Datasets available include LCSH, BIBFRAME, LC Name Authorities, LC Classification, MARC codes, PREMIS vocabularies, ISO language codes, and more. During the Boshin War, Saig led the imperial forces at the Battle of TobaFushimi, and after led the imperial army toward Edo, where he accepted the surrender of Edo Castle from Katsu Kaish. Support for Saig was so strong that Satsuma had effectively seceded from the central government by the end of 1876. Imperial forces fell back, and Acting Major Nogi Maresuke of the Kokura Fourteenth Regiment lost the regimental colors in fierce fighting. Each battalion consisted of four companies. Today, building on this tradition, Sophia has developed Over the next two years, the government seized land from the elite samurai and redistributed profits to lower ranked warriors. 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. 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. Kyushu, Kysh region, Japan. [citation needed], In English, the most common name for the war is the "Satsuma Rebellion". He did not want to rebel, still feeling deep personal loyalty to the Meiji Emperor, but announced on February 7 that he would go to Tokyo to "question" the central government. The Satsuma rebellion was a resist from the Meiji government and modern changes that took place in 1877. The Meiji Restoration of 1868 signaled the beginning of the end for Japan's samurai warriors. Early on February 22, the Satsuma attack began. The rebellion lasted from January 29, 1877, until September of that year, when it was decisively crushed and its leader, Saig Takamori, was shot and mortally wounded. In the end, the dispute with Korea came to a head only in 1875 when a Japanese ship sailed to Korean shores, provoking artillery there into opening fire. Themes In Keeper N Me. By May, Saigo's army had surrounded Edo and threatened to attack, forcing the shogun's government to surrender. #ga-ad {display: none;} Each battalion was divided into ten companies of 200 men. Next, I stated the cause of the rebellion and the reaction of the Japanese government. Already a popular figure, after his death, Saigo Takamori was lionized by the Japanese people. Ever since his retirement from office, and his withdrawal to his native province in 1873, the elder Saigo had remained in Kagoshima, the chief town of Satsuma. Fighting continued into the night. This was the end of the so-called Satsuma Rebellion. Surely no conscript army of peasants could fight like the samurai! Like all other times in his life, though, his retirement was short-livedin January of 1869, the Satsuma daimyo made him a counselor of the domain's government. The five government warships in Kagoshima harbor added their firepower to Yamagata's artillery, and began to systematically reduce the rebel positions. After the Boshin War, Saigo retired to hunt, fish, and soak in hot springs. Rebellions by the samurai, which had broken out sporadically since 1868 (Meiji 1), including the 1869-70 conflict between irregular military units and upper rank samurai commanders in the Choshu domain, gained steam with the collapse of the "conquer Korea debate". The Satsuma samurai were initially organized into six battalions of 2,000 men each. However, he was never able to reconcile his love of samurai tradition with the demands of modernizing the nation. The surviving rebels made a stand on the slopes of Mount Enodake, and were soon surrounded. Conscription System in Japan Author : Ogawa, Gataro Year- 1921 Type- book "The Satsuma Rebellion led Japan to turn over a new leaf. . However, the Satsuma army was able to cut its way free from encirclement. When the attack finally came, the Satsuma forces withdrew, leaving small pockets of samurai to hit the larger army in guerrilla-style strikes. List Price: $31.95. Pro-emperor daimyo and radicals called for an end to the shogunate and the expulsion of all foreigners. He led his samurai straight up the middle of Kyushu, planning to cross the straits and march on Tokyo. Add to Wish List Link to this Book Add to Bookbag Sell this Book Buy it at Amazon Compare Prices. By 1877, he sided with rebel forces and fought in what's now known as the Satsuma Rebellion. Saigo spent a lot of time soaking in hot springs and strenuously avoiding politics. He changed his name to Saigo Sasuke, and the domain government declared him dead. 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. With these deaths, the Satsuma rebellion came to an end. Its name comes from the Satsuma Domain, which had been influential in the Restoration and became home to unemployed samurai after military reforms rendered their status obsolete. By March, Saigo realized that his rebellion was doomed. Then I introduced the leader of the rebellion. She has taught at the high school and university levels in the U.S. and South Korea. Saigo supported a stronger role for the Emperorbut distrusted the others' millennial rhetoric. In this rebellion, Saigo Takamori, one of the veteran statesmen of the Restoration, who enjoyed a wide popularity and was well versed in military tactics, acted as the head of the insurrection. In 1877, the samurai of the Satsuma Province rose up in the Satsuma Rebellion or Seinan Senso (Southwestern War), challenging the authority of the Restoration Government in Tokyo and testing the new imperial army. Feb. 15, 2023. 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. Fearing a rebellion, the Meiji government sent a warship to Kagoshima to remove the weapons stockpiled at the Kagoshima arsenal on January 30, 1877. After the Restoration the condition of things became less unsettled in Mito, and to some extent also in Choshiu. The schools resembled paramilitary political organizations more than anything else, and they enjoyed the support of the governor of Satsuma, who appointed disaffected samurai to political offices, where they came to dominate the Kagoshima government. In the hostilities which followed he took no part, being content to show his disapproval of the new regime by withdrawing into a retirement from which he never again emerged. On the third day of battle, the artillery division from Tsu domain defected to Saigo's side and began to shell the shogun's army instead. Its name comes from the Satsuma Domain, which had been influential in the Restoration and became home to unemployed samurai after military reforms rendered their . The Meiji Era controlled most of Japan, except for a small area in the southwestern part of Japan, which was the Satsuma. 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. 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. [2] He had six siblings and his younger brother was Marshal-Admiral Marquis Saig Jd. The conflict effectively ended the samurai class and ushered in modern warfare fought by conscript soldiers instead of military nobles. First I developed my thesis statement. On the same day, Saig met with his lieutenants Kirino Toshiaki and Shinohara Kunimoto and announced his intention of marching to Tokyo to ask questions of the government. Its name comes from the Satsuma Domain, which had been influential in the Restoration and became home to unemployed samurai after military reforms rendered their status obsolete. Several samurai, upon seeing him in this state, would have severed his head, assisting him in the warrior's suicide that they knew he would have wished. 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. Imperial reinforcements eventually forced their way through the rebel lines at the Battle of Tabaruzaka, lifting the siege. Saigo was getting accustomed to the second island when he was transferred to a desolate penal island further south, where he spent more than a year on that dreary rock, returning to Satsuma only in February of 1864. "How the Samurai Ended During the Satsuma Rebellion." In this,, The last and greatest revolt came in 1877 in Satsuma. The Satsuma Rebellion : Illustrated Japanese History - the Last Stand of the Samurai by Wilson, Sean and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at AbeBooks.com. Undeniably, it was one of the most noteworthy incidents during Japan's transition from a feudal regime to a modern state. Main article: Satsuma Rebellion Portrait of Saig Takamori, faithful depiction by the acquaintance Tokonami Masayoshi in 1887 Saig preparing for war Shortly thereafter, a private military academy known as the Shi-gakk was established in Kagoshima for the faithful samurai who had also resigned their posts to follow him from Tokyo. A myth persists that the head was never found. As with its predecessors, the origins of 1877 lie in the 1873 debate over a proposed invasion of Korea. Decent Essays. [6] In debate, some scholars have suggested that neither is the case and that Saig may have gone into shock following his wound, losing his ability to speak. Tokyo intended to confiscate the weapons and take them to an imperial arsenal in Osaka. Saigo was shot through the femur in the last suicide charge and one of his companions cut off his head and hid it from the imperial troops to preserve his honor. During war, the mountain artillery had a nominal strength of 160 men per battery and field artillery had 130 men per battery. In July, the Emperor's army encircled Saigo's men, but the Satsuma army fought its way free with heavy casualties. Today, he serves the thoroughly modern nation of Japan as a symbol of its samurai traditionstraditions that he reluctantly helped to destroy. Szczepanski, Kallie. Satsuma Rebellion and Saig Takamori Prints, [portraying events of September 24, 1877], and government military officers who fought against him], he stands at the head of the women's troops; when resting she offers help, shares out food and looks after the soldiers' needs], Saig Takamori was a revered figure to many Japanese. 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