In 1871 he was left in charge of the caretaker government during the absence of the Iwakura Mission (187173). The Shigakko students set out with him, bringing rifles, pistols, swords, and artillery. A battalion had 640 men in peacetime and theoretically 960 men in wartime. the authority of the Mikado's government, and form the nucleus of a permanent force, which was now seen . The Last Samurai chronicles the fortuitous rise and tragic fall of Saig. "The Last Samurai: The Life and Battles of Saigo Takamori." Saig was defeated and killed at the . Page 1 of 17 - About 161 Essays Improved Essays. Later, they would have said that he committed seppuku to preserve his status as a true samurai.[7]. Maebara Ikkaku, from Bumbu komei den (Story of famous figures for military and literary) 20,000 YEN TOSHIMOTO. Saigo privately cheered on the rebels in other provinces, but stayed at his country house rather than returning to Kagoshima for fear that his presence might spark yet another rebellion. 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. 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. The modernization of the country meant the abolition of the privileged social status of the samurai class, and had undermined their financial position. For terms and use, please refer to our Terms and Conditions (2021, September 2). The situation was especially desperate for the defenders as their stores of food and ammunition had been depleted by a warehouse fire shortly before the rebellion began. On its march to Kumamoto castle, the army was divided into three divisions; a vanguard of 4,000 men, the main division of 4,000 men, and a rearguard of 2,000 men. At the same time, the shogun's government in Edo was increasingly tyrannical, trying to keep a hold on power. [11], Modern weapons that were used by the Imperial Army include the Smith and Wesson Model 3, Colt 1851 Navy Revolver, Winchester Model 1873, Enfield Pattern 1853, Mauser Model 1871, as well as the Gatling and Armstrong guns. The influential Satsuma samurai, Saigo Takamori, was away at the time and had no knowledge of these events, but hurried home when he heard the news. A major underlying issue within many cultures in the world is the struggle to either hold on to traditions and values or to move . In February 1877, the Meiji government dispatched Hayashi Tomoyuki, an official with the Home Ministry with Admiral Kawamura Sumiyoshi in the warship Takao to ascertain the situation. shizoku rebellion. . Szczepanski, Kallie. The accounts of his subordinates claim that he stood up and committed seppuku after his injury or that he requested that his friend Beppu Shinsuke assist his suicide. Satsuma Rebellion. ThoughtCo. The artillery consisted of 28 5-pounders, two 16-pounders, and 30 mortars. During war, the mountain artillery had a nominal strength of 160 men per battery and field artillery had 130 men per battery. "Southwestern War") was a revolt of disaffected samurai against the new imperial government, nine years into the Meiji Era. Tokyo intended to confiscate the weapons and take them to an imperial arsenal in Osaka. 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. ThoughtCo, Sep. 2, 2021, thoughtco.com/figures-and-events-in-asian-history-s2-3896549. At the start of the Satsuma Rebellion, the Imperial Japanese Army (including the Imperial Guard) numbered approximately 34,000 men. 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. This includes data values and the controlled vocabularies that house them. Living during the late Edo and early Meiji periods, he later led the Satsuma Rebellion against the Meiji government. 0 Reviews. Saig Takamori Gunmusho () banknote, issued in 1877 to finance his war effort. [10] Statues in Ueno Park, Tokyo and near the ruins of Kagoshima Castle stand in his memory. Read 7 reviews from the world's largest community for readers. The very rapid and massive changes to Japanese culture, language, dress and society appeared to many samurai to be a betrayal of the ji ("expel the barbarian") portion of the sonn ji justification used to overthrow the former Tokugawa shogunate. Today, he serves the thoroughly modern nation of Japan as a symbol of its samurai traditionstraditions that he reluctantly helped to destroy. 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. First I developed my thesis statement. A primary source of its causes and events. Themes In Keeper N Me. 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. Kyushu, Kysh region, Japan. Some legends say Saig's manservant hid the head, and it was later found by a government soldier. They had, they considered, paid the piper, and they wished to call the tune. Japan Currency Museum. ISBN-13: 9781142113520. The Satsuma Rebellion was a samurai rebellion against the imperial government of Japan which occurred from 29 January to 24 September 1877 on the island of Kyushu. revolt of disaffected samurai against the new imperial government, nine years into the Meiji Era. 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. 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. The division of feeling which existed in several of the clans following the Meiji Restoration was most conspicuous in Satsuma, Choshiu and Mito. Although much of his history has been lost, recent scholars have discovered clues to the true nature of this illustrious warrior and diplomat. There were two "regiments" of line cavalry and one "regiment" of imperial guard cavalry. '", The Lavenberg Collection of Japanese Prints, Gorykaku (surrender of the Ezo rebels to Saig, The Rebellion Begins, Issue 1 from the Osaka newspaper Kagoshima-ken ari no sonomama, March 5, 1877, The Huge Win of the Armed Forces, Issue 4 from the Osaka newspaper Kagoshima-ken ari no sonomama, March 5, 1877, The Debate Over Invading Korea (Seikanron), May 15, 1877, The Arraignment of Oyama Tsunayoshi, August 27, 1877, Illustration of the Rebels Being Suppressed at Kagoshima, October 1877, Report on the Actual Condition at the Battlefield, September 21, 1877. Datasets available include LCSH, BIBFRAME, LC Name Authorities, LC Classification, MARC codes, PREMIS vocabularies, ISO language codes, and more. The Meiji Restoration of 1868 signaled the beginning of the end for Japan's samurai warriors. Names, Romanizations, and Spelling (page 2 of 2), Satsuma Rebellion: Satsuma Clan Samurai Against the Imperial Japanese Army, Organization of Imperial and Satsuma Forces, Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office, Imperial Rescript to Soldiers and Sailors, Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, German preWorld War II industrial co-operation, International Military Tribunal for the Far East, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Satsuma_Rebellion&oldid=1121217754, Pages with non-numeric formatnum arguments, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles containing Japanese-language text, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2022, Articles with unsourced statements from April 2021, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Buck, James H. "The Satsuma Rebellion of 1877. Satsuma had no reserve of extra weapons and insufficient ammunition for an extended war. Saigo Takamori: The Last Samurai. Though in Satsuma the rivalry of individual leaders had stopped short of open hostilities, the division of feeling was not less marked. @media only screen and (min-device-width : 320px) and (max-device-width : 480px) { In December 1876, the Meiji government sent a police officer named Nakahara Hisao and 57 other men to investigate reports of subversive activities and unrest. Although Nakahara later repudiated the confession, it was widely believed in Satsuma and was used as justification by the disaffected samurai that a rebellion was necessary in order to "protect Saig". This rebellion was led by the restoration hero Saig Takamori and lasted six months. By 1877, he sided with rebel forces and fought in what's now known as the Satsuma Rebellion. In the Emperor's capital, politics had changed significantly during Saigo's exile. In this,, The last and greatest revolt came in 1877 in Satsuma. Bonded by their distaste for the shogunate, Choshu and Satsuma gradually formed an alliance. traffic source, etc. Superior Essays. History of the Western Insurrection in Western Pennsylvania, Commonly Called the Whiskey Insurrection. Satsuma Rebellion. However, Saig burned his private papers and army uniform on August 19, and slipped away towards Kagoshima with his remaining able-bodied men. Wikipedia. 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. Corrections? All three accounts report that the body was decapitated. Despite a rocky relationship with the new daimyo of Satsuma, Nariakira's half-brother Hisamitsu, Saigo soon was back in the fray. Ravina, Mark. 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. Sources of the Meiji Restoration. He went to the Emperor's court in Kyoto in March and was amazed to meet samurai from other domains who treated him with reverence for his defense of Gessho. As a result, Takamori and his siblings all shared a single blanket at night even though they were large people, sturdy with a few standing over six feet tall. Modern weapons were also used such as the Smith & Wesson Model No. 724 Words; 3 Pages; Themes In Keeper N Me. In the end, he was killed by the imperial army he organized. In either case, his retainer, Beppu Shinsuke, cut off his head to ensure that Saigo's death was honorable. These disaffected samurai came to dominate the Kagoshima government, and fearing a rebellion, the government sent warships to Kagoshima to remove weapons from the Kagoshima arsenal. Upload media. Legend says that one of his followers, Beppu Shinsuke, acted as kaishakunin and aided Saig in committing seppuku before he could be captured. Rather than risk desertions or defections, Tani decided to stand on the defensive. Fearing a rebellion, the Meiji government sent a warship to Kagoshima to remove the weapons stockpiled at the Kagoshima arsenal on January 30, 1877. They resorted to digging up unexploded Satsuma ordinance and refiring it. Battle of Tabaruzaka: Imperial troops on the left, rebel samurai troops on the right, Saigo's army clashes with the government's forces. The line infantry was divided into 14 regiments of three battalions each. Next, I stated the cause of the rebellion and the reaction of the Japanese government. After his failure to take Kumamoto, Saig led his followers on a seven-day march to Hitoyoshi. Bibliolife DBA of Bibilio Bazaar II LLC, 2014 - 358 pages. Because of the Satsuma Rebellion, the government faced serious financial difficulties., the greatest, revolt came in Satsuma in 1877. A reproduction of the same statue stands on Okinoerabujima, where Saig had been exiled. [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. Initial Steps toward a Constitutional State, Preview of [Report of the Artillery Attack Against (Saigo Forces) in Shiroyama], Larger image of [Report of the Artillery Attack Against (Saigo Forces) in Shiroyama], Next ( Petition by Risshisha to Establish a National Assembly ), Chapter1 Initial Steps toward a Constitutional State, a. Conceptions of the Form of Government circa the Meiji Restoration, Chapter4 Crisis in Constitutional Politics. They saw Japan as the abode of godssince the Emperor descended from the Sun Goddessand believed that the heavens would protect them from the western military and economic might. In New England, merchants and farmers struggled to maintain their businesses in a new economy without established European trade or credit lines. Great Essays. RF HA13E4 - The donjon or central keep of the castle is a reconstruction built in the 1970s of the original sacked and burned during the AD.1877 Satsuma rebellion RM P3P0W0 - Battle of Seinan (1877)from Dainihon Rekishi Nishikie, published between late Edo and early Meiji period, Artist Yoshusai (Toyohara) Chikanobu, Private Collection. However, other evidence contradicts this, stating that Saig in fact died of the bullet wound and then had his head removed by Beppu in order to preserve his dignity. Unable to overcome the affection that the people had for this paragon of traditional samurai virtues, the Meiji-era government pardoned him posthumously on February 22, 1889. 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. Many of the warrior Samurai during the Seinan war (Satsuma rebellion) used the tosei (modern / post 1540) style samurai armor which consisted of a ni-mai . From humble beginnings in the capital of Satsuma, Saigo followed the path of the samurai through his brief exile and would go on to lead reform in the Meiji government, eventually dying for his causeleaving a lasting impact on the people and culture of 1800s Japan. All, perhaps, over-estimated their share in the accomplishment of the Restoration. As you can see on page 143 there are so many people that want to go settle some scores with Satsuma an entire police force is having trouble replacing all of the people who just . SAIGO, who was then living in seclusion, had no choice but to rise to action after the private-school faction beseeched him to do so. Three firsthand accounts of the condition of his deceased body exist. From Kagoshima Through the Siege of Kumamoto Castle", This page was last edited on 11 November 2022, at 04:04. SAIGO's army campaigned as far as Kumamoto and Miyazaki (both in Kyushu), but then returned to Kagoshima in September, where it holed up in Shiroyama. instance of. In July, the Emperor's army encircled Saigo's men, but the Satsuma army fought its way free with heavy casualties. Zargabraath 3 yr. ago. The province of Satsuma is situated in the southernmost portion of the island of Kyushu, and Kagoshima is the capital city. The true story that inspired the 2003 Tom Cruise film The Last Samurai, the Satsuma Rebellion (seinan sens, or "Southwestern War" in Japanese) was an 1877 rebellion of disaffected ex-samurai from Satsuma domain against the newly constituted Meiji government of Japan.Led by an erstwhile member of the government's highest circle, the legendary samurai Saigo Takamori, the . Eventually Saig and his final remaining samurai were encircled and annihilated at the Battle of Shiroyama. On February 22, the main Satsuma army arrived and attacked Kumamoto castle in a pincer movement. Satsuma Rebellion. By May, Saigo's army had surrounded Edo and threatened to attack, forcing the shogun's government to surrender. A battalion was 672 men strong and was organized as per the line battalions. With a smaller force, and unsure about the loyalty of his Kyushu-native troops, Tani decided to stay inside the castle rather than venture out to face Saigo's army. He led his samurai straight up the middle of Kyushu, planning to cross the straits and march on Tokyo. 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. The Guard infantry was divided into 2 regiments of 2 battalions each. In real life, Saig initially led the Imperial forces and won the four-day Battle of Toba-Fushimi in January 1868. Each man was armed with a small firearmeither a rifle, a carbine, or a pistolas well as 100 rounds of ammunition and, of course, his katana. 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. Saigo soon noted that he had "fallen into their trap and taken the bait" of settling into a siege. Multiple legends sprang up concerning Saig, many of which denied his death. The samurai then attacked imperial facilities around the province, seizing weapons and parading them through the streets of Kagoshima. 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. The Daimyo of Satsuma was one of the most powerful and aggressive of the . Location. The Satsuma Rebellion, also known as the Seinan War was a revolt of disaffected samurai against the new imperial government, nine years into the Meiji Era. Satsuma Rebellion of 1877 - Sources The division of feeling which existed in several of the clans following the Meiji Restoration was most conspicuous in Satsuma, Choshiu and Mito. Satsuma rebeliion.svg 703 965; 1.09 MB. Author: Augustus Henry Mounsey. Meanwhile, however, a crisis was developing in the government itself. 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