The was an

uprising Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order. It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an established authority. A rebellion originates from a sentiment of indignation and disapproval of a situation and ...

against the

Meiji government The was the government that was formed by politicians of the Satsuma Domain and Chōshū Domain in the 1860s. The Meiji government was the early government of the Empire of Japan. Politicians of the Meiji government were known as the Meiji o ...

of Japan that occurred in Hagi from 28 October 1876 to 5 November 1876. Maebara Issei, a disillusioned hero of 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 former ''

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

'' of the Chōshū Domain, planned an attack on

Yamaguchi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Yamaguchi Prefecture has a population of 1,377,631 (1 February 2018) and has a geographic area of 6,112 km2 (2,359 sq mi). Yamaguchi Prefecture borders Shimane Prefecture t ...

officials inspired by the ''Shinpūren'' rebellion four days earlier. Maebara's plot was exposed and his supporters in Hagi were soon defeated by the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

as he travelled the

Chūgoku region The , also known as the region, is the westernmost region of Honshū, the largest island of Japan. It consists of the prefectures of Hiroshima, Okayama, Shimane, Tottori, and Yamaguchi. In 2010, it had a population of 7,563,428. History ''C ...

searching for support. Maebara and the leaders of the rebellion were arrested and

executed Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

. The Hagi Rebellion was one of a number of "'' shizoku'' uprisings" which took place in Kyūshū and western

Honshu , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island se ...

during the early

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

Background

In 1868, the

established the

Empire of Japan The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of Japan, 1947 constitu ...

and overthrew the

Tokugawa Shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

that had ruled Japan as a

feudal state Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structur ...

since 1600. The new

enacted policies of modernization and

Westernization Westernization (or Westernisation), also Europeanisation or occidentalization (from the ''Occident''), is a process whereby societies come under or adopt Western culture in areas such as industry, technology, science, education, politics, econo ...

, including reforms aimed at deconstructing feudalism in Japan such as the abolition of the han system and the Tokugawa class system. Many conservative members of the ''

'', the former powerful warrior class, were disgruntled as the reforms saw them lose their privileged social status, eliminating their income, and the establishment of universal

military conscription Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day und ...

had replaced much of their role in the society. The very rapid modernization and Westernization of Japan was resulting in massive changes to Japanese culture, dress and society, and appeared to many ''samurai'' to be a betrayal of the "''joi'' " ("Expel the Barbarian") portion of the ''

Sonnō jōi was a ''yojijukugo'' (four-character compound) phrase used as the rallying cry and slogan of a political movement in Japan in the 1850s and 1860s during the Bakumatsu period. Based on Neo-Confucianism and Japanese nativism, the movement soug ...

'' justification used to overthrow the former Tokugawa Shogunate. Maebara Issei, one of the heroes of the Meiji restoration and a leader of the Imperial Army at the Battle of Aizu, was among the dissatisfied of the Imperial faction. Maebara was a ''samurai'' of the Chōshū Domain, one of the most powerful domains, which the Imperial revolutionaries had gained crucial support from after brokering the

Satchō Alliance The , or was a powerful military alliance between the feudal domains of Satsuma and Chōshū formed in 1866 to combine their efforts to restore Imperial rule and overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan. History The name ''Satchō'' () is ...

through the mediation of

Sakamoto Ryōma was a Japanese ''samurai'', a '' shishi'' and influential figure of the ''Bakumatsu'' and establishment of the Empire of Japan in the late Edo period. He was a low-ranking ''samurai'' from the Tosa Domain on Shikoku and became an active oppo ...

. Maebara had been a pupil of

Yoshida Shōin , commonly named , was one of Japan's most distinguished intellectuals in the late years of the Tokugawa shogunate. He devoted himself to nurturing many ''ishin shishi'' who in turn made major contributions to the Meiji Restoration. Early life ...

and an early advocate of modernization in Japan, rising to the post of Military Minister in the new Meiji government after the Restoration. However, Maebara eventually resigned due to disagreements with Kido Takayoshi over the treatment of the former ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominal ...

'' after the abolition of the han system. Maebara returned to the former Chōshū Domain, now part of the Meiji

Revolt

On 24 October 1876, Maebara was contacted by the leaders of the Shinpūren Rebellion in

Kumamoto is the capital city of Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 738,907 and a population density of 1,893 people per km2. The total area is 390.32 km2. had a population of 1,461,000, ...

to join forces in a widespread uprising against the Meiji government in Kyushu and southwestern

. The Shinpūren Rebellion was defeated the following morning, but managed to inflict surprisingly large casualties on the

and officials of

Kumamoto Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Kumamoto Prefecture has a population of 1,748,134 () and has a geographic area of . Kumamoto Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the north, Ōita Prefecture to the northeast, M ...

. Sympathizers of the rebellion were inspired to instigate their own rebellions against the Meiji government despite the little chance of success. On 26 October 1876, Maebara gathered a group of like-minded ''samurai'' in Hagi, the former capital of Chōshū Domain, and proposed a lightning strike against the Meiji government offices located in Yamaguchi, the capital of Yamaguchi Prefecture. As his forces numbered only around 100 warriors, it was decided to make a night attack, with the date set at 28 October. However, the Governor of Yamaguchi Prefecture was informed of Maebara's preparation and sent word to him with news of the crushed Shinpūren Rebellion, and urged that he stand down. Maebara realized that his plans for a surprise attack were doomed to fail, and that the government offices in Yamaguchi had been reinforced with Imperial troops, so he changed his strategy. Instead, Maebara decided to march along the coast of the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, i ...

to the national capital

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, winning over the ex-''samurai'' from the various former domains along the way, and to commit mass '' seppuku'' (ritual suicide) at the feet of Emperor Meiji. Maebara's rebels marched from Hagi to Susa, looting along the way. They recruited more warriors in Susa and began to call themselves the Juntoku Army. Maebara's plans to travel by sea to

Hamada A hamada ( ar, حمادة, ) is a type of desert landscape consisting of high, largely barren, hard rocky plateaus, where most of the sand has been removed by deflation. The majority of the Sahara is in fact hamada. Other examples are Negev dese ...

Iwami Province was an old province of Japan in the area that is today the western part of Shimane Prefecture. It was sometimes called . Iwami bordered Aki, Bingo, Izumo, Nagato, and Suō provinces. In the Heian period (794–1192) the capital was at moder ...

were defeated by strong winds, and he returned to Hagi rather than proceed further. Maebara discovered upon his return to Hagi that someone had dumped his secret store of ammunition into the ocean, rendering his army largely weaponless. On 5 November, Maebara attempted to escape from Hagi with a handful of men in an attempt to reach Tokyo, but he was captured and the remainder of the Juntoku Army was crushed by army troops at Hagi. Maebara and six of his associates were tried before a

military tribunal Military justice (also military law) is the legal system (bodies of law and procedure) that governs the conduct of the active-duty personnel of the armed forces of a country. In some nation-states, civil law and military law are distinct bod ...

Fukuoka Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Fukuoka Prefecture has a population of 5,109,323 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,986 Square kilometre, km2 (1,925 sq mi). Fukuoka Prefecture borders S ...

, and were executed on December 3 alongside leaders of the Akizuki Rebellion, another ''Shinpuren''-inspired rebellion that began in Akizuki on 27 October. Forty of the surviving rebels received prison sentences.

References

* {{Authority control Conflicts in 1876 1876 in Japan 19th-century rebellions October 1876 events November 1876 events Rebellions in Japan Meiji Restoration

Background

Revolt

See also

References