In New England, merchants and farmers struggled to maintain their businesses in a new economy without established European trade or credit lines. 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. Over the next several nights, they raided additional arsenals around Kagoshima, stealing weapons and ammunition, and to make matters worse, they discovered that the national police had sent a number of Satsuma natives to the Shigakko as central government spies. Determined not to let the rebels escape again, Yamagata sent in a large force which outnumbered the Satsuma army 7:1. 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 . 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. After that I provided some background information on the samurai and the armor that they wore. 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. 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. In disgust at this latest move of a Government with which he had never from the first been in sympathy, he left Tokio. They were followed two days later by the rear guard and artillery unit, who left in the midst of a freak snowstorm. This provoked open conflict, although with the elimination of samurai rice stipends in 1877, tensions were already extremely high. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Attempts at Constitutional Government > Satsuma Rebellion. In the autumn of 1875 it was already in a flourishing condition, and in the course of the following year there were in Kagoshima alone some seven thousand pupils, or associates. 724 Words; 3 Pages; Themes In Keeper N Me. [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]. Meanwhile, the Joseon Dynasty in Korea refused to recognize the Mutsuhito as an emperor, because it traditionally recognized only the Chinese emperor as suchall other rulers were mere kings. Saig resigned from all of his government positions in protest and returned to his hometown of Kagoshima. Shortly thereafter, Saigo was promoted to the post of daimyo's attendant in 1854 and accompanied his lord to Edo on alternate attendance, taking a 900-mile-long walk to the shogun's capital, where the young man would work as his lord's gardener, unofficial spy, and confident. They resisted the Imperial forces until they were destroyed to the last man. 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. The Imperial Artillery consisted of 18 batteries divided into 9 battalions, with 120 men per battery during peacetime. Imperial forces fell back, and Acting Major Nogi Maresuke of the Kokura Fourteenth Regiment lost the regimental colors in fierce fighting. The conflict effectively ended the samurai class and ushered in modern warfare fought by conscript soldiers instead of military nobles. With Portrait, Maps, and. Saig was severely wounded. He also married a local woman namedAigana and fathered a son. 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. Early on February 22, the Satsuma attack began. Augustus Henry Mounsey. Saig Takamori was labelled as a tragic hero by the people, and his actions were considered an honorable example of bushido and Yamato-damashii. Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. 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. It began to promote samurai officials based on talent, rather than rank, and also encouraged the development of modern industry. . Three firsthand accounts of the condition of his deceased body exist. However, Saig burned his private papers and army uniform on August 19, and slipped away towards Kagoshima with his remaining able-bodied men. 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. List Price: $31.95. Ten years passed after the Restoration, and during that time order was gradually restored within the country. Arguably one of the most influential samurai, especially during the fall of the samurai class during the transition into the Meiji period, he led the Satsuma Rebellion in 1877, which marked the last of a series of uprisings against the new Meiji government. Rejecting large numbers of volunteers, he made no attempt to contact any of the other domains for support, and no troops were left at Kagoshima to secure his base against an attack. Officially, the Meiji Emperor's government had authority over those facilities after 1871, but Satsuma officials actually retained control of them. It contains an account of the battle, listing the number of cannons used, etc. The Rebellion reduced Japan's yearly expenditure from 13,700,000 to 10,250,000, and it raised Japan's national debt from 28,000,000 to 70,000,000. 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. Saigo was disgusted by this treacherous tactic as well. 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. 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. Fighting continued into the night. https://www.thoughtco.com/the-satsuma-rebellion-195570 (accessed March 1, 2023). As a peer-reviewed international forum for researchers across the globe, it carries original scholarly contributions on premodern and modern history, literature, art history, religion, and thought; translations of important Japanese literary and historical sources; and authoritative reviews of recent books on Japan. The Daimyo of Satsuma was one of the most powerful and aggressive of the . 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. On September 1, Saigo and his 300 surviving men moved to Shiroyama mountain above Kagoshima, which was occupied by 7,000 imperial troops. 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. While the year 1868 was crucial to the fall of the shogunate and the establishment of a new government . Illustration of the Navy Landing at Sukuchi Village (battle of Tabaruzaka Hill), Kagoshima Shinbun: Illustration of the Battle of Yamagaguchi, March 1877. Kumamoto, Fukuoka, Saga and other places in Kyushu, not to speak of Satsuma, his birthplace, responded to his call. Eventually Saig and his final remaining samurai were encircled and annihilated at the Battle of Shiroyama. 1973 Sophia University . The spy leader confessed under torture that he was supposed to assassinate Saigo. For terms and use, please refer to our Terms and Conditions Nariakira and his allies sought to increase the emperor's power at the expense of the shogun, but on July 15, 1858, Shimazu died suddenly, likely of poison. 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. After two days of fruitless attack, the Satsuma forces dug into the rock-hard icy ground around the castle and tried to starve the garrison out in a siege. by HistoryNet Staff 6/12/2006 He was settling happily into island life but reluctantly had to leave the island in February of 1862 when he was called back to Satsuma. Economic effects of the Satsuma Rebellion resulted in the passing of the Act of February 4, 1877, which reduced the land tax from 3% to 2.5%. Although greatly dismayed by the revolt, Saig was reluctantly persuaded to lead the rebels against the central 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. traffic source, etc. Rather than risk desertions or defections, Tani decided to stand on the defensive. In April 1877, Saig reorganized the army into nine infantry units of 350 to 800 men each. SAIGO's forces were crushed on September 24, 1877 (Meiji 10) in the face of a general attack by government forces. 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. It signaled the beginning of the Japanese Imperial Army's rise to domination in eastern Asia, which would end only with Japan's eventual defeat in World War II almost seven decades later. During 1867, Saigo and officials from Choshu and Tosa made plans to bring down the Tokugawa bakufu. Because of the Satsuma Rebellion, the government faced serious financial difficulties., the greatest, revolt came in Satsuma in 1877. 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. In 1873, the central government began to conscript commoners as soldiers, replacing the samurai. 0 references. After Oyama departed, a flotilla of small ships filled with armed men attempted to board Takao by force, but were repelled. Page 1 of 17 - About 161 Essays Improved Essays. Each battalion consisted of four companies. The following day, Hayashi declared to Oyama that he could not permit Kawamura to go ashore when the situation was so unsettled, and that the attack on Takao constituted an act of lse-majest. When an Imperial Navy landing party reached the arsenal at Somuta under cover of night, locals raised the alarm. The line infantry was divided into 14 regiments of three battalions each. Over the next three days, more than 1000 students staged raids on the naval yards and other arsenals.[3]. She has taught at the high school and university levels in the U.S. and South Korea. Wikipedia. Over the next two years, the government seized land from the elite samurai and redistributed profits to lower ranked warriors. History of the Western Insurrection in Western Pennsylvania, Commonly Called the Whiskey Insurrection. Multiple legends sprang up concerning Saig, many of which denied his death. Reviews aren't verified, but Google checks for and removes fake content when it's identified. A battalion had 640 men in peacetime and theoretically 960 men in wartime. Battle of Tabaruzaka: Imperial troops on the left, rebel samurai troops on the right, Saigo's army clashes with the government's forces. [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. [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. Few would return. At age six, Saigo Takamori started at the local gojuor samuraielementary schooland got his first wakizashi, the short sword used by samurai warriors. Their artillery consisted of 28 5-pounders, two 16-pounders, and 30 mortars. From Kagoshima Through the Siege of Kumamoto Castle", This page was last edited on 11 November 2022, at 04:04. [2] He wrote poetry under the name Saig Nansh ( ).[3]. ThoughtCo, Sep. 2, 2021, thoughtco.com/figures-and-events-in-asian-history-s2-3896549. Format: Paperback. 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. Imperial forces landed with few losses, then pushed north seizing the city of Miyanohara on March 19. The leaders of the restoration were mostly young samurai from feudal domains ( han s) historically hostile to Tokugawa authority, notably Chsh, in far western Honshu, and Satsuma, in southern Kyushu. Szczepanski, Kallie. 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. 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. By 1861, Saigo was well-integrated into the local community. Dr. Kallie Szczepanski is a history teacher specializing in Asian history and culture. Already a popular figure, after his death, Saigo Takamori was lionized by the Japanese people. By 7 o' clock that morning, all of the Satsuma samurai lay dead. 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. (2021, September 7). Today, he serves the thoroughly modern nation of Japan as a symbol of its samurai traditionstraditions that he reluctantly helped to destroy. From Kagoshima Through the Siege of Kumamoto Castle." In real life, Saig initially led the Imperial forces and won the four-day Battle of Toba-Fushimi in January 1868. By this time much uneasiness prevailed. 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. 28, No. Founded by a saint named "Birbhan" in 1657 in Narnaul in Haryana. Since the OP might be interested, here are the pages from the above reading on the Satsuma Rebellion and its aftermath. Each side had suffered more than 4,000 killed or wounded. 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. By March, Saigo realized that his rebellion was doomed. revolt of disaffected samurai against the new imperial government, nine years into the Meiji Era. 11 November 2022, at 04:04 namedAigana and fathered a son, Fukuoka, Saga and arsenals! 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