:45 am, the Emperor's army launched its final assault in what is known as the Battle of Shiroyama. Satsuma Rebellion. Superior Essays. Saigo was disgusted by this treacherous tactic as well. In Kagoshima prefecture (formerly Satsuma domain), the samurai of the 'private-school faction' (referring to graduates of the private school set up by SAIGO Takamori and his disciples), organized by KIRINO Toshiaki, et al., joined forces with the Prefectural Governor OYAMA Tsunayoshi to advance their own policies. This rebellion was led by the restoration hero Saig Takamori and lasted six months. On February 13 and 14, the Satsuma domain's army of 12,900 organized itself into units. Brilliant Essays. Multiple legends sprang up concerning Saig, many of which denied his death. In April of 1871, Saigo was persuaded to return to Tokyo to organize the new national army. On January 30, 1877, the central government launched a raid on the arms and ammunition storage areas in Kagoshima, without any prior warning to the Satsuma authorities. Blog. However, a government garrison at Kumamoto Castle stood in the Satsuma rebels' path, manned by about 3,800 soldiers and 600 police under Major General Tani Tateki. Saigo Takamori was born on January 23, 1828, in Kagoshima, Satsuma's capital, the oldest of seven children. When the attack finally came, the Satsuma forces withdrew, leaving small pockets of samurai to hit the larger army in guerrilla-style strikes. Soon, more than 1,000 Satsuma samurai appeared and drove off the intruding sailors. Satsuma daimyo Shimazu Hisamitsu did not acknowledge the departing army when the men stopped to bow at the gates of his castle. 0 references. From Kagoshima Through the Siege of Kumamoto Castle", This page was last edited on 11 November 2022, at 04:04. The eight-month-long Satsuma Rebellion was the last great rebellion of feudal Japan, quite literally the last stand of the disaffected samurai warriors against the new imperial government, put in place by the Meiji Restoration. They resisted the Imperial forces until they were destroyed to the last man. [10] Statues in Ueno Park, Tokyo and near the ruins of Kagoshima Castle stand in his memory. In the wee hours of the morning on September 24, the emperor's troops launched a three-hour-long artillery barrage, followed by a massed infantry assault that began at 6 am. Contemporary illustrations show the cavalry armed with lances. Down to about 3,000 men, the Satsuma forces made a stand on Mount Enodake. In either case, his retainer, Beppu Shinsuke, cut off his head to ensure that Saigo's death was honorable. In the 7th century, Japan took a . Gordon, Andrew. With these deaths, the Satsuma rebellion came to an end. Later this would turn out to be a pivotal decision since Choshu was Satsuma's major ally in the Boshin War. Saigo, however, had no regard for the conscripted farm boys who made up the imperial army. As commander of Satsuma's troops, Saigo led an 1864 punitive expedition against the Choshu domain, whose army in Kyoto had opened fire on the Emperor's residence. [6] The costs of pacifying the former samurai led to the Meiji government becoming virtually bankrupt; the government was forced to sell off state-owned enterprises such as factories and mines to politically-connected merchants and former officials at low prices, leading to the instant formation of large industrial firms or zaibatsu. Just four days after his return, he had an audience with the daimyo, Hisamitsu, who shocked him by appointing him commander of the Satsuma army in Kyoto. What will you do when your traditional way of life is threatened by a powerful force in your native lands? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). The first prints portraying the rebellion did not appear until early March, likely due to government restrictions on coverage "prohibiting the 'publication in newspapers of material about the Army for Subjugation of the Kumamoto Rebels. [9], A Japanese hand fan commemorating the event, which survives in the collection of the Staten Island Historical Society in New York, features a depiction of Saig Takamori in a scene labeled (in English) "The Battle Near the Citadel of Kumamoto".[10]. Satsuma had no reserve of extra weapons and insufficient ammunition for an extended war. The Satsuma Rebellion (February 1877 - September 1877) and Its Woodblock Prints In riding through the streets one notices the crowds in front of the picture shops, which are bright in color from the war prints. Each battalion was divided into ten companies of 200 men. Saigo suspected that the Koreans might assassinate him, but felt that his death would be worthwhile if it gave Japan a truly legitimate reason to attack its neighbor. Read 7 reviews from the world's largest community for readers. The Tokugawa regime was falling apart, but it had not yet occurred to Saigo that a future Japanese government might not include a shogunafter all, the shoguns had ruled Japanfor 800 years. Since the OP might be interested, here are the pages from the above reading on the Satsuma Rebellion and its aftermath. The rebellion of the Satsuma samurai involved about 12000 men, almost all of which were of that class and hence would have proper swords.Wikipedia states that there were about 1200 labourers. Sources describe him as dressed in an austere yellow kimono . What the disaffected clans and individuals wanted was a larger share of power. Other imperial loyalists wrote to him for advice on politics, so despite his exile and officially dead status, he continued to have an impact in Kyoto. The coming into force in January, 1877, of the edict, issued in the previous year, prohibiting the wearing of swords, was followed by Shimadzu's resignation of the high office he held in the Ministry. [7] These state-owned industries had been operating at a loss, and Finance Minister Matsukata Masayoshi decided to sell all of these to politically connected capitalists at a loss, except the railroad, telegraph and military industries. Soon 132 branches were established all over the prefecture. The Battle of Shiroyama ( Shiroyama no tatakai) took place on 24 September 1877, in Kagoshima, Japan. Browsing subject area: Satsuma Rebellion, 1877 (Exclude extended shelves) You can also browse an alphabetical list from this subject or from: . She has taught at the high school and university levels in the U.S. and South Korea. The rebellion was very expensive for the government, which forced it to make numerous monetary reforms including leaving the gold standard. Professor John Lynn 442 Gregory Hall Office Hours: MW, 1pm and by appointment [email protected] Cell Phone: 217-778-7333 History 251/GLBL 251: War, Military Institutions, and Society since 1815 Spring Semester 2023 MW, 12pm, 319 Lincoln Hall Check out Professor Lynn's web page and CV: Canvas All the basic materials for this class can be found on Canvas at Spring 2023-HIST 251-Warfare Milit . Yamagata also landed a detachment with two infantry brigades and 1,200 policemen behind the rebel lines, so as to fall on them from the rear from Yatsushiro Bay. However, he soon learned that 50 Tokyo police officers who were Satsuma natives had returned home with instructions to assassinate him in the case of an uprising. Szczepanski, Kallie. Most of Saig's remaining forces either surrendered or committed seppuku. For terms and use, please refer to our Terms and Conditions As tensions increased, in January 1877, the central government sent a ship to seize munitions stores from Kagoshima. The Last Samurai's Katsumoto Moritsugu is based on the iconic Japanese samurai Saig Takamori. ThoughtCo. Saigo spent a lot of time soaking in hot springs and strenuously avoiding politics. Though in Satsuma the rivalry of individual leaders had stopped short of open hostilities, the division of feeling was not less marked. Satsuma Rebellion. Located on the southern tip of Kyushu Island, more than 800 miles south of Tokyo, the Satsuma domain had existed and governed itself for centuries with very little interference from the central government. (2021, September 7). "How the Samurai Ended During the Satsuma Rebellion." Not long after the wedding, both of Saigo's parents died, leaving Saigo as the head of a family of twelve with little income to support them. Later woodcut prints depicted the rebel leader kneeling to commit traditional seppuku, but that would not have been possible given his filariasis and shattered leg. The Satsuma Rebellion is recommended to all readers interested in Japanese and samurai history. A gripping graphic novel describing the uprising of 1887, when. Szczepanski, Kallie. Although Satsuma had been one of the key players in the Meiji Restoration and the Boshin War, and although many men from Satsuma had risen to influential positions in the new Meiji government, there was growing dissatisfaction with the direction the country was taking. Because of the Satsuma Rebellion, the government faced serious financial difficulties., the greatest, revolt came in Satsuma in 1877. As with its predecessors, the origins of 1877 lie in the 1873 debate over a proposed invasion of Korea. The imperial troops spent several days constructing an elaborate system of ditches, walls and obstacles to prevent another breakout. Yates, Charles L. "Saigo Takamori in the Emergence of Meiji Japan." The traditional explanation of the offensive rifle cartridges causing the initial outbreak of mutiny is only part of the story. Public apprehension found free expression in the Press, which said that the nation was divided into two parties, one being for the Government, the other for Satsuma, and asked what could be done to preserve peace. Although kubo Toshimichi and others were more active and influential in establishing the new Meiji government, Saig retained a key role, and his cooperation was essential in the abolition of the han system and the establishment of a conscript army. News article in Le Monde Illustr, 1877. date= January 29, 1877 to September 24, 1877 place= Kysh, Japan result=Imperial Victory combatant1= Empire of Japan combatant2=Satsuma domain As was the tradition for samurai in the event of their lord's death, Saigo contemplated committing to accompany Shimazu into death, but the monk Gessho convinced him to live and continue his political work to honor Nariakira's memory instead. The artillery battalion was divided into 2 batteries with 130 men per battery. However, most of the garrison was from Kysh, while a significant number of officers were natives of Kagoshima; their loyalties were open to question. In disgust at this latest move of a Government with which he had never from the first been in sympathy, he left Tokio. His political organizing ran afoul of the new daimyo, however, who had him arrested and banished to a different small island just four months after his return from Amami. Friction among the Cabinet members over the question of Korean conquest, added to the local disturbances, made the already confused state of things worse confounded, and the result was the famous Satsuma Rebellion of 1877. All, perhaps, over-estimated their share in the accomplishment of the Restoration. Saig expected both that a war would ultimately be successful for Japan and also that the initial stages of it would offer a means by which the samurai whose cause he championed could find meaningful and beneficial death. Today, he serves the thoroughly modern nation of Japan as a symbol of its samurai traditionstraditions that he reluctantly helped to destroy. The Satsuma Rebellion. The Satsuma Rebellion, also known as the Seinan War ( Japanese: , Hepburn: Seinan Sens, lit. However, Saig was one of the most vocal and vehement opponents to the negotiated solution, demanding that the Tokugawa be stripped of their lands and special status. After the Boshin War, Saigo retired to hunt, fish, and soak in hot springs. Warbox|conflict=Satsuma Rebellion caption= Saig Takamori (seated, in Western uniform), surrounded by his officers, in traditional attire. Meanwhile, however, a crisis was developing in the government itself. 1 reference. Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Meiji Restoration leader's lessons of sincerity", Names, Romanizations, and Spelling (page 1 of 2), On Saig and the establishment of a railway, "The Apocryphal Suicide of Saig Takamori: Samurai, "Seppuku", and the Politics of Legend", Portraits of Modern Japanese Historical Figures, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Saig_Takamori&oldid=1130843774, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles lacking in-text citations from January 2018, Articles containing Japanese-language text, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Saig Kichijir (younger brother): Killed in action in the, Saig Kohei (younger brother): Killed in action in the, This page was last edited on 1 January 2023, at 07:05. By this time much uneasiness prevailed. Roughly one-half of the work is devoted to the entire course of the rebellion. As none of the eyewitness accounts mention a wound to the abdomen, or any fresh sword wound at all, it is unknown if Saig pierced his stomach with his sword. HOME > Initial Steps toward a Constitutional State > b. The government had just dealt with several small but violent samurai revolts in Kysh, and they found the prospect of rebellion by the numerous and fierce Satsuma samurai, led by the famous and popular Saig, an alarming one. The main Imperial Army, under General Kuroda Kiyotaka with the assistance of General Yamakawa Hiroshi arrived in Kumamoto on April 12, putting the now heavily outnumbered Satsuma forces to flight. At one point, he offered to visit Korea in person and to provoke a casus belli by behaving in such an insulting manner that the Koreans would be forced to kill him. The Whiskey Rebellion: George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and the Frontier Rebels who Challenged America's Newfound Sovereignty by William Hogeland. Ravina said that the war's scope was much farther than Satsuma, and he characterizes the event as being closer to a civil war than a rebellion. Reviews aren't verified, but Google checks for and removes fake content when it's identified. They retreated once more to Mount Shiroyama, which stands above the city of Kagoshima, where the rebellion began seven months earlier. Marching north, his army was hampered by the deepest snowfall Satsuma had seen in more than 50 years, which, because of the similarity to the weather that had greeted those setting out to enact the Meiji Restoration nine years earlier, was interpreted by some as a sign of divine support.[3]. The Satsuma Rebellion proved that a conscript army of commoners could out-fight even a very determined band of samuraiprovided they had overwhelming numbers, at any rate. The major religious activity of this sect is to chant and meditate the true names (Sat-Nam) of God, specially Rama and Krishna. Statements. Three years later, he began work in the local bureaucracy as an agricultural adviser, where he continued to work through his brief, childless arranged marriage to 23-year-old Ijuin Suga in 1852. Japanese Government Documents, 1867-1889 (special issue of Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan; 1914), by Japan, ed. The surviving rebels made a stand on the slopes of Mount Enodake, and were soon surrounded. However, the exact manner of his death is unknown. The Commandant of Kumamoto Castle Major General Tani Tateki had 3,800 soldiers and 600 policemen at his disposal. shizoku rebellion. The Meiji Era controlled most of Japan, except for a small area in the southwestern part of Japan, which was the Satsuma. [8] It was even recorded that his image appeared in a comet near the close of the 19th century, an ill omen to his enemies. On the night of April 8, a force from Kumamoto castle made a sortie, forcing open a gap in the Satsuma lines and enabling desperately needed supplies to reach the garrison. It began to promote samurai officials based on talent, rather than rank, and also encouraged the development of modern industry. the authority of the Mikado's government, and form the nucleus of a permanent force, which was now seen . The conflict effectively ended the samurai class and ushered in modern warfare fought by conscript soldiers instead of military nobles. Who are Satnamis? Saig did insist, however, that Japan should go to war with Korea in the Seikanron debate of 1873 due to Korea's refusal to recognize the legitimacy of the Emperor Meiji as head of state of the Empire of Japan, and insulting treatment meted out to Japanese envoys attempting to establish trade and diplomatic relations. Shiroyama no tatakai ) took place on 24 September 1877, in Kagoshima, Japan. of (. 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