THE FALL OF THE EDO GOVERNMENT. 1837-1868
In 1837 the first armed rebellion against the Tokugawa government since the battle of Amakusa, which took place just two hundred years before, occurred in Ōsaka under the leadership of Ōshio Heihachirō. Erudite and energetic, he had found himself unable to use his ability owing to his mean birth, and took advantage of the popular discontent caused by a famine to raise the standard of revolt. He with his followers attacked the castle of Ōsaka, but failed, and in consequence died by his own hand. The government was yet far too powerful to be shaken by such a small uprising, but the revolt of Ōshio has gained its place in history as a sign of the growing decay and unpopularity of the Edo administration. A far more decisive event, however, was soon to follow.
On July 8, 1853, Commodore Matthew C. Perry, envoy of the United States of America, entered the Bay of Uraga with a squadron consisting of two frigates, the Susquehanna and the Mississippi, and two sloops-of-war, the Plymouth and the Saratoga, and sought to open commercial relations with Japan. His visit exercised a powerful influence, entirely unknown to himself, on the domestic affairs of the country. Ever since the early part of the seventeenth century anti-foreign feeling had been so intense that only the Chinese and the Dutch had been allowed to carry on trade at Nagasaki, and other European nations, owing to various circumstances, gave themselves little, if any, concern about Japan. But from the beginning of the eighteenth century the spirit of aggrandizement made itself felt in the Occident, and Western states began to vie with one another in attempts to extend their territories and commerce. Eastward of Japan across the Pacific lay the United States of America, which had shaken off the yoke of Great Britain, and the latter, deprived of this flourishing colony, sought compensation in India and farther eastward, while France also, as well as Russia, turned covetous eyes to the Orient. Nine years before the arrival of the American squadron in Uraga Bay, or in 1844, the Dutch addressed a letter to the Tokugawa government advising that Japan be opened to all foreign nations, and subsequently they often repeated this counsel, at the same time explaining the conditions of the various states of Europe. Among the Japanese, many who had studied the Dutch language and acquired some knowledge of Western affairs were in favor of a liberal foreign policy, but among the bulk of the nation the prejudices engendered by the violent and lawless conduct of the early Christian propagandists remained as strong as ever. Moreover, fresh reasons for resentment had been furnished by various encroachments of the Russians between the Kwansei (1789-1800) and Bunka (1804-1817) eras, and by disorderly conduct of English sailors in Nagasaki. Indeed, the Tokugawa government had once gone so far as to order that any foreign ship approaching the coast of Japan should be fired on, and any Japanese whose studies of Dutch led them to advocate the opening of the country were deprived of their official positions or otherwise punished.
In the last years of the eighteenth century the councilors of Edo strongly advocated complete national seclusion, and at the time when the American squadron visited Japan, Tokugawa Nariakira, commonly called Rekkō, the feudal chief of Mito, a noble of statesman-like qualities, ardently urged the policy of holding aloof from all foreign intercourse. In 1846 two American men-of-war had come to Uraga and sought to open trade relations, but their proposals were not entertained, and they had to leave the country without accomplishing anything. Commodore Perry's visit occurred seven years later; he came with credentials from President Fillmore, as well as specimens of the products of the United States, and made formal application that commerce be opened between his country and Japan. The government replied that the matter being of the gravest importance, no immediate reply could be given, but that an answer would be ready the following year, whereupon Perry sailed away, declaring that he would return the next year without fail. Thereafter the Tokugawa government invited a council of the feudal barons, including the lord of Mito, the matter being at the same time reported to the emperor. During the general confusion incidental to this event, the Shōgun Iyeyoshi died suddenly, his demise taking place in the very month of Perry's coming. He was succeeded by his son Iyesada. The year passed without any definite step being taken, and in February, 1854, Perry once more made his appearance at Uraga and urgently asked for a reply to the proposals he had submitted the preceding year. All the feudal barons, including the Mito chief, united in advocating a policy of seclusion, but the rōjiu, Abe Masahiro, and other chief officials of the Edo castle were astute enough to see that such a policy would be impracticable. They therefore insisted on concluding a treaty of amity and commerce, without paying due attention to its terms. Repeated conferences were held with the American envoy, and finally a treaty was signed on March 31, providing that all American citizens driven to Japan by stress of weather should be kindly treated; that American ships of war should be supplied in Japanese ports with fuel, coal, provisions, and other necessaries; and that the two ports of Shimoda and Hakodate should be opened to American vessels. Subsequently ambassadors came from Russia, France, and England, and conventions were concluded with them in terms virtually the same as those of the American treaty. The government pretended that they had concluded the treaties merely in order to gain time for warlike preparations, but in truth they had been taken by surprise. Moreover, natural calamities of a most disastrous character visited the nation, to increase the financial embarrassment of Edo. In the year of Commodore Perry's second coming violent earthquakes took place in western Japan, only to be followed in the next year by a severer shock, which overthrew immense numbers of the dwellings of the upper and lower classes as well as of the feudal barons, and caused in Edo a terrific fire in which 100,000 persons are said to have lost their lives.
A PICNIC ON THE ASUKA HILL IN THE FLOWERY SEASON
In 1856, Townsend Harris, consul-general, came duly accredited by the government of the United States, and proposed that relations of friendship should be established between the two countries, at the same time asking on his own part for an audience with the shōgun. The Rōjiu Hotta Masaatsu (Bitchu-no-kami), who had taken charge of foreign affairs in place of Abe Masahiro, allowed Harris, after considerable hesitation, to repair to the Edo castle. It was, however, decided not to give a favorable answer to the American proposal without the sanction of the emperor. Hitherto, despite the great importance of foreign affairs, the Tokugawa administration had been allowed to take any steps it pleased with reference to them without consulting the sovereign. But despite the large measure of power enjoyed by the Edo government, it was no longer able to effectually control the feudal barons. Hence it resolved to consult the imperial wishes, and also to secure the advice of the feudal chiefs. Such a vacillating and dependent method of procedure was entirely opposed to the policy pursued by the Tokugawa ever since the days of Iyeyasu. Now they exposed themselves to the criticism and interference of both the court and the people, so that in this question of foreign intercourse is to be sought the proximate cause of the downfall of the Tokugawa.
At that time the throne was occupied by Kōmei, father of the present emperor, who was in favor of keeping the country closed against the ingress of foreigners. He therefore withheld his sanction when the shōgun's representative came to Kyōto to seek it. At the same time, the American envoy continually pressed the government to sign a treaty, and, to make the matter worse, another trouble simultaneously presented itself, namely, that, the shōgun having no son, friction arose about the succession. Several of the most influential feudal barons desired that Yoshinobu, son of Nariakira of Mito, who represented the Hitotsubashi branch of the Tokugawa, should become heir in consideration of his high abilities; but many of the principal officers and the court ladies were opposed to the policy of Nariakira. The shōgun himself was not desirous of making Yoshinobu his successor, but the steadily increasing influence of the anti-foreign party in Kyōto, the recognized head of which was Nariakira, gave new force to the claims of the latter. Meanwhile, as the need of coming to some terms with the United States became more urgent, the shōgun appointed to the post of tairō the courageous Ii Naosuke (Kamon-no-Kami). Ii was not a man to be guided by others whose opinions he did not share. Under his counsel, it was now agreed that the five ports of Nagasaki, Hakodate, Hyōgo, Kanagawa, and Niigata should be opened to foreign trade, a convention in that sense being concluded without reference to the emperor. This took place in June of 1858, and a little later treaties of similar import were signed with Russia, England, the Netherlands, and France, a report being sent to Kyōto, after the event, to the effect that these measures had been unavoidable. In the matter of the succession, Ii overrode the advice of the feudal barons, and Iyemochi, then little more than a child, son of the lord of Kii, became the fourteenth shōgun. The Tokugawa government thus disposed finally of the question of foreign intercourse, but the domestic affairs of the country grew more complicated than ever.
The officials of Edo who were opposed to foreign intercourse claimed that the country had been subjected to the shame of concluding a commercial treaty under duress. The spread of this idea aroused indignation against the Tokugawa government, and many of the barons, especially Nariakira of Mito, addressed memorials to Kyōto, complaining that the opening of the country to foreign trade and intercourse was contrary to the best interests of the nation. Under these circumstances, the relations between the courts in Kyōto and Edo were of the least intimate character. Presently it began to be alleged against the shōgun's councilors, even by men of Owari, Mito, and Echizen, who stood in a position of close relationship and intimacy with the Tokugawa, that by concluding treaties with five foreign countries without reference to the emperor, the sovereign had been directly insulted. Loyalty to the throne and the expulsion of aliens became rallying cries of the exclusive party, and conflicts occurred in various places between the people who would close the country and those who advocated its opening. Loyalty to the throne was no new thought to the nation, but it now acquired a new significance under new circumstances. The Tokugawa shōguns had, like all other great military families that acquired administrative control in Japan, asserted their authority largely at the expense of that of the emperor, and the fact had begun to cause keen regret to many among the samurai. Already, when Iyeshige was shōgun a rōnin named Takeuchi Shikibu, lamenting the decline of the imperial power, urged the officials of Kyōto to devote themselves to military and literary pursuits, so as to be able some day to overthrow the shōgunate. He was exiled by the Tokugawa, who also arrested and put to death several others of the same party.
With the growth of a taste for pure Japanese literature reverence for the sovereign was intensified and propagated. Its influence was most potent in Mito, the lord of which edited the "Dai Nihon Shi" (History of Great Japan), which as scripture of loyalty was widely read. Another work which exercised a similar influence was the "Nihon-gaishi" by Rai Sanyō. Various motives so largely contributed to the growth of loyal sentiment that ultimately a secret imperial rescript was issued to the Mito vassals, instructing them to unite with the tozama barons and assist the shōgun to expel foreigners from the country. The Tairō Ii, vehemently attacked for exceeding the powers that properly belonged to him, now took another resolute and decisive step. He dismissed all the senior officials who opposed his policy, and retained in office only those in harmony with him. He further announced that any person placing obstacles in the way of measures adopted by the government should be severely dealt with, and in pursuance of this declaration he placed in confinement or dismissed from office civil nobles of highest distinction, and inflicted penalties on six feudal barons of the greatest magnitude. An equally drastic course was adopted in the case of the leading Edo officials, and more than fifty prominent retainers of noblemen, as well as rōnin, scholars, priests, and even women, were seized and sent into exile. These decisive proceedings procured for the period the name of the "Ansei Jail," but the tairō had at least the satisfaction of knowing that he had shown his courage and competence to deal summarily with his opponents. Great excitement prevailed, however, among all classes of the people, above all, the Mito samurai. On the snowy morning of the 3d of the third month, 1860, as the Tairō Ii was en route for the palace of the shōgun, he was attacked and killed by eighteen Mito rōnin under the leadership of Sano Takenosuke, and a year later the Rōjiu Andō Nobumasa, was attacked near the Sakashita gate of the castle. In order to restore harmony between the courts of Kyōto and Edo, the latter now arranged a marriage between the Shōgun Iyemochi and the emperor's sister, but though the sovereign sanctioned this union, it brought no peace for the country. Not only did the anti-Tokugawa agitation continue in noble and official circles, but also rōnin, partly in obedience to the exclusion policy, but chiefly seeking to increase the embarrassments of Edo, attacked foreigners and burned their houses, the shōgun's administration showing itself powerless to check these outrages. By degrees the samurai, who had separated themselves from their fiefs in order to carry on the agitation, assembled in Kyōto, where were already gathered great numbers of influential persons interested in the burning question of the day, and where the emperor himself lent the sanction of his indorsement to the doings of the malcontents. To the two most powerful among all the barons, Shimazu Narishige, lord of Satsuma, and Mōri Yoshichika, lord of Chōshū, secret commissions were specially given by the emperor. Before anything decisive could be accomplished, however, Narishige died and was succeeded by his younger brother, Hisamitsu, who, together with the Chōshū chief, remained in Kyōto at the head of a large force of samurai, with the avowed intention of restoring tranquillity to the country. There they were joined by Yamanouchi Toyonobu, lord of Tosa, and this triumvirate of puissant barons, Satsuma, Chōshū, and Tosa, began to be spoken of throughout the length and breadth of the land as the certain saviors of the situation.
The imperial court, in accordance with the advice of these three powerful councilors, now dispatched an envoy to Edo conveying a command that the shōgun should repair to Kyōto, that order should be established in the affairs of the administration, and that foreigners should be expelled from Japan. Prior to the receipt of this rescript the Tokugawa government had released the persons then in confinement, had dismissed all officials of proved incompetence, and had effected various reforms in the state organization. After the arrival of the imperial rescript these measures were supplemented by other changes, and punishments were meted out to Andō and other officials who had been removed from office. At the same period a most significant step was taken by the shōgun's government: the system that required the presence of the feudal barons in Edo was abolished—a step indicative of the marked decadence of the Tokugawa power. For the first time in two centuries and a half the power of the imperial court overshadowed that of the castle in Edo. An event now occurred that tended to precipitate the impending crisis. As the Satsuma chief, Shimazu Hisamitsu, was escorting the imperial envoy on his return journey from Edo to Kyōto, a party of four English equestrians met the procession near the village of Namamugi in Musashi, and attempted to break through its ranks. This violation of Japanese official etiquette, an act unpardonable in the eyes of the samurai, was violently resented. Two of the foreigners were severely wounded, one of them shortly afterward falling from his horse and dying by the roadside. Incensed by this affair, the British government demanded that the men who had perpetrated the deed and the personage under whose direction it had been carried out should be arrested, and that an indemnity of a hundred thousand dollars should be paid as blood-money, a demand that greatly embarrassed the shōgun's ministers, who knew that, even if they had possessed the power to comply in full, the attempt must lead to the gravest domestic troubles.
In 1863 the Shōgun Iyemochi repaired to Kyōto. This was the first visit paid to the imperial capital by a Tokugawa shōgun since the days of Iyemitsu, two hundred years previously, and the event naturally produced a strong impression upon the nation. At that time the numerous and constantly increasing body of samurai whose motto was "sonnō jōi" (revere the sovereign and expel the foreigner) were exerting all their energies, going hither and thither to popularize their views, and not hesitating even to use the sword against those who opposed them. When the shōgun arrived in Kyōto they brought strong pressure to bear on him with the object of inducing him to adopt their policy, and after long discussion he finally agreed to do so. Notice of this important decision was given to the feudal barons on May 15 in the same year (1863). The shōgun then returned without loss of time to Edo, apprehending that his presence in Kyōto might lead to fresh complications and being further advised that affairs in Edo needed his presence.
The Edo government now found itself in a dilemma. At once unwilling and unable to give effect to its anti-foreign policy, it had nevertheless received and accepted the imperial order to that effect. The ministers, therefore, adopted the only course opened to them, namely, conveyed to the foreign representatives an intimation that it would be necessary to close the ports and put an end to foreign commerce, and, at the same time, dispatched ambassadors directly to the Occident to explain the state of affairs in Japan. These measures, however, proved of course abortive. The anti-foreign sentiment was still further inflamed a few months later by openly hostile acts committed by the feudal baron of Chōshū, who fired upon foreign vessels attempting to pass the Strait of Shimonoseki. Nevertheless, even in Kyōto there were some influential men who boldly espoused the Tokugawa cause and placed themselves in opposition to the party working for the overthrow of the Edo government. A serious obstacle to the success of that party still existed in the fact that no effective union had yet been brought about between the powerful fiefs of Satsuma and Chōshū. The former advocated reconciliation between the courts of Kyōto and Edo, and urged that both should coöperate for the expulsion of foreigners; whereas the Chōshū folks were in favor of more precipitate measures, involving the downfall of the Tokugawa. In Kyōto the partisans of the extreme view urged the emperor to honor the Chōshū chief by visiting him in his own fief, subsequently worshiping at the sepulcher of Jimmu Tennō, and then, after a visit to the shrine of Ise, to openly declare war against the shōgun. But the programme encountered strong opposition in Kyōto at the hands of a few other barons who regarded with deep regret and apprehension the strong course to which the imperial court seemed in danger of being committed. These nobles, forming a union with certain princes, zealously opposed the court view; and finally succeeded so far as to procure the expulsion from Kyōto of the Chōshū lord, who, on his return to his fief, was accompanied by Sanjō Sanetomi, afterward destined to play a prominent part in the events of the restoration, and six other court nobles. The policy of the court was now directed to the reëstablishment of friendly relations with Edo, and the dissatisfaction engendered by this attitude led to émeutes by rōnin at Yamato, Tajima, and other places, but they were speedily reduced to order. In the following year, 1864, the Shōgun Iyemochi again proceeded to Kyōto, where his reception by the emperor was much more gracious than it had been on the previous occasion, various commissions being given to him, with the result that harmony was for the time restored between the two courts. Prior to this a British squadron had proceeded to Kagoshima to exact an indemnity on account of the Namamugi affair, and a sharp engagement had taken place between the ships and the Satsuma forts. The Edo government, however, paid the indemnity demanded by the foreign representatives. The affair was thus brought to an amicable issue, and foreign intercourse continued as before, though the policy of the shōgun's government toward it remained apparently as undecided as ever.
In Mito "Rekkō" Nariakira had died, and the samurai of the fief were divided into two parties, one following the late lord's policy and the other dissenting from it, which carried their enmity to such an extent that great numbers of persons fell victims to the sword. Finally in April, 1864, some of the ultra-conservative men of Mito renounced their service to their lord, and assembled in arms at Mount Tsukuba, where they were joined by a number of other malcontents, and became the center of a widespread disorder. It was quickly subdued by the Tokugawa forces, but while the Tsukuba insurgents were still in the field the Edo government found itself involved in an open quarrel with a vastly more formidable rival, the fief of Chōshū. The lord of Chōshū had been forbidden to enter Kyōto in consequence of his obdurate hostility to the policy of the Tokugawa, and the issue of such a mandate naturally caused great umbrage to his lieges. In June, 1864, they presented a memorial to the throne, setting forth their loyalty and praying that the ban of exclusion from the capital might be removed from their feudal chief and his son, as well as from Sanjō and the six other court nobles who had fled with him to Chōshū for refuge. By degrees rōnin from Chōshū assembled in the environs of the imperial city, and after some collisions they entered Kyōto. But they were totally defeated by the troops of Aidzu and Satsuma, who guarded the city. This act of contumacy provoked an imperial edict depriving the elder and younger lords of Chōshū of their rank and commissioning the Shōgun Iyemochi to chastise Chōshū. An expedition was organized in obedience to this edict, a very powerful army being raised in western Japan. Just at this time a squadron composed of British, American, French, and Dutch vessels of war entered the Straits of Shimonoseki to exact reparation from the men of Chōshū who had, as has already been related, fired upon foreign vessels passing through the strait. Attempts to avert hostilities by negotiation having proved abortive, the Chōshū forts were bombarded and dismantled by the foreign vessels, and a peace was afterward concluded, the Chōshū folks pledging themselves to give free passage to foreign ships, and to pay an indemnity of three million dollars. This large sum, though subsequently paid by the Tokugawa government, was denounced as excessive by foreign jurists as well as Japanese statesmen, and the portion that fell to the share of the United States of America was returned to Japan more than twenty years afterward.
Pending the settlement of this Shimonoseki affair the Tokugawa military operations against Chōshū were delayed, and as the latter put to death three of the leaders of the disturbance in Kyōto, and made ample apologies for their offense, the force destined for the invasion of their fief was disbanded. There were, however, two parties in Chōshū; the one in favor of submitting to the shōgun so as to avert misfortunes otherwise apparently threatening the fief, and the other advocating determined resistance to the Tokugawa. At the head of the latter party was Takasugi Shinsaku, and he, having established relations with Sanjō and the other court nobles then refugees in Chōshū, succeeded in completely overcoming the pacific faction and obtaining ascendency in the fief. The Edo government now found itself openly defied by Chōshū, and a strong agitation arose in favor of inflicting summary punishment by sending another large expedition. Against this counsel dissenting voices were not unheard, but finally an expeditionary force was organized and moved southward, the shōgun himself accompanying it. A marked incident of this occasion was the refusal of the great Satsuma baron to send a quota of troops for service with the shōgun. His fief and Chōshū, whose mutual rivalry had at times amounted to bitter enmity, had concluded at last that in their union lay the only hope of accomplishing the purpose of unifying and consolidating the empire. Foremost among the far-seeing statesmen was Saigō Takamori of Satsuma, who never wavered in his conviction that no lasting amity could be established between the courts of Kyōto and Edo, and that the only solution of the national difficulties lay in the overthrow of the Tokugawa. To this view his fellow-clansmen subscribed, and relations were opened with Chōshū which finally led to the hearty coöperation of the two fiefs. En route for Chōshū the shōgun stopped at Ōsaka, where he was approached by the representatives of Great Britain, the Netherlands, and the United States, who insisted that Hyōgo should be opened for trade according to the provisions of the Edo treaties, and that the treaties should be ratified by the emperor. The shōgun, after reference to the sovereign, declined to entertain this demand, and the foreign representatives thereupon threatened to prefer it in person to the throne. The emperor, much incensed at the course events were taking, severely punished the chief officials of the shōgun who were directly responsible for the treaties, and this having been done without reference to the shōgun himself, placed the latter in such an embarrassing position that he laid his resignation at the foot of the throne and asked that Hitotsubashi Yoshinobu, of Mito, be appointed in his stead. He accompanied this document with a memorial praying for the imperial sanction to the treaties with foreign powers. The emperor declined to accept the shōgun's resignation, but gave his sanction to the treaties, the immediate opening of Hyōgo to foreign trade being, however, refused. Subsequent to these events the expedition against Chōshū was again put in motion, but the Chōshū men inflicted a crushing defeat upon it, inasmuch as this was the first occasion of a shōgun's taking the field in person since two hundred and fifty years before, the consequences were disastrous to the prestige of the Tokugawa, many of the feudal barons openly renouncing allegiance to them. While the campaign was still in progress the Shōgun Iyemochi died in the castle of Ōsaka, August, 1866, and was succeeded by Yoshinobu in December of the same year. The Emperor Kōmei also died shortly after. Owing to this sad event the expedition against Chōshū was finally abandoned. Thereafter the shōgun found himself confronted by such difficulties both at home and abroad that further tenure of office became impossible, and finally, acting on the advice of the lord of Tosa, resigned the office as the feudal overlord of Japan, and restored the administrative power into the hands of the sovereign. This memorable event occurred on October 14, 1867.
Feudalism, which had for nearly seven centuries controlled the administration of the empire, seemed now to have come to an end, but institutions so deeply rooted in the life of the nation and so long upheld by persons whose vital interests were interwoven therewith were not to die away without a struggle. It was mortifying to the supporters of the shōgun, who had so recently renounced his office from disinterested motives, to see his policy reversed, his old enemies raised to the highest posts of the new government, and he and his late councilors completely excluded from official life. The Chōshū baron and his son received the imperial pardon and reëntered Kyōto, while they as well as Sanjō Sanetomi were restored to their former ranks; the soldiers of Satsuma, Chōshū, Aki, Owari, and Echizen displaced the men of Aidzu and Kuwana as guards of Kyōto; and radical changes were made in official posts and emoluments, the offices of sōsai, gijō, and sanyo being newly established under the presidency of Prince Arisugawa. The first gijō were Princes Yoshiaki and Akira, together with Sanjō Sanetomi, Iwakura Tomomi, and the barons of Satsuma, Echizen, and Tosa. The sanyo were Ōhara Shigenori, Saigō Takamori, and Ōkubo Toshimichi. More than twenty court nobles were removed from office and the administrative power was assumed in effect by a government under the direct control of the sovereign.
On December 10 it was announced to the late shōgun, by order of the emperor through the medium of the barons of Owari and Echizen, that his administrative functions had been transferred to the emperor, and he was at the same time privately instructed to resign his post of lord keeper of the privy seal and to surrender the provinces hitherto forming his fief. The news of these instructions produced great excitement among the fudai barons, and the shōgun, apprehending that they might resort to violence on his behalf, petitioned the sovereign to allow him temporarily to retain the post of lord keeper of the seal as well as to hold the provinces of his fief, though he repeated his expression of resolve to divest himself of all administrative authority. This course did not, however, entirely allay the umbrage of the fudai barons, especially the lords of Aidzu and Kuwana. The shōgun himself, suspecting that the order stripping him of his dignities and possessions had been issued at the instigation of the chiefs of Satsuma and Chōshū, withdrew from the Nijō palace and shut himself up in the castle of Ōsaka. There, however, he was urgently counseled by the barons of Owari and Echizen to abandon all resistance to the throne and to present himself peacefully at the imperial court, and in obedience to this advice he was about to enter Kyōto guarded by a powerful escort, when intelligence reached him from Edo to the effect that a number of Satsuma rōnin, having assembled at the Satsuma mansion in the city, had fired on a barrack occupied by Tokugawa troops, and that the latter had consequently attacked the mansion and driven out its occupants, who had taken refuge in a warship anchored in Shinagawa Bay. Incensed by this news, the shōgun, on January 3 in the first year of the Meiji era, 1868, issued orders to the various clans to combine for the purpose of chastising Satsuma. He commenced the campaign by mustering the troops of Aidzu and Kuwana in Kyōto and marching to attack the forces of Satsuma and Chōshū. But in the engagements that ensued at Fushimi and Toba the shōgun's army was completely defeated, and Prince Yoshiaki was formally ordered by the imperial court to lead a punitory expedition against Tokugawa, now an open rebel. The latter retired to Edo by sea, accompanied by the forces of Aidzu and Kuwana, when they and twenty-seven other feudal chiefs were deprived by the emperor of all their ranks and offices, the duty of breaking their power by force of arms being intrusted to the barons of Aki, Chōshū, and Tosa. Also, special officers were dispatched to the various provinces to restore peace, and their presence impressed the feudal barons so strongly that no resistance was offered, and the provinces to the west of Kyōto and Ōsaka surrendered without hesitation to the imperial government. On February 9 Prince Arisugawa received the commission of commander in chief, with instructions to bring the east under control, and under his orders the imperial forces moved upon Tōkai, Tōsan, and Hokuriku. The prince entered Sumpu on March 5 and made preparations for the assault of Edo. Before the attack took place, however, the shōgun retired to a temple in Edo, and dispatched Ōkubo Tadahiro, Katsu Awa Yoshikuni, and others to open negotiations with Saigō Takamori, general of the imperial forces then about to move on the eastern capital. Both armies, the imperial and the feudal, were animated with an uncontrollable desire to fight to the last, and the imminent clash was barely averted by the word of honor exchanged between two individuals, General Saigō of the emperor's army and Katsu, a vassal of the shōgun. They had met each other only once, years before, but, although circumstances had placed them in hostile camps, had entertained so unbounded an admiration and confidence in each other's noble character that now only a few words sufficed for them to pledge, on their honor as samurai, to effect the surrender of the Tokugawa with their dignity unimpaired, and to save Edo from an unnecessary destruction of the lives and properties of its two million inhabitants. On March 4 the van of the imperial army entered Edo and occupied the castle, the Shōgun Yoshinobu being granted his life and confined in Mito. On the 15th the prince entered Edo, and in May a grant of lands yielding annually 700,000 koku of rice in Suruga, Tōtōmi, and Mutsu was made to the Tokugawa family for its maintenance.
When the imperial forces took possession of Edo castle, Enomoto Takeaki, a naval officer of the Tokugawa government, fled to the northern Island of Ezo, taking with him eight war vessels, and Ōtori Keisuke retired to Kazusa and Shimōsa. Further, a number of the Tokugawa vassals, calling themselves the shōgitai (loyal band), took refuge in Uyeno, northeast of Edo, and placing Prince Kozenbō, the lord abbot of Kwanyei-ji, at their head, refused to surrender to the imperial government. They were attacked by his majesty's forces and defeated after a sharp engagement, while Ōtori and his comrades, routed at Utsunomiya and Nikkō, fled to Aidzu, the feudal lord of which place had already returned thither, and in conjunction with the barons of Mutsu and Dewa had made preparations to uphold the Tokugawa cause by force of arms. But the imperial troops, advancing from Tōsan, Tōkai, and Hokuriku, brought into subjection the two clans of Sendai and Yonezawa, and entering Aidzu, took the Wakamatsu castle on September 22, thus completely breaking the resistance of the rebels and restoring tranquillity throughout the northern regions. In December Matsudaira Katamori, the Aidzu lord, was sentenced to perpetual confinement, and the fiefs of Sendai, Shōnai, and Morioka, which had made act of submission after the fall of Wakamatsu, were confiscated, and their lords confined. As for the Yonezawa fief, its territory was reduced and its lord ordered to surrender the management of affairs to his heir, while the fiefs of Mutsu and Dewa were divided into five and two provinces, respectively. Meanwhile, Enomoto and his followers, alleging the intention of reclaiming lands in Ezo, had occupied the fortress at Hakodate and obtained possession of a great part of the island. But they also finally in May, 1868, surrendered to the imperial forces. In August the name Ezo was changed to Hokkaidō, and it was divided into eleven provinces. The entire land of Japan thus passed under the sway of the imperial government. Although some of the feudal institutions still persisted, the Edo rule had in 1868 at last come to an end—682 years since Minamoto Yoritomo organized the feudal government of the empire.