Boshin War

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  • Bakufu loyalists Vs. Imperial loyalists (Meiji government)
  • Japanese: 戊辰戦争 (Boshin Sensou)


The Boshin war was the civil war in which the new Meiji government finished off the last of the Pro-Tokugawa loyalists.

Battle of Toba-Fushimi

1868/1/3 The Bakufu troops and Satsuma-Chôshû troops clashed in the suburbs of Kyoto. The Satsuma-Chôshû alliance defeated the Bakufu troops and gained real power of the new government.

Battle of Koshu-Katsunuma

1868/3, Bakufu sent the Kôyô Chinbutai(Shinsengumi) to Kofu castle. However the castle was occupied by the Imperial troops already. The Kôyô Chinbutai was defeated in Katsunuma.

Saigo Takamori and Katsu Kaishu

Surrender of Edo

3/6 The Imperial troops planned to attack the Edo castle in 3/15. Bakufu retainer Yamaoka Tesshu visited Saigô Takamori in Sunpu to negotiate the terms of capitulation. Saigo Takamori entered Edo in 3/13 and had a meeting with Army minister Katsu Kaishu to negotiate the surrender of the Edo castle. As the result, the Imperial troops entered Edo without blood in 4/11. That same day, Tokugawa Yoshinobu left Edo and headed to Mito.

After taking the castle, Imperial forces moved a number of treasures and Tokugawa clan ancestral tablets from the Momijiyama archives within the castle grounds to a site in Ueno.[1]

Battle of Utsunomiya castle

The Bakufu retainers who refused to surrender made resistance against the Imperial troops. 4/19, the Bakufu troops occupied the Utsunomiya castle but they were defeated by the reinforcements of the Imperial troops in 4 days.

Battle of Ueno

On 5/15, Imperial troops destroyed the Shôgitai at Kan'ei-ji temple.

Battle of Hokuetsu

After the negotiation between the Imperial troops and Nagaoka han was broken up, Nagaoka attacked the Imperial troops in Enoki pass. But the Nagaoka castle fell in 7/29 and the battle ended.

Battle of Aizu

The battles over Shirakawa castle took 3 months. The Imperial troops defeated Aizu at Bonari pass in 8/21, Aizu surrendered in 9/22.

Battle of Hakodate

Enomoto Takeaki and former Bakufu retainers took Bakufu's fleet to Ezo, occupied Goryôkaku fort in 10/26 and established the local government. They attempted the Naval Battle of Miyako Bay but it was failed. 1869/4/9 the imperial troops landed Otobe, 5/18 former Bakufu troops surrendered.

References

  • Bakumatsu Boshin Seinan Senso (幕末戊辰西南戦争), Gakken
  1. Takashi Fujitani, Splendid Monarchy, University of California Press (1996), 40.


Boshin War
Toba-Fushimi - Koshu-Katsunuma - Utsunomiya castle - Ueno - Hokuetsu - Aizu - Hakodate
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