There is no single recipe for modernization. Each country operates in its own way. Japan in the 1860s broke out of stagnation, returning power to the emperor.

On July 8, 1853, on the roadstead of Suruga Bay, south of the administrative capital of Japan, the city of Edo (now Tokyo), the American military squadron of Commodore Matthew Perry unexpectedly appeared, which included two steam frigates. The Japanese immediately dubbed the unprecedented colossus "black ships" (korofune) for the resin sides and clouds of smoke rising from the pipes. A dozen warning gunshots showed the islanders that the Americans weren't joking. The boat brought Perry and his sailors to shore ...

For Japan, this was an extraordinary event - for 200 years a foreigner's foot had not set foot on its land. Only on the small island of Deshima in Nagasaki Bay were overseas merchants allowed to open trading posts, and even then only Dutch and Chinese. Perry carried with him a message from American President Millard Fillmore to Emperor Komei of Japan urging him to establish diplomatic relations with the United States. In the event that the Japanese did not negotiate, the commodore was authorized to begin the bombardment of Edo.

Forced friendship

The Japanese side asked for time to consider the proposal (and in fact the ultimatum) of the Americans. They agreed, warning that they would return in a few months and, if Japan persisted, would begin full-scale hostilities. The war did not bode well for the Land of the Rising Sun - the memory of the crushing defeat inflicted by the British on the vast Chinese Empire in the first Opium War (1840-1842) was still fresh in the Far East. Therefore, when on February 13, 1854, Perry's ships reappeared in Suruga Bay, the Japanese showed complicity and on March 31, the so-called Kanagawa (after the name of the principality) treaty was signed in the town of Yokohama. America received the most favored nation treatment in trade; Japan opened several ports for its ships, in which American consulates were established.

The agreement imposed by the "overseas devils" or "barbarians" was met with hostility by most of the Japanese. Discontent was directed not so much at Emperor Komei, who had only nominal power, but at Shogun Iesada, the real ruler of Honcho - the Divine Country.

Warriors without war

The shogunate was a unique social institution that was not found anywhere except in Japan. In fact, it was a hereditary military dictatorship. The political power in the country belonged to the most powerful aristocratic clan in the given historical period, which chose from its ranks the "commander in chief" - the shogun. He, along with the bakufu ("headquarters"), which acted as the government, ruled Japan. As a rule, he passed on his power by inheritance. The basis for such a practice was the following: the emperor - the son of the sun goddess Amaterasu - is a sacred figure, and therefore he should not stoop to worldly concerns.

In 1603, the Tokugawa clan seized power in Japan. He relied on some of the large feudal lords (fudai daimyo). The rest of the feudal lords - daimyo, who were not included in this group, Tokugawa tightly controlled. In particular, they were required to leave one of their closest relatives in Edo as a hostage (the sankin kotai system) and once every two years spend several months with their court in Edo or its environs. For a long time, the power of the Tokugawa remained unshakable, but from the middle of the 18th century, the regime began to rapidly lose the support of the military (samurai) class. After the internecine wars ended with the accession of the Tokugawa, most of the samurai (which is 5% of the population) were left out of work. Someone took up trade or craft (carefully concealing their samurai origin, since such a “fall” was considered a shame), but many turned into ronin (“tramps”), that is, warriors who lost their overlord, and therefore lost the means to live. existence. By the middle of the 18th century, there were more than 400,000 ronin. They were engaged in robbery, contract killings, organized conspiracies, became the head of peasant uprisings - in general, they were a destabilizing element. The daimyo feudal lords tried to fight the marginalization of the military class, but they simply did not have enough funds for this. The obligation to stay with the court in Edo for a long time resulted in gigantic expenses, often reaching 90% of the feudal lord's annual income. So he could only support a small number of samurai, and even those had to constantly reduce the rice ration (the equivalent of a salary). Everyone was dissatisfied - both the samurai and the feudal lords, who were not part of the shogun's inner circle. Under these conditions, the idea of ​​the restoration of imperial power, that is, the transfer of control of the country into the hands of the mikado, as it was in the "good old days", turned out to be in demand. She matured among the imperial courtiers, kuge, and found a response not only among representatives of the upper classes, but also among the peasants crushed by taxes. They had to give up to 70% of the harvest, and this is not counting taxes on doors, windows, fabrics, female children, etc. To pay everything, the villagers were forced to borrow money, and as a result, very many ended up in bondage to moneylenders and merchants. But this category, in the hands of which up to 60% of the country's wealth was concentrated, was not satisfied with the regime. In the ossified system of the Tokugawa era, "money bags" occupied one of the lower rungs on the social ladder. They were forbidden to bear names, even remotely resembling princely ones, to settle in areas where samurai lived, to wear rich clothes, etc. P.

Down with the shogun

In Japan in the middle of the 19th century, almost every third person was dissatisfied with the authorities. The conclusion of an unequal treaty with America was regarded by a significant part of the population as evidence of the complete failure of the Tokugawa shogunate. But Shogun Iesada and Bakufu Chairman Ii Naosuke could do nothing about it: it would be pure suicide to take a tough stance towards the West, which was demonstrated by the second “opium war” that began in 1856, in which China suffered a crushing defeat. “The public,” wrote Ii Naosuke, “considers those who shout loudly about the expulsion of foreigners as brave and those who stand for peace as cowards. In my opinion, the courage of those who cry out for war without any hope of victory can only be compared with the courage of wild boars and tigers, whose ferocity stems more from fear than from real courage. In 1858, the Bakufu had to conclude several more unequal treaties, called Ansei. According to them, Japan lost the right to independently change the amount of duties on imported goods, as well as to judge foreigners according to its laws (this became the prerogative of the consul of the corresponding country) who committed a crime on its territory.

This time, one dissatisfaction was not enough. Arson began on the houses of shogun officials and merchants trading with foreigners. On March 24, 1860, right at the gates of Sakurada (the shogun's castle in Edo), samurai from the principality of Mito attacked Ii Naosuke's motorcade and cut off the regent's head. She had to be sewn to the body - otherwise the shame could not be avoided (only criminals could be buried without a head). This was followed by a series of murders of "long-nosed", that is, Europeans, so that it almost came to war with England. In 1862, the opposition moved to larger actions. So, in Kyoto, where the palace of the emperor was located, a thousandth detachment of samurai from the principality of Satsuma entered, demanding the abdication of the shogun and the transfer of power to the mikado. But this performance did not result in a general uprising, since the commanders of the detachment did not show determination and in the end they led the samurai out of the city. The country was clearly teetering on the brink of civil war. The first clash between the troops of the shogun and the rebels took place in 1863 in the same Kyoto, where a detachment of samurai from the rebellious principality of Choshu appeared. He was broken. After that, there was a relative calm, which lasted until 1866.

The kuge aristocrats were at the head of the party that opposed Tokugawa, while the direct leadership of the rebels, among whom were many peasants, was carried out by the samurai of the southern principalities of Satsuma, Choshu and Tosa, who from time immemorial had been at enmity with the Tokugawa house. Merchants and usurers fed and armed oppositionists. On the flags of the rebels, the motto was inscribed: "Honoring the emperor and expelling the barbarians!" The last thesis did not mean at all that the opponents of Tokugawa were all in favor of a complete cessation of contacts with the outside world. The question was put differently: what are the limits of concessions to the West? The leaders of the rebels were well aware that the policy of isolationism was detrimental to the country, that Japan needed modernization, during which the experience of the West should be used to the maximum extent. In particular, among the samurai there were many educated people who were interested in Western achievements in the field of military art. They created detachments of kiheitai ("unusual soldiers"), mainly from peasants and townspeople trained in combat in the European manner. These detachments later became the core of the Japanese regular armed forces.

While the opponents of the regime each acted at their own peril and risk, the shogun's army easily coped with them, but when the southern principalities of Satsuma and Choshu entered into a military alliance in 1866, the Tokugawa troops began to suffer one defeat after another. In addition, Shogun Iemochi died in July.

Tokugawa Victim - Yoshinobu

His successor Yoshinobu proved to be a more responsible politician. So that the country would not plunge even deeper into the abyss of civil war, he stopped the fighting and tried to negotiate with the opposition, but she took a tough stance - power should pass to the emperor. And then Yoshinobu made a truly chivalrous act - on October 15, 1867, he renounced the powers of the shogun. “At the present time,” he wrote, explaining his decision to supporters, “as our relations with the outside world develop more and more, the state may disintegrate into its component parts if it is not controlled by a single central authority. Therefore, it is necessary to change the old order of things, return sovereign power to the emperor, widely develop the activities of advisory institutions, ensure that policy decisions are made by the emperor with the support of the whole people, and then the Empire of Japan will be able to maintain its dignity and position among other states of the world.

On February 3, 1868, Yoshinobu's abdication was officially approved by the mikado in the Manifesto for the Restoration of Imperial Authority. However, the emperor retained all the fiefdoms for the last shogun and authorized him to lead the government until the issue of a new system of power was resolved. This did not sit well with many radicals. A whole army of determined feudal lords and samurai gathered in Kyoto, led by the hero of almost all battles with the troops of the shogun, Saigo Takamori. The slogan of the dissatisfied was simple: depriving the former shogun of all power, transferring to the emperor all the lands of the Tokugawa clan, as well as the bakufu treasury. Insulted and humiliated, Yoshinobu was forced to leave the city and move to Osaka. In the spring, he moved his army to Kyoto. The decisive battle took place near Osaka and lasted four days. Despite the fact that the shogun's forces outnumbered the army of the emperor's supporters by three times, Yoshinobu was defeated. His soldiers were armed with old matchlock guns, which had a rate of fire ten times slower than the Spencer rifles used by the enemy soldiers. Yoshinobu fled to Edo but eventually decided to surrender. He was sent to the ancestral castle of Shizuoka in eastern Japan, which the former shogun was forbidden to leave. Subsequently, the ban was lifted, Yoshinobu returned a small part of the former possessions, which gave a decent income. He spent the rest of his life in the small town of Numazu on the coast of Suruga Bay, growing tea, hunting wild boar and taking photographs.

It took the authorities another year and a half to suppress small centers of resistance of Tokugawa supporters in the north-west of the country, but by May 1869, all of Japan recognized the authority of the emperor. The events of 1867-1869 are known in history as the Meiji Isin (Meiji Restoration). Meiji (“enlightened rule”) is the motto of the reign of the young Emperor Mutsuhito, who took the throne in 1867, that is, in the midst of the events described, who had the difficult mission of modernizing the country.

Betrayed by the Emperor

It began with the establishment in June 1868 of a new central government body that replaced the bakufu, a chamber of a large state council, divided into three sectors: legislative, executive and advisory. Candidates for it from among the kuge, daimyo feudal lords and samurai, who took an active part in the overthrow of the shogunate, were nominated by clans, and the emperor approved them. At the same time, the feudal lords, although they recognized the power of the emperor and the state council, in fact remained full owners in their estates, which was fraught with new civil strife. And in 1868, Mutsuhito offered the daimyo to voluntarily return the lands to the emperor, to whom they supposedly belonged in time immemorial. In return, the princes were paid compensation, a good annual salary was assigned, and they were also given the right to take the post of hereditary governor in their former possession. In other words, they lost practically nothing, but got rid of the need to bear the costs of managing the principality, as well as pay the maintenance of the samurai (this burden was assumed by the state). In addition, the princes now did not need to waste their energy on fighting gangs of samurai-ronin who did not want to return to civilian life after the war - now this also became the concern of the government. And most of the daimyo agreed with the emperor's proposal.

However, less than three years later, Mutsuhito took an even more decisive step, finally undermining the position of the feudal lords. On August 29, 1871, a decree was issued on the liquidation of the principalities. Instead, 75 prefectures were created in the country, headed by officials appointed by the emperor. So in Japan there was one owner. This reform had the effect of an exploding bomb, it was even called the second Meiji revolution. It was followed almost immediately by the third: the centuries-old division of society into four classes was canceled: samurai, peasants, artisans and merchants, the boundaries between which remained practically impenetrable. Another division was introduced: the higher nobility (kazoku), the nobility (shizoku), to which the samurai were assigned, and the rest of the population (heimin). All estates were declared equal before the law, the ban on interclass marriages, restrictions on the choice of profession and movement around the country was lifted (in the Tokugawa era, not everyone could leave the lands of their prince of their own free will), and commoners received the right to have a surname. Also, the Japanese were now allowed to wear hairstyles that they liked. In the Land of the Rising Sun, hairstyles were markers of social status. Now everyone could shave their foreheads and have a tuft of hair at the top, as was prescribed by the samurai, which hurt the proud military class. The people even beat this "hairstyle" reform in comic couplets. “If you knock on a shaved forehead (that is, a samurai forehead), you will hear the music of the past. If you knock on the head with freely flowing hair (ronin hairstyle), you will hear the music of the restoration of imperial power. If you knock on a trimmed head, you will hear the music of civilization.”

reverse wave

For the Japanese, accustomed to perceive the world strictly hierarchically, the class reform turned out to be a strong shock and played an important role in the formation of the samurai opposition, who considered the Meiji transformations too radical. The dissatisfaction of the military class, which actually brought Mutsuhito to power, was caused by the very first steps of the new administration. On March 14, 1868, the emperor, speaking to the princes in the Gosho Palace in Kyoto, emphasized that for the prosperity of the country he was ready to "gather knowledge from all over the world." This meant that the "overseas devils" would not be expelled, as promised to the samurai. Many warriors took this as a betrayal of the cause for which they fought. Despite the fact that Mutsuhito did not force the process of Westernization, the spirit of entrepreneurship and Western individualism that gradually penetrated Japan ran counter to the samurai code of honor and was therefore rejected by the military class. The main thing is that this social group that does not produce anything, at the end of the epoch of the shogunate, still somehow found a use for itself, with the advent of the regular army (1873) and the introduction of universal military service, was out of work. Someone, resigned to the inevitability, became an official, teacher or merchant, but the majority did not think of themselves as anything other than warriors. The samurai associated certain hopes with the planned "power" ministers (Saigō Takamori and Itagaki Taisuke) to seize Korea. The war would give them the opportunity to demonstrate their usefulness to society, in addition, they expected to receive land holdings in the conquered territories. And when in 1874 the government abandoned this campaign (the newly created Japanese regular army was still too weak for the country to afford to quarrel with China, which considered Korea its vassal), most samurai took this as a personal insult. The cup of their patience was overwhelmed by the decree issued on March 28, 1876, which forbade the nobles to carry weapons. In the same year, the samurai were deprived of state pensions. In return, they were given a one-time compensation in the form of bank bonds with a maturity of 5 to 14 years. But it was impossible to live on these payments. A wave of samurai uprisings swept across the country. On October 24, 1876, the Shimpuren (Kamikaze League, or Divine Wind Alliance) mutinied in Kumamoto on the island of Kyushu. About 200 people seized the telegraph office and the prefecture. No prisoners were taken, and 300 people, including the governor of the province, were killed by swords, "punishing by the will of Heaven." However, the rebels did not have firearms, and government troops quickly dealt with them. Most samurai made themselves seppuku. Almost immediately after this, an uprising broke out in another city on the island of Kyushu - Fukuoka. The rebels, who called themselves a "suicide army for the country," had no illusions about the outcome. Moreover, they were aware that Japan needed Westernization, but did not want to live under the new order.

The largest so-called Great Satsuma uprising, which became a serious shock for the country, broke out a year later, in 1877. It was led by the already mentioned Saigo Takamori, who served as the prototype of Prince Katsumoto in Edward Zwick's film The Last Samurai.

Signs of nobility

An employee of the English mission in Edo (Tokyo), Algernon Mitford, sketched this portrait of the young emperor Mutsuhito after first meeting him in 1868: “At that time he was a tall young man with clear eyes and clear skin; his demeanor was very noble, which was very fitting for the heir to a dynasty that is older than any monarchy on the globe. He wore a white cape and long bubbling trousers of dark red silk that dragged along the floor like a court lady's train. His hairstyle was the same as that of his courtiers, but it was crowned with a long, hard and flat plume of black wire cloth. I call it a plume for lack of a better word, but it really had nothing to do with feathers. His eyebrows were shaved and drawn high on his forehead; his cheeks were rouged, and his lips were smeared with red and gold. The teeth were blackened. To look noble with such a change in natural appearance did not require much effort, but it would be impossible to deny the presence of blue blood in him.

Forgiven Rebel

Saigo Takamori belonged to an impoverished samurai family from the domain of Satsuma. He took an active part in the Meiji Ishin and in 1864 became commander of the Satsuma military contingent in Kyoto. The brilliant military leader Saigoµ was promoted to marshal and occupied several important posts at once: minister of war, chief state adviser, and commander of the imperial army. From 1871 to 1873, when most of the ministers were on a trip to the countries of the West, Saigoµ actually served as chairman of the government. However, the further, the more his position diverged from the policy of the Mikado. Takamori believed that Japan was being led by the West, that it was losing its national identity. And when the cabinet abandoned its plan to annex Korea, Takamori retired and settled in his hometown of Kagoshima, in southern Japan. Gradually, samurai began to flock to him, not wanting to cooperate with the authorities. Saigoµ organized a school where they studied the Bushido Code, philosophy, calligraphy, martial arts, and poetry.

The government was extremely suspicious of this venture (after all, the number of students in the school exceeded 10,000) and decided to get out of harm's way secretly from Kagoshima arsenal. But the samurai fought him off. Sensei himself knew nothing about this action and had no intention of entering into conflict with the government, but what happened made the war inevitable. On February 17, 1877, Takamori's army (about 14,000 people) moved north, towards Tokyo (as Edo became known since 1868). The standards of the rebels were inscribed: “Revere virtue! Change government! The figure of the mikado for the samurai remained sacred, and they spoke only against his entourage.

Along the way, Takamori attempted to take the well-fortified Kumamoto Castle, a key point on the island of Kyushu. The garrison of the fortress stubbornly resisted, the rebels lost time and suffered huge losses. The government sent a 46,000-strong corps under the command of Prince Arisugawa (a former ally of Saigoµ) and General Yamagata to help the besieged. In several battles that took place in the spring and summer of 1877, the rebel army was defeated, and government troops began to rapidly advance towards Kagoshima. Takamori with the remnants of his detachment locked himself in the city. The position of the rebels was hopeless, and, having withstood several weeks of siege, Saigoµ, in order to avoid the death of the civilian population, left Kagoshima and took refuge in a cave near Mount Shiroyama. According to legend, Takamori's associates spent the night before the last battle playing the Satsuma lute and writing poetry. The attack of government troops began at dawn. Takamori was wounded in the first minutes of the battle. He was carried out of the battle in his arms by his faithful comrade Beppu Shinsuke. At the gate of the hermit's hut, Saigoµ asked to be laid on the ground. "My dear Shinsuke, I think this place is quite suitable." Sitting facing north, towards the imperial palace, Takamori made himself seppuku, and Beppu cut off his head with a sword blow.

Saigoµ was accused of treachery, but he was very popular among the people. Fourteen years later, he was rehabilitated and declared a national hero. A statue of Takamori stands in Ueno Park in Tokyo. On its pedestal you can read: "The merits of our beloved Saigo to the nation do not need panegyrics, for they are witnessed by the eyes and ears of the people." Takamori in Japan and today the standard of "a man of honor, the bearer of the national spirit." The heir to the Russian throne, Nicholas (the future Nicholas II), making a trip to the Land of the Rising Sun in 1881, spoke of Takamori in this way: “To know that there is a benefit to him, and this benefit undoubtedly exists, this is bloodletting, through which the excess of the restless forces of Japan evaporated ... " Indeed, during the uprising, the most active oppositionists died or were later executed, which allowed Meiji to bring the reforms to the end, that is, until the adoption of the constitution in 1889. So one can agree with Saigo Takamori and his associates, who believed that they were sacrificing themselves for the sake of the emperor. Here is one of the poems written by the rebellious samurai the night before the last battle: I fought for the emperor's cause / What a joy it is to die like stained leaves falling in Tsuta / Before the autumn rains touched them!

The failure of the anti-government protests is largely due to the fact that this time the peasants did not support the samurai, since the new government gave them a lot. In 1873, the agrarian reform was completed: from the hands of the daimyo, the land became the property of the peasants, and instead of many taxes, one or two remained, and besides, they were fixed.

Samurai of the Satsuma domain, who in the mid-1860s fought along with the troops of the Choshu principality on the side of Emperor Meiji. Photo: ALINARI/PHOTAS

Reform is not yet a revolution

The Meiji Revolution was an event no less epoch-making for Japan than, say, the 1789 revolution for France. Everything has changed: the form of government, forms of ownership and social structure. Interestingly, the transformations carried out in Russia in those same years, for all their scale, cannot be called a revolution. First of all, because they were not brought to the end. Some from the very beginning were half-hearted, some prevented the death of Alexander II from completing, and this predetermined the defeat of Russia in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. So, in Japan, the peasants received land as property, which led to the rapid emergence of capitalist relations in the countryside and, as a result, the rapid development of production not only in the countryside, but also in the city. In Russia, the land remained predominantly in communal use, which hampered the development of the country. The Japanese education reform (1872) also turned out to be more radical - compulsory primary education was introduced, which did not appear in Russia under the Romanovs.

Reforming the army, the Japanese from the very beginning relied on the experience and technology of the leading Western countries: France, England and Germany, while the Russian authorities believed that they "themselves with a mustache." This adversely affected both the quality of military equipment and the level of training of officers. During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, they showed complete ignorance of modern tactics. Russian soldiers also turned out to be much worse prepared for modern warfare than Japanese ones: an illiterate soldier is a bad soldier. In addition, in the mikado army, the soldiers were taught that each of them was an independent combat unit, obliged to take the initiative. In the Russian army, the initiative was not encouraged at all levels.

And, perhaps, the most significant difference between the Russian reforms and the Japanese ones was that the latter were carried out under the slogan of the unity of the nation. And this was not a simple declaration - under the shoguns, the country was a conglomerate of isolated principalities, which was kept from disintegration only by the military force of the ruling clan. The emperor created a single state, and his very figure became a symbol of this unity. In addition, thanks to his efforts, the social structure of society became more homogeneous. Russia, by this time, had already been a centralized monarchy for many centuries, and the aura of a unifier could not protect Alexander, whose reforms, like those of the Mikado, were very painful. And the Russian tsar was not a sacred figure for the educated class. The creation of a parliament could probably calm Russian society, but the tsar did not have time to set in motion Mikhail Loris-Melikov's "constitutional project". As a result, the Japanese reforms did not lead to significant social upheavals, and Russia received the 1905 revolution.

Economic and political reforms of the bourgeois type contributed to the formation and development of capitalist relations in Japan. The position of large commercial and industrial capital in the ruling elite was undoubtedly strengthened. At the same time, the samurai, with the exception of the privileged feudal nobility, who occupied high positions in the state apparatus, found it difficult to find a place for themselves in the new socio-political system. Dissatisfaction with the reforms, the desire to regain their former privileges and position in society has become a characteristic position of a significant part of the samurai (see Appendix 1).

Already in the 1870s. in Japan, anti-government rebellions of the samurai broke out, putting forward demands for the abolition of reforms and the restoration of the former position in the state. A serious cause of discontent was the introduction of universal military service, which deprived the samurai of many monopolies. However, military service did not cause enthusiasm among the rest of the population either. In 1872-1873. everywhere there were uprisings of “babuk spears and matting banners”, the participants of which opposed the new recruitment system (Toyama Shigeki, op. cit., p. 267). So, based on the name of the duty in official documents as a “blood tax”, many representatives of the lower classes of Japanese society deserted and hid from the draft, sincerely believing that they would take blood from the conscripts in the literal sense of the word (McClain, D. L. Decree .cit., p.249) or kill, and give the corpses to be eaten by foreigners .. The samurai were also dissatisfied with the foreign policy of the government.

The organizer and ideologist of the opposition samurai was a representative of the highest nobility from the former principality of Satsuma, who for some time served as Minister of War Saigo Takamori. Seeing a gradual change in the balance of power in the ruling bloc in favor of the position of capital, he put forward a program for the deployment of aggressive wars in order to strengthen Japan and strengthen the position of the samurai. An example was the capture of the Ryukyu Islands in 1872, as well as the "discovery" of Korea in 1876, when the Japanese, according to Kuznetsov Yu.D. Kuznetsov Yu.D. Kuznetsov Yu.D. History of Japan: textbook. for universities on special "History" / Kuznetsov Yu.D., Syritsyn I.M. Navlitskaya G.B. - M., 1988., S. 178, under the pretext of a provoked incident, they forced her to stop isolation and imposed an unequal treaty. Saigoµ considered it necessary to organize a campaign against Korea, assuming that the war would restore the prestige of the samurai as a military class, and the restored privileges would weaken the position of the bourgeoisie and stop the expansion of the influence of capital. In 1874, an expedition to the island of Taiwan was undertaken, which militarily ended in failure, although monetary compensation was received from China. At the same time, Okubo Toshimiti and Kido Takayoshi Kido Takayoshi (1833--1877) was a Japanese politician during the late Tokugawa shogunate and the Meiji Restoration. A native of the Choshu principality, a representative of the clan doctor's family. He was the representative of the sonnō joi movement in Choshu, and the representative of Choshu in the anti-shogun alliance of domains. Subsequently, he was a member of the Japanese government mission headed by Iwakura Tomomi, two other key figures of the time, considered Japan not yet ready for an aggressive foreign policy: both leaders gave their preference to leadership over the state economy. In this regard, the decision to appoint Saigo Takamori as Japan's envoy to Korea was canceled, as a result of which he left all posts in the Meiji government and left for Kagoshima, Ivan Morris Nobility of defeat (a tragic hero in Japanese history) [website]. URL: http://www.japonica.ru/Texts/Morris/9Saigo%20Takamori.shtml (Date of access: 06/15/2011).

The so-called capitalization of pensions met with particularly strong resistance. In 1873, the government offered the daimyo and samurai to voluntarily agree to a lump sum payment of a pension for several years (half in cash, half in government bonds). Monetary compensation for lifelong samurai pensions was officially considered as providing the nobility with the opportunity to engage in entrepreneurial activities in the field of industry, banking, trade, agriculture, etc. In 1876, compulsory capitalization was announced (in the amount of a 5-14-year pension). However, a significant part of the samurai, due to a long tradition of engaging only in military affairs, turned out to be incapable of either entrepreneurial or labor activity. In addition, the capitalization of pensions for ordinary samurai was relatively small. cit., p. 60).

During Saigoµ's resignation in Satsuma, a number of small-scale uprisings took place in various regions of the country, many of which were organized by groups of former samurai, driven into a frenzy by government measures such as the law prohibiting the carrying of swords and the reduction of subsidies. The first major performance, which took place in 1874, happened in Saga, the northern province of Kyushu; it was provoked by the government's "indecisive" policy towards Korea, and the leader was Eto Shimpei, a furious young official who retired at the same time as Saigoµ. A detachment of about two thousand samurai managed to capture the former specific capital, but they were immediately suppressed by decisive military actions by the government. Eto himself fled to Kagoshima, hoping that Saigoµ would help him expand the rebellion. Although their views were similar in many ways, Saigoµ tried to dissuade Eto from continuing the fight. Shortly thereafter, the leader of the rebellions from Saga was captured by government forces and, at the special insistence of Okubo, was subjected to the humiliating punishment of having his head cut off and put on public display, bumping it on a pole, as a warning to other potential rebels Ivan Morris Decree. Op.

A series of samurai uprisings, combined with numerous peasant uprisings, gave the government reason to more closely monitor social activity in the city of Kagoshima, which they feared could be the center of a major uprising.

At this stage in the development of events, the Tokyo government, at the insistence of Okubo Tosimichi and General Yamagata Aritomo Yamagata Aritomo (1838? 1922), was a prince, a Japanese military and political leader, and a marshal. He took an active part in the Meiji Restoration. One of the initiators of the military reform of 1872. In 1878–85 commander of the guard, chief of the General Staff, then minister of the interior (1885–88), prime minister (1889–91, 1898–1900). During the Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895) commander of the 1st Japanese Army. , sent police spies to Kagoshima to see if Saigoµ's supporters were really preparing an armed uprising. Members of the local military academy soon identified the agents and even obtained sensational information (which may have been true) that the central authorities intended not only to disband the academy, but also to kill Saigoµ and his top advisers. Outraged by this discovery, some of the disciples began to guard the safety of their leader.

Later, Saigoµ told his students, who decided to kill the government spies, that he was not in the least against assassination attempts, and that "it's pointless to kill the Tokyo policemen", since the real criminals are the leaders of the central government. As tensions grew among Saigoµ's supporters, the government decided (in January 1877) to forestall trouble by sending a Mitsubishi ship to smuggle arms and ammunition out of Kagoshima. This categorical decision not only did not solve all the difficulties, but only gave a reason. While Saigoµ was away, rumors of a plan had reached the students of his Academy. This news confirmed their worst suspicions about the intentions of the government, and a group of young soldiers attacked the government arsenal in the suburbs of Kagoshima, taking gunpowder and other ammunition from there.

Saigoµ immediately returned to Kagoshima to meet with representatives of the Academy. As Ivan Morris says in his work, after listening to their report in silence, he suddenly fell into a rage. When the first wave of rage passed, he resigned himself to the inevitable and announced to his lieutenants to begin the necessary military preparations, since he was now ready to sacrifice his life for them. It was as if he realized that he was once again given the opportunity to die a noble death.

Saigoµ was now the leader of a major rebellion, whose sudden start he had a significant influence, albeit indirectly. He knew that the prospects were hopeless, but he acted with characteristic self-forgetfulness, certainly welcoming the possibility of open military confrontation with Okubo Toshimichi, Iwakura Tomomi Iwakura Tomomi (1825 - 1883) - a Japanese politician who played a significant role in the Meiji Restoration, who had significant at the court of the Japanese emperor.

After the restoration of the power of the emperor in Japan, he entered the new government. In 1871-1873, with the rank of ambassador plenipotentiary, he was sent to Europe and America, along with a group of about fifty people (almost all the prominent politicians of that time), to study Western experience in the field of social systems. This embassy was called the "Iwakura Mission". Upon his return to Japan in 1874, Iwakura opposed the project of samurai circles to organize an immediate military campaign in Korea. After an assassination attempt by a terrorist samurai, Iwakura retired from active political activity. and others. Not for a single moment did he imagine himself rebelling against Emperor Meiji; rather, he was a loyal subject who tried to save his master from the "evil advisers." In a letter to Arisugawa, he pointed out that His Majesty should be protected from the ruling politicians, whom he described as "the greatest criminals in the universe" Ot. by: Ivan Morris op. op.

The first reaction of Ōkubo Toshimichi, Kido Takayoshi, and other leaders of the Meiji Ishin was to strip his former colleague of all military ranks and remaining honors and declare him an enemy of the court. Emperor Meiji, who was visiting Kyoto when the disastrous news arrived, issued a decree to put down the rebellion properly. Arisugawa and General Yamagata were appointed to lead the imperial troops and immediately left for headquarters in the north of Kyushu.

Saigo's troops, numbering about 60 thousand by March 1877, after several months of bloody battles with the government army on September 23, 1877, were defeated by D. L. McClain. Decree. soch., S. 255. Yamagata Arimoto, a field general who commanded the imperial troops, sent a letter to Saigo Takamori before the decisive battle, in which he invited him to voluntarily lay down his arms. Referring to him as an old friend, Yamagata expressed his "sympathy" and "understanding" of Saigoµ's actions. Obviously, he wrote, "the people of Satsuma have no chance of achieving their goals" and the time has come to put an end to this "sad situation" when friend is forced to fight with friend, and relatives - to fight among themselves Quoted by: McClain D. L. Op.cit., p.255.

According to one version, Saigo Takamori died on the battlefield from a bullet wound and subsequent pain shock. Another, more common version is the ritual suicide of seppuku Eidus, H. T. op. cit., p. 37.

Despite the fact that Saigoµ was declared a rebel and stripped of all titles and titles, already in 1891 he was posthumously forgiven. Moreover, his son was given the title of marquis as a sign of respect for his father Eremin V.N. Decree. soch., S. 84.

The Satsuma Conspiracy was, in fact, the last organized attempt until the 1930s to oppose the government by force. One reason for this was that the struggle of 1877 demonstrated the power of an army made up of conscripts. In battle after battle, the new imperial forces, composed mostly of peasants, defeated the elite army of gentlemen warriors; their victory symbolized the end of the long samurai era. Saigoµ's rebellion was drowned in the blood of his samurai followers, and he himself was described as the last samurai in Japanese history. Another symbol can be seen in the fact that Satsuma, the last bastion of specific adherents, resisted the new order in the country, having suffered a complete defeat from the central army, consisting of peasant recruits Ivan Morris Decree.

Based on the consequences for the samurai of some reforms of the Meiji Isin period, it can be concluded that in the updated Japan, the samurai rapidly lost its former privileged position. The aforementioned defeat from the regular army was a special blow to the military honor of the samurai.

However, it is worth noting that none of the performances of any section of society, be it samurai or peasants, was aimed at overthrowing the established system. Unlike similar processes in Europe, social discontent in Japan has always been based on conservative positions.

samurai restoration meiji rebellion

In the early morning of the twenty-fourth of September 1877, the era of the samurai ended. It ended romantically, somewhat tragically and beautifully in its own way. Most readers probably even imagine what it is about: to the sad music of Hans Zimmer, young idealists in funny medieval Japanese armor, along with Tom Cruise, were dying under a hail of bullets from Gatling machine guns. These Hollywood samurai tried to cling to their glorious past, which consisted of worshiping the lord, meditating before the sword, and keeping their sacred country clean from dirty white barbarians. The viewer squeezed out a tear and empathized with the noble and wise Ken Watanabe.

Now let's see how it really was. It was no less beautiful, sad, but still a little different than in The Last Samurai.

Briefly about what Japan had to go through three hundred years before that memorable date.

The civil war between a bunch of daimyo, remembered by posterity as "Shingoku Jidai", left us with not only a word for the name of the Jedi order, but also, in the long term, the regime of the Tokugawa shogunate. For about two hundred and fifty years, the Tokugawa shoguns ruled Japan, having previously isolated it from the outside world. Two and a half centuries of isolation gave Japan an amazing opportunity to preserve the medieval way of life, while in Europe Russia was building St. Petersburg and smashing the Swedish Empire, the Thirteen Colonies were at war with Britain for independence, the Bastille was being dismantled in Paris, and Napoleon was watching the dying guards at Waterloo. Japan remained in the warm and cozy sixteenth century, where it was extremely comfortable.

Japan was pulled out of cozy isolation by force in the middle of the nineteenth century. Americans, British, Russians, French - all of them became interested in Asia. The Holy Empire in the blink of an eye found itself in the middle of a large, aggressive and alien world. A world that was technically ahead of Japan by two hundred years.

The culprit in this situation was found quickly. The Tokugawa shogunate was blamed for all the sins, which failed to protect its country from white barbarians. An influential opposition front was formed in the country in the domains of Choshu and Satsuma, which expressed its tasks in a short slogan: “sonno joi”. Or "restore the Emperor, drive out the barbarians."

Yes, there was an emperor in Japan, he just didn’t have real power, the shoguns ruled for him. This opposition to the shogunate initially did not find the strength in itself for more than guerrilla warfare and terrorist acts against objectionable servants of the shogun and Europeans. The break came a little later.

A young man named Itō Hirobumi, an idealist revolutionary who had already come to light with his active participation in the burning of the British embassy in Edo, was hired by the ruler of the Choshu domain for a covert operation. Together with four young people, they were secretly taken to China, where they were hired as sailors on a British ship. Their goal was to get into the enemy's lair - London - and collect information about their enemy.

Seen in the UK, Ito Hirobumi was enough to turn the whole idea of ​​​​the world of a young Japanese upside down. He hurriedly returned to his homeland, where he decided to make every effort to modernize the backward country and bring it into the club of world powers as soon as possible.

About Ito Hirobumi should be told in a separate article. This is the man who actually created the Japanese Empire. He created a constitution, became the first prime minister of the country, under him Japan occupied Korea, defeated Russia in the war of 1905 ... But so far the country is still ruled by a weakening shogun, who is opposed by the sonno joi movement. By this time, however, the second part had already fallen off this slogan: it became clear that the war with the white invaders would be the end of Japan. The task was to restore imperial power.

The task was completed in 1868. Ito Hirobumi, Saigo Takamori, Yamagata Aritomo, Okubo Toshimichi and other former radical revolutionaries, together with an army of forces loyal to the emperor, captured the imperial palace, and then managed to finish off the forces loyal to the shogun. Two hundred and fifty years of the Tokugawa era is over.

Emperor Meiji formed a new government, which included the heroes of the revolution. Japan began to immediately catch up on what had been lost in two hundred and fifty years.

Of course, a new life is impossible without reforms. The Japanese with fanaticism refused everything that seemed to them outdated and not corresponding to the new time. One of these reforms affected the army. Samurai and feudal lords were a thing of the past, in their place a modernly equipped professional army had to come, like everywhere else in the world. And if there were no problems with modern equipment (America, Germany, France and Russia were happy to sell firearms and artillery to the Japanese), then difficulties arose with the reform of the entire system. In order not to delve into the subtleties: the military system of Japan differed very little from the medieval European system. There was a supreme ruler, there were feudal daimyo, there were personal squads of bushi samurai warriors. In the nineteenth century, this approach has already outlived its effectiveness for three hundred years. The daimyo became poorer and lost their lands, the samurai became poorer after them.

There was also one but. Throughout almost their entire history, the Japanese fought quite a lot and, mostly, with each other. After Japan was united under Tokugawa at the beginning of the 17th century, peace and tranquility reigned in the country. By the nineteenth century, Japan's military class had not been at war for generations. Samurai have become a relic of a bygone era, they were arrogant gentlemen spoiled by their privileges, engaged in poetry, conversations in night gardens and tea parties. Well, imagine the army of a country that has not fought for two and a half centuries. An original spectacle, isn't it?

But the samurai took the upcoming abolition of their privileges and the reform of the entire political life of the country painfully. They still saw themselves as the guardians of the true warrior spirit and traditions of Japan. Saigo Takamori, the hero of the revolution, was looking for a way to prove the need to preserve the ancient system. The new government, which included the above-mentioned revolutionaries along with Saigoµ, considered the possibility of war with Korea and its annexation. Decrepit China, devastated by two opium wars and corroded from all sides by Europeans, could no longer protect its old ally, and Saigo Takamori demanded to take advantage of the situation. Ito Hirobumi was categorically against it: Japan needs peace, and we will deal with expansion later. In the end, the emperor himself supported the peace party. Saigoµ spat, packed up his belongings and left the capital for his homeland, the domain of Satsuma. There he abandoned politics, dug in his garden, walked, hunted and wrote poetry.

“Since ancient times, unfortunate fate has been the usual price for earthly glory,
Where better to wander through the forest to your hut, carrying a hoe on your shoulder.

But soon other disgruntled samurai began to flock to Satsuma, mostly of an extremely young age. Saigo Takamori was still a hero and role model. The former military man decided to help young people find their place in life and opened several academies for them, where young men studied science, including military science. Infantry and artillery schools were opened, Saigoµ willingly bought weapons for his wards.

Of course, it all looked suspicious. It is not known for certain whether Saigoµ was preparing an open rebellion. Personally, I am inclined to doubt this, but the government thought otherwise. Soon, the students brought a "spy" to Saigoµ, who, after being tortured, revealed that he had been sent there to gather information and then kill Takamori Saigoµ. Confessions after being tortured gave the students a moral justification for retaliating. Soon they, having learned about the plans of the government to transport weapons from the warehouses of Saigo Takamori to Osaka, decided to prevent this and secretly stole guns and cannons from the arsenals. Unbeknownst to Saigo Takamori.

At that time he was in the forest hunting. Upon returning and hearing about what had happened, Saigoµ lost his temper. What happened was an open rebellion. There was nothing to do. Saigoµ could not leave his charges to their fate. With a heavy heart, he announced the mobilization of forces loyal to him, making it clear that he was not going to oppose the power of the emperor. His former comrades-in-arms, who discriminate against subjects who faithfully served him, are his true enemies.

The very first battle was a serious test for Saigoµ. They laid siege to Kumamoto Castle, hoping for an easy victory, but to Saigoµ's surprise, the castle garrison repulsed one attack after another, although it consisted of conscripts, volunteers, merchants and peasants. Of course, the castle itself also played a significant role - although it was three hundred years old, it still remained a formidable and impregnable fortress, unattainable for the light artillery of Saigo Takamori.

The siege dragged on, the imperial army came to the aid of the defenders. Takamori's troops were defeated, after which he began to retreat back to Satsuma. This retreat was long and bloody. Supplies, equipment, weapons - all this was not enough. Some rebellious samurai armed themselves with swords and went into the forests to partisan. Saigo Takamori and about five hundred of his remaining followers were on their way to their own deaths.

The swan song of the samurai was the Battle of Shiroyama. Five hundred idealistic samurai, armed at random and with whatever, were surrounded by the imperial army, commanded by Saigo's old friend Yamagato Aritomo. Thirty thousand professional soldiers were thoroughly prepared to attack an enemy sixty times their number. Yamagato tried to persuade Saigoµ to settle the matter amicably, but the last samurai did not answer his friend's letter.

In the early morning of the twenty-fourth of September 1877, the era of the samurai ended. It ended romantically, somewhat tragically and beautifully in its own way. Yes, the samurai were armed with swords as they charged at guns and artillery in a suicidal charge. But the point here was not a fundamental rejection of new weapons - they simply had no ammunition left. Saigoµ could save his life and surrender - but is that the way out for a samurai? His death was instantly overgrown with legends, they say, the warrior pierced by a bullet knelt down, turned towards Kyoto and ripped open his stomach.

Saigo Takamori had no intention of getting in the way of progress and modernization. He was smart enough to understand the pointlessness of it. The last samurai became a victim of circumstances, and later a national hero, who was officially pardoned by the emperor. Japan has entered a completely new era.

The Last Samurai is a pretty good albeit underrated film starring Tom Cruise.

Like many other Hollywood epics, it is not the exact truth, although it is presented in an interesting and spectacular way.

From the review, you can find out how much Hollywood screenwriters overdid it, creating the image of a fearless European who fought with samurai.

The fleet of Matthew Perry (USA) arrived at the shores of Japan. Fragment of a painting.
For many centuries, the Japanese authorities did not allow foreigners into the country, because European merchants brought with them weapons and goods from all over the world. Fearing the collapse of traditional values, the feudal government, the Tokugawa Shogunate, expelled all foreigners from the islands, leaving only the small port of Nagasaki for trade.
Two hundred years passed before the Japanese thought about their lagging behind the rest of the world. In 1853, a large American fleet arrived to the Japanese islands, consisting of modern steam ships for those times. Under the threat of cannons, the Americans forced Japan to sign a treaty of peace, friendship and trade. It is not surprising that common sense prevailed when the "medieval" Japanese saw the latest warships in their bays. They opened up trade, encouraging cultural exchange to "catch up" with the modern era.

Young Emperor Meiji (Mutsuhito).

French military specialists before being sent to Japan, 1866.
The events of the film "The Last Samurai" cover an interesting time and place: Japan at the end of the 19th century, the era of the Meiji Restoration. It was a difficult period in the history of the country, when feudal Japan became a modern monarchy modeled on the great European powers, a political, social and industrial revolution took place. Modernization was carried out in all areas, in particular, the evolution of military affairs and the reduction of the political and military role of samurai - medieval knights fighting with swords and bows. Japan was now buying modern firearms from the West. And for the training of the imperial army, officers from the most "experienced" warring countries of the world - France, Great Britain, and the USA were hired.

Tom Cruise as Captain Algren.

Battle of imperial troops and samurai. Screenshot from the game Total War: Shogun 2 - Fall Of The Samurai.
Hollywood simplified the film's script to show the samurai as simple and good people, and Japan's modernization as something bad and oppressive. What was actually happening during the Meiji Restoration was a redistribution of social classes. The new government abolished the samurai caste, who ruled with a cruel hand and were mainly engaged in agriculture. This was the reason for the rebellion.
In The Last Samurai, several uprisings are mixed into one whole, which, according to history, lasted for many years. The fictional leader Katsumoto was based on the personality of the powerful Saigoµ Takamori, the leader of the latest rebellion.

Battle for Mount Tabarudzaka. Samurai on the right, they have firearms, and their officers are dressed in European uniforms.
The samurai in the film's battle scenes are depicted from an entertainment point of view. The very first battle shows how they skillfully wield swords and bows to defeat the armed but inexperienced army of Emperor Meiji.

Soldiers of the Tokugawa Shogunate on the march, 1864.
History, however, shows a very different side. While one of the first riots took place without modern weapons, the rest of the uprisings used modern means of warfare.
The Takamori rebels used rifles and often wore Western-style uniforms, with only a few using traditional samurai armor. The rebels had more than 60 artillery pieces, and they actively used them.

Saigo Takamori, leader of the samurai uprising, with his officers.

Imperial troops land in Yokohama and prepare to march against the Satsuma rebellion, 1877.
The imperial army really won the last battle of Shiroyama, as in the film, due to superior numbers (about 30 thousand soldiers against 300-400 samurai). The last suicide attack of the samurai was as symbolic as it is presented in the film.
Although Captain Algren seems to be a fictional, alien character, he nevertheless has a real historical prototype with strikingly similar attitudes and actions.

Jules Brunet - French officer, participant in the civil war in Japan.
The character played by Tom Cruise was inspired by the Frenchman Jules Brunet. In 1867 he was sent to train Japanese soldiers in the use of artillery. With the outbreak of the samurai uprising, he could return to France, but he remained and fought on the losing side for the Shogunate in this civil war. He participated in the glorious and epic final battle of Hakodate. The parallels between Brunet and Algren show that the history of the former definitely had big influence to the film.
"The Last Samurai" combines more than ten years real history into a short story, while changing the French hero to an American one. The aspect ratio has also been significantly changed, showing the new government as "evil and oppressive". In fact, it gave the Japanese freedom for the first time in their history.

Yamagata Aritomo

Causes

The reasons for the Satsuma uprising were strong anti-government sentiments among the Japanese untitled aristocracy, former samurai. As a result of government reforms carried out after the liquidation of the khans and the founding of prefectures in 1871, their standard of living and public authority fell greatly. The authorities abolished state pensions for aristocrats, depriving them of the status of civil servants, liquidated the samurai class troops and created a nationwide army. Especially great dissatisfaction with the samurai was caused by the ban on carrying edged weapons, since the wearing of swords has always been the exclusive privilege of the samurai class. Attempts by high-ranking officials to create an authoritarian system of government, which was contrary to the basic principles of the Meiji restoration, contributed to the radicalization of the socially active samurai stratum of the population.

During the course of the conflict, the side of government forces used an average of 322,000 rounds of ammunition and 1,000 artillery shells per day.

Organization of Satsuma Samurai Forces

Satsuma samurai were originally organized into six battalions of 2,000 men each. Each battalion was divided into ten companies of 200 men. But in the campaign against Kumamoto Castle, the army was divided into three divisions: the vanguard - 4000 people, the main body of the army - 4000 people, and the rear guard - 2000 people. In addition, there were 200 artillerymen and 1,200 workers. In April 1877, Saigoµ reorganized the army, dividing it into nine infantry divisions of 350 to 800 men each. The samurai were armed with Enfield rifles and Russian Model 1857 six-line muzzle-loading rifles, firing about one shot per minute. The artillery of the rebels consisted of 28 mountain guns, two field guns and 30 mortars of various calibers.

The course of hostilities

Prelude

By the time the Saigoµ rebellion began, the government had already put down several shizoku uprisings in Kyushu, and was worried about the prospect of civil war with the numerous and bitter Satsuma samurai who had rallied around the popular Takamori Saigoµ.

In December 1876, the Meiji government sent a policeman named Nakahara Hisao and 57 others to investigate reports of subversive activities and disturbances. However, they were exposed by the opposition, and Nakahara confessed under torture that he and his companions had been sent to kill Saigoµ. Although Nakahara later retracted his testimony, the evidence quickly became known and was used as an excuse by disgruntled samurai that the rebellion was necessary in order to "protect Saigoµ".

In January 1877, the government, fearing that the Somuda army gunpowder arsenal in Kagoshima would fall into the hands of anti-government forces, began secretly removing all the gunpowder from the prefecture without informing the head of the prefecture. This caused open conflict, although with the cessation of rice payments to the samurai in 1877, tensions in the region had already become extremely high. Outraged by the government's methods, 50 students from Saigoµ Academy attacked the arsenal and stole weapons from there. Over the next three days, more than 1,000 students organized attacks on the naval station and other arsenals.

The beginning of the uprising was complicated by the fact that Saigoµ Takamori, alarmed by the unfolding events, was reluctant to succumb to persuasion to end his resignation and lead a rebellion against the central government.

Clashes in Kagoshima

In February 1877, the Meiji government sent Hayashi Tomoyuki, a spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior, with Admiral Kawamura Sumiyoshi on the ship Takao to ascertain the situation. Satsuma governor Oyama Tsunayoshi explained to them that the uprising began in response to the government's attempt on Saigoµ's life, and asked Admiral Kawamura (Saigō's cousin) to come ashore to help stabilize the situation. After Oyama's motorcade was out of sight, a flotilla of small ships carrying armed rebels attempted to capture the Takao, but their attacks were repulsed. The next day, Hayashi told the arriving Oyama that he could not allow Admiral Kawamura to go ashore, as the situation was more dangerous than expected, and that the attack on the Takao was an act of lèse majesté.

Government troops leave Yokohama to fight the Satsuma uprising in 1877. Drawing by a European artist in The Illustrated London News

Officers of the Imperial Army of the Kumamot garrison who fought against the rebels in 1877

The main forces of the army of the rebellious samurai of the principality of Satsuma approached on February 22 and immediately entered the battle, attacking Kumamoto Castle and capturing it in pincers. The fight went on all night. The government forces retreated, and the acting major of the 14th regiment, Nogi Maresuke, lost his regimental colors in fierce battles. However, despite their successes, the Satsuma army was unable to take the castle, and this confirmed that the draft army was not inferior in combat capability to the samurai militia. After two days of fruitless attacks, the forces of the Satsuma Domain blockaded the castle and tried to force the garrison to surrender through a siege. The situation seemed especially desperate for the defenders, as their food and ammunition stores, stored in a warehouse, were burned by fire shortly before the mutiny began.

During the siege of Kumamoto Castle, many former samurai, who had already laid down their arms, flocked to the banner of the legendary Saigo Takamori, who in a short time increased his strength to 20,000 people. But at the same time, on March 9, Saigoµ, Kirino and Shinohara were stripped of their court ranks and titles.

On the night of April 8, the defenders of Kumamoto Castle made a sortie, creating a gap in the line of samurai troops and thus allowing the garrison fighters to hand over essentials. The main body of the imperial army under the command of General Kuroda Kiyotaki, with the support of General Yamakawa Hiroshi, arrived in Kumamoto on April 12, forcing the rebel forces to retreat.

Battle for Mount Tabaruzaka

Battle of Mount Tabaruzaka: government troops on the left and rebellious samurai on the right side of the image

Battle of Mount Tabarudzaka

On March 2, Saigoµ wrote to Oyama Tsunayoshi, urging him to publish the confessions of the spies in order to explain the reasons for the rebellion. Saigoµ never proclaimed his goals and protests, which prevented the popular uprisings from becoming large enough to turn the tide of the battle. Saigoµ's plan called for a quick victory at Kumamoto, and the long siege played into the hands of the imperial army, which now had time to move forces into the area of ​​the rebellion. On March 9, the government landed its troops on 3 ships (500 policemen and several companies of infantry) in Kagoshima, taking the governor of Satsuma into custody, and seized control of all military property, including more than four thousand barrels of gunpowder.

On March 4, General of the Imperial Army Yamagata, trying to break through to Kumamoto, ordered his troops to carry out a frontal attack on the small mountain of Tabaruzaka, twenty miles from the castle. The road from Tabaruzaki to Kumamoto was designed as part of the outer ring of defense. The road cut through the crest of the mountain, due to which it was located slightly lower than the surrounding forest, which forms two defensive lines. The mountain not only served as a natural obstacle to the initial attack, but also created a dense cover raised above the surrounding area, allowing the defenders to slow down the advance of the attacking troops from both sides of the road. For eight days, the imperial army tried to dislodge the rebels from the top of the mountain, and the battle of Tabarudzak became decisive for the entire war.

By that time, there were about 15,000 samurai from Satsuma, Kumamoto, and Hitoyoshi at Tabaruzaki, opposing the Imperial Army's 9th Infantry Brigade (about 9,000 men). Although the imperial army was not able to fully deploy its ranks on the battlefield, it still had a significant fire superiority, consuming more than three hundred thousand small arms ammunition per day during the summit assault. The rebels, on the contrary, suffered from a lack of ammunition (since their base in Kagoshima was captured), and, in addition, their combat capability was weakened by weather conditions - heavy rain made their muzzle-loading guns useless, and cotton clothes were soaked through with water.

In the midst of the battle, Saigoµ wrote a personal letter to Prince Arisugawa stating the reasons for his defiance and march to Tokyo. In the letter, he indicated that he did not seek rebellion and desired a peaceful settlement of the problem. The government, however, refused to negotiate. Yamagata, who led a detachment of two infantry brigades and 1,200 policemen, operated behind the samurai defense line, attacking them from the rear near the city of Yatsushiro. The imperial troops, having suffered few losses, drove out the enemy, and then attacked the main forces from the north, capturing the city of Miyahara on March 19. After receiving reinforcements, the imperial forces, now numbering up to 4,000 men, attacked the rearguard of the Satsuma samurai army.

Despite difficult conditions, the rebels held their ground until March 20, when the imperial army broke through their western flank and captured the crest of the mountain. The rebels retreated east to the city of Ueki, where they held their positions until April 2. The efforts of the samurai delayed the advance of the imperial army from the north, but on April 15, government troops, advancing from the southwest, defeated the rebels at Kawashiri and broke through the blockade of Kumamoto Castle, lifting the siege.

Tabaruzaka became one of the bloodiest campaigns of the war. The Imperial forces were victorious, but both sides suffered heavy casualties. During the fierce clashes, the parties lost about four thousand people each.

Retreat from Kumamoto

Saigoµ Takamori still hoped that his supporters in Tosa would take over Osaka, which would trigger uprisings throughout Japan that would affect the course of the war.

Saigoµ army clashes with government forces

When the siege of Kumamoto was broken, Saigoµ retreated from the walls of the castle and, having reached Hitoyoshi on a seven-day campaign, again gathered his people at this village. He camped at Hitoyoshi from mid-April until the end of May, hoping to get reinforcements for his weakened army from sympathetic Tosa samurai. However, on May 27, after three weeks of minor skirmishes with the Satsuma, the imperial army launched a general assault on Hitoyoshi, and Saigoµ was forced to retreat.

After the retreat from Hitoyoshi, the nature of the hostilities completely changed - the offensive of the samurai army turned into a long retreat. Between May and September 1877, the imperial army pursued the Satsuma samurai throughout Kyushu. Due to the lack of ammunition, many of them abandoned firearms in favor of swords and began to implement tactics of guerrilla warfare, forcing the imperial army to disperse their own forces.

The pursuit began in early June, after Saigoµ sent the bulk of his forces south towards the village of Miyakonojo on the Osumi Peninsula, while he himself marched about fifty miles to the east and ended up on the Pacific coast, near the village of Miyazaki . Government troops landed at the cities of Oita and Saiki, north of Saigoµ's army, and thus the samurai army was pinned down.

The Imperial Army defeated the rebels near Miyakonojo on June 24, then turned north to pursue Saigoµ. Saigoµ retreated from his pursuers, continuing to move along the east coast of Kyushu to the village of Nobeoka, where on August 10 he and his army were attacked by government troops. The imperial army had a sixfold superiority over the forces remaining at Takamori (3,000 fighters), but the rebellious samurai held the line for seven days, after which they retreated eastward into the mountains, having lost most of their modern weapons and all artillery.

The imperial army managed to surround Saigoµ on the northern slopes of Enodake Peak, located northeast of Nobeoka. Yamagata went there at the head of a large force, outnumbering the army of Takamori's supporters by 7 times. It was expected that the end of the war would be put here. On September 1, Saigoµ's forces (about 500 survivors) infiltrated back into Kagoshima, a city occupied by more than 7,000 government troops. The surviving samurai gathered again on the ridge of Shiroyama, where they decided to fight their last battle.

On June 1, Saigō Takamori's forces that remained on the Ōsumi Peninsula lost Hitoyoshi, on July 24 Miyakonojo, and on July 31 Miyazaki and Satobaru, and were surrounded in the village of Nagai. The rebel command decided to disband its troops.