satsuma rebellion primary sources

Already a popular figure, after his death, Saigo Takamori was lionized by the Japanese people. Some legends say Saig's manservant hid the head, and it was later found by a government soldier. On his return to Kobe on February 12, Hayashi met with General Yamagata Aritomo and It Hirobumi, and it was decided that the Imperial Japanese Army would need to be sent to Kagoshima to prevent the revolt from spreading to other areas of the country sympathetic to Saig. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Saigo, however, had no regard for the conscripted farm boys who made up the imperial army. 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. Although the Satsuma Rebellion far exceeded the next largest disturbance, the 1874 Saga Rebellion of 2, 500 samurai, it followed a general pattern of samurai protest. The members of his retinue carried in cotton bags the swords they were no longer allowed to wear; and when, at the end of his journey, the gates of the yashiki at Kagoshima closed upon his palanquin, he may have realized that he had passed for ever out of the political life in which he had at one time played so conspicuous a role. The Last Samurai chronicles the fortuitous rise and tragic fall of Saig. Japanese Government Documents, 1867-1889 (special issue of Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan; 1914), by Japan, ed. Originally, they were a militant sect of Hindu Worshippers. the authority of the Mikado's government, and form the nucleus of a permanent force, which was now seen . At the height of the battle, Saig wrote a private letter to Prince Arisugawa, restating his reasons for going to Tokyo. But this war served as a touchstone to test the ability of the new regime and was an indispensable medium for perfecting the modern institutions and unified organization of the state. OutOfFighters 3 yr. ago. The Satsuma Rebellion - Free ebook download as PDF File (.pdf), Text File (.txt) or read book online for free. Continued by a Narrative of his Last Moments and Sufferings, obtained from his Faithful Servants Chuma and Susi. The Korean government even went as far as having a prefect publicly state that by adopting western-style customs and clothing, Japan had become a barbarian nation. The Satsuma samurai were initially organized into six battalions of 2,000 men each. Szczepanski, Kallie. Undeniably, it was one of the most noteworthy incidents during Japan's transition from a feudal regime to a modern state. Ravina, Mark J. Though in Satsuma the rivalry of individual leaders had stopped short of open hostilities, the division of feeling was not less marked. Blog. By ending the samurai class's privileges, the Meiji government had essentially abolished their identity, allowing small-scale rebellions to erupt all over Japan. 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. They were followed two days later by the rear guard and artillery unit, who left in the midst of a freak snowstorm. Fearing a rebellion, the Meiji government sent a warship to Kagoshima to remove the weapons stockpiled at the Kagoshima arsenal on January 30, 1877. 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. They were armed with breech-loading Snider rifles and could fire approximately six rounds per minute. His father, Saigo Kichibei, was a low-ranking samurai tax official who only managed to scrape by despite his samurai status. Outraged by the government's tactics, 50 students from Saig's academy attacked the Somuta Arsenal and carried off weapons. Three firsthand accounts of the condition of his deceased body exist. Format: Paperback. Fighting continued into the night. Meanwhile, however, a crisis was developing in the government itself. Ravina prefers the English name "War of the Southwest."[12]. 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. Saigo's nearly bloodless victory won him national fame, eventually leading to his appointment as an elder of Satsuma in September of 1866. The Satsuma Rebellion was the last civil war in Japan, occurring in the tenth year of the Meiji era (1877), when the Satsuma rebel forces centering on Saig Takamori of Kagoshima collided with the regular army of the new Meiji government not long after it had formed. During the siege, many Kumamoto ex-samurai flocked to Saig's banner, swelling his forces to around 20,000 men. The Battle of Shiroyama: The final battle of the Satsuma Rebellion, this battle serves as the basis for the final battle scene in the film. He led his samurai straight up the middle of Kyushu, planning to cross the straits and march on Tokyo. @media only screen and (min-device-width : 320px) and (max-device-width : 480px) { It is said that he was shot in the femur, then he thrust a sword into his stomach region, then had his head decapitated deliberately by a fellow citizen. Saig resigned from all of his government positions in protest and returned to his hometown of Kagoshima. Szczepanski, Kallie. Monumenta Nipponica Shiba was in the Imperial Army at the time. After months of fighting the Satsuma forces had dwindled to approx 400 . She has taught at the high school and university levels in the U.S. and South Korea. In New England, merchants and farmers struggled to maintain their businesses in a new economy without established European trade or credit lines. The Linked Data Service provides access to commonly found standards and vocabularies promulgated by the Library of Congress. Japanese samurai (18281877) who led the Satsuma Rebellion. There were two "regiments" of line cavalry and one "regiment" of imperial guard cavalry. [10] Statues in Ueno Park, Tokyo and near the ruins of Kagoshima Castle stand in his memory. Saig and his remaining samurai were pushed back to Kagoshima where, in a final battle, the Battle of Shiroyama, Imperial Army troops under the command of General Yamagata Aritomo and marines under the command of Admiral Kawamura Sumiyoshi outnumbered Saig 60-to-1. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/the-satsuma-rebellion-195570. Imperial forces emerged victorious, but with heavy casualties on both sides. (2021, September 2). Founded in 1938 and published semiannually by Sophia University, Monumenta Nipponica (MN) is one of the oldest English-language academic journals in the field of Asian studies. [2] He wrote poetry under the name Saig Nansh ( ).[3]. Author: Mounsey, Augustus Henry. During the latter years of the Tokugawa shogunate, just prior to the Meiji Restoration, the Satsuma clan began to invest heavily in armaments, building a new shipyard at Kagoshima, two weapons factories, and three ammunition depots. The government, however, refused to negotiate. In all, about 12,000 Satsuma men marched north toward Tokyo, starting the Southwest War, or Satsuma Rebellion . 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. The Imperial Artillery consisted of 18 batteries divided into 9 battalions, with 120 men per battery during peacetime. During the conflict, the government side expended on average 322,000 rounds of ammunition and 1,000 artillery shells per day. The Satsuma Rebellion, also known as the Seinan War (Japanese: , Hepburn: Seinan Sens, lit. Tensions with the government mounted after members of the private-school faction raided an ammunitions depot in early 1877 (Meiji 10), and secret agents were dispatched by the government to Kagoshima to spy on them. Although the samurai were heavily outnumbered, they made a heroic stand and counterattack against the Japanese Army and showed their legendary skills off to the world in their final fight. Scene of Satsuma rebellion, triptych. A primary source of its causes and events. Saigo soon noted that he had "fallen into their trap and taken the bait" of settling into a siege. Decent Essays. The rebellion was very expensive for the government, which forced it to make numerous monetary reforms including leaving the gold standard. 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. As the siege wore on, the rebels ran low on munitions, prompting them to switch back to their swords. [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. Author: Augustus Henry Mounsey. 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". The division of feeling which existed in several of the clans following the Meiji Restoration was most conspicuous in Satsuma, Choshiu and Mito. Corrections? 1 reference. Many native infantryman (sepoys) believed that these new cartridges introduced in early 1857 had been greased by cow and pig fat. 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. Faced with 21,000 imperial army troops, the majority of the rebels ended up committing seppuku (surrendering by suicide). After centuries of samurai rule, however, many members of the warrior class were understandably reluctant to give up their status and power. The Imperial Japanese Armed Forces (IJAF) were the combined military forces of the Japanese Empire.Formed during the Meiji Restoration in 1868, they were disbanded in 1947, shortly after Japan's defeat to the Allies of World War II; the renewed Constitution of Japan, drafted during the Meiji Restoration in 1868, they were disbanded in 1947, shortly The Satsuma rebellion furnishes themes for the illustrators. The Satsuma samurai fought on with fierce determination; meanwhile, the defenders ran out of artillery shells. 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. By 1877, he sided with rebel forces and fought in what's now known as the Satsuma Rebellion. 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. revolt of disaffected samurai against the new imperial government, nine years into the Meiji Era. 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. Each entry is based on a primary source we analysed ; We used a website to compile the entries because it's easier to navigate with; HERE is the link to the primary documents/analysis In the about page there will be a video on the Satsuma Rebellion and a brief paragraph describing what was going on in the rebellion Then we have Luke's entry. This was witnessed by the American sea captain John Capen Hubbard. The Last Samurai's Katsumoto Moritsugu is based on the iconic Japanese samurai Saig Takamori. 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. Japan Currency Museum. The Satsuma vanguard crossed into Kumamoto Prefecture on February 14. This provoked open conflict, although with the elimination of samurai rice stipends in 1877, tensions were already extremely high. '", 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. 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