were a special police squad formed in Japan by the Meiji government in 1877 during the

Satsuma Rebellion The Satsuma Rebellion, also known as the was a revolt of disaffected samurai against the new imperial government, nine years into the Meiji Era. Its name comes from the Satsuma Domain, which had been influential in the Restoration and beca ...

. The detachment was armed with

Japanese sword A is one of several types of traditionally made swords from Japan. Bronze swords were made as early as the Yayoi period (1000 BC – 300 AD), though most people generally refer to the curved blades made from the Heian period (794 – 1185) to the ...

s. The members of Battotai defeated the rebels in the

Battle of Tabaruzaka The Battle of Tabaruzaka was a major battle of the Satsuma Rebellion. It took place in March 1877, on the island of Kyushu, Japan, concurrently to the Siege of Kumamoto Castle. Summary The Battle of Tabaruzaka began on March 3, 1877 when troops ...

. Their success in sword fighting led to a renewed interest in the art of

kenjutsu is an umbrella term for all ('' ko-budō'') schools of Japanese swordsmanship, in particular those that predate the Meiji Restoration. Some modern styles of kendo and iaido that were established in the 20th century also included modern forms of ...

, which had been abandoned after the

Meiji restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

, and, as a result, the formation of modern

kendo is a modern Japanese martial art, descended from kenjutsu (one of the old Japanese martial arts, swordsmanship), that uses bamboo swords (shinai) as well as protective armor (bōgu). Today, it is widely practiced within Japan and has spread ...

.''Cornelia Niekus Moore, Raymond A. Moody.'' Comparative Literature - East and West: Traditions and Trends : Selected Conference Papers. — University of Hawaii Press, 1989. — p. 172, p. 219 — .

History

During the multi-day siege by the government forces of Tabaruzaka, where the rebels of Saigo Takamori were entrenched, it turned out that the troops were suffering heavy damage from the attacks of the rebels in close combat. This was due to the fact that most of the government forces were conscripted "common people", peasants and townspeople who had never learned to fight with a sword. In a sword fight with the Saigo samurai, they invariably died. To change the situation, the police command, among which there were many people of samurai origin, approached the army commander

Yamagata Aritomo ''Gensui (Imperial Japanese Army), Gensui'' Prince , also known as Prince Yamagata Kyōsuke, was a senior-ranking Japanese people, Japanese military commander, twice-elected Prime Minister of Japan, and a leading member of the ''genrō'', an � ...

with a proposal to recruit a separate squad of capable swordsmen. Yamagata gave permission, and such a detachment of one hundred people was recruited. On March 14, 1877, Battotai, by order of the command, attacked Mount Tabaruzaka. After two days of battle with Satsuma rebels detachment suffered heavy losses of 25 dead and injured 54. Despite the fact that the sword at the end of the 19th century was considered a long-obsolete weapons Battotai revived interest among Japanese Kenjutsu, which was abandoned after the defeat of the shogunate. The greatest supporter of the revival of kenjutsu was the "father of the Japanese police"

Kawaji Toshiyoshi , also known as Kawaji Toshikane, was a Japanese statesman and chief of police during the Meiji period.Lanman, Charles. ''Leading Men of Japan: With an Historical Summary of the Empire''. The University of California. Published by D. Lothrop a ...

. He published the work "On the question of the restoration of fencing" (Japanese: 撃剣再興論 Gekiken saikō-ron), and in 1879 the police department began hiring instructors to train their officers in fencing.

References

History of Kumamoto Prefecture Meiji Restoration Kendo {{japan-history-stub