Samurai Rebellion In Japan

In 1877, a series of rebellions occurred in Meiji Japan. These rebellions are often referred to as some of the most famous and ironically aided in the destruction of the samurai class although the reverse is what the rebels wanted to do. Satsuma's faction leader, Saigo Takamori, who was the leader of said rebellion, followed a series of rebellions in other parts of Japan such as Hagi, Akizuki and Kumamoto. He had been morally supporting these rebellions, but he never took part in them. Soon, he received news of a possible assassination against him, and this rumour prompted him to gather his allies and head toward Kumamoto, in attempt to force their surrender. The official purpose of this rebellion was to accompany Saigo to the capital so that

he could “question” (jinmon) the Tokyo government. This was the start of Saigo’s Satsuma army, the beginning of the rebellion that altered the way Japan’s government ruled and the way its country functioned.
After Commodore Matthew C. Perry visited Japan and forced them to open their ports, lest they be destroyed, Japan realized they were militarily weak compared to Western countries and they had no choice but to accept an unfair treaty. Although Japan had kept the peace for more than two centuries, it had done so officially as a military administration acting for the emperor, which delegated enormous powers and responsibilities to provincial lords, particularly with respects to maintaining troops. It became more important for Japan to modernize its military and technology, even if it meant adapting ideas from the Western countries. The Tokugawa were displeased about this, but no major act in the rebellion began until later on.
The bakufu at this time was losing power and forces from Choshu were able to defeat bakufu forces in 1866, which led to support for the Tokugawa to dwindle more than it had been. In 1868 they collapsed entirely. At their collapse, the former rebel forces returned the Meiji emperor to power— even though it was the rebel samurai who were really ruling Japan—so it was an ‘emperor run’ country again. After the restoration, Western practices became adopted throughout Japan, which meant demolishing the pre-Meiji laws and samurai privileges were virtually removed. They were no longer allowed to don their traditional swords or topknots, and after a short while they were not given any more compensation or lump-sums and sunk to commoner class. For many of the samurai, this was a huge blow to their prestige. Saigo Takamori was one of these samurai who wanted to keep the existing government structure as it was instead of adopting Western practices. He was not necessarily xenophobic, however, he believed that Japan itself would function better as it was than how it would become. He resigned from his position because of his ideas to invade Korea that the government did not agree with, as well as his ideas about the government changes. When the government attempted to seize his store of arms at Kagoshima and there were rumours they had come to assassinate him, he raised a revolt. About forty thousand resentful samurai, furious over the abolition of the wearing of two swords and virtually impoverished by the commutation of pensions, joined his insurrection. This Satsuma Rebellion was the final act of resistance towards the Meiji Restoration and the adaption of foreign governmental structure.
Saigo had only intended to go talk with the government in Tokyo one on one and question them about what had happened with his store of arms and the strange rumours, but an army of his supporters had already gone ahead, knowing he would not abandon them, and instead would take position as their leader.

Soon after, Taketa Tani, a general of Kumamoto castle received two letters allegedly both from Saigo. The first was brief and stated that his army would be coming to attack, but little is believed that this letter was truly from Saigo because it was not his handwriting. The second letter was also brief, but polite. It stated his army would be passing through Kumamoto castle to peacefully carry out their mission. Taketa Tani, however, had no plans to let this happen even if it was a peaceful

mission.
When Saigo’s army arrived, the weather was near freezing and it was snowing hard, but many small fights occurred for days on end until both sides parted. When the fighting finally continued, days later, reinforcements had arrived. General Aritomo Yamagata, who was a Choshu samurai, and a good friend of Saigo’s, was the commander for the Imperial side of the battle. Although the Japanese government had equipped the imperial army with modern weapons, at Kumamoto their greatest asset was the castle itself, one of the great fortresses of the seventeenth century. It was well equipped with weapons and it was a stable defense for the Imperial army considering it was on an incline. The Satsuma army, though, were aided by ex-samurai who were very familiar with the ground in Kumamoto, and initially repulsed the reinforcements, however, Imperial solders who were superior in numbers, pushed on the next day and a ferocious battle emerged.
On March fourth, the Imperial army began its offensive attack along the sea stretching to Tabaruzaka. The opposing Satsuma army returned the attack, and this set the stage for the next couple of weeks of fighting as more reinforcements arrived. Both sides fought with devastating ferocity and each side lost about four thousand men to the fighting. Despite this, the small supply of food remaining and a heavy rain they were fighting in, the rebels held their positions until March twentieth, when the Imperial army seized their base, forcing them into the town of Ueki, where they, again, held their position until April second. A final attack was planned for April fourteenth against the rebel Satsuma army, but failed due to the fact that Saigo disengaged from the battle and the withdrawal of his men to higher grounds, which ended the fifty-four day battle. Both sides suffered twenty percent casualties, with 186 soldiers and police killed and 587 wounded. The Imperial army was able to easily replace their lost forces and between May and September, they chased the rebel Satsuma army across Kyushu, even though the rebels no longer wanted to reach Tokyo and instead wanted to return home. In Miyakonojo on July twenty-forth, the Imperial army cornered the rebels and defeated them, then turned around to chase Saigo where they caught up to him in Enodake. Although they had finally caught up to him, he managed to escape again as he’d done so many times before. Saigo and his few remaining men then retreated back into Kagoshima where the final battle took place. Yamagata was so determined to end the battle that he told his men to hold their positions no matter what.
A fierce battle occurred on September twenty-forth, and it was the last battle before Saigo’s death. It lasted the night and by early morning, since he was wounded and unable to fight in the remainder of the battle, Saigo chose to perform ritual suicide. The Satsuma Rebellion ended at seven in the morning.
What was thought to have been one of the biggest threats toward Japan’s modernization was this series of rebellions, however, the battle itself showed samurai in a rather bad light considering the rebellion began because those samurai were fighting to keep Japan the way it was.

It was evident that they had been wrong about how Japan would be better off isolated from Western technology, because it was help from that Western technology that the Imperial army was able to defeat the Satsuma rebels and set the path toward a modernized country. Modern Japan had been passed with its people, and although Saigo’s plan to keep things as they were had ultimately failed and completely did away with the samurai class, his strength and principles were broadcasted through Japan through this battle. Word reached all over the country and made an impression that lasted. A statue was built in his honour in Ueno and the title “traitor” was taken out of his name.

The entire Satsuma Rebellion from start to finish effectively got rid of the samurai class, proved to the country how they needed to modernize, lest what happened to the rebels could happen to them in general if another country decided to attack and set the path down toward, finally, an uninterrupted modern

Japan.