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, 15:29, 18 July 2014
*''Died: [[1865]]/11''
Katsui Gohachirô was an uncle of [[So Yoshiakira|Sô Yoshiakira]], the final ''daimyô'' of [[Tsushima han]], who is known for leading a coup in [[1864]] to oust a rival faction within the domain leadership.
Katsui had been imprisoned by [[Sasu Iori]], chief councilor to Yoshiakira's father [[So Yoshiyori|Sô Yoshiyori]], but was freed when a group led a coup in [[1862]], assassinating Sasu and installing Yoshiakira as ''daimyô''. This group then entered the domain into an alliance with [[Choshu han|Chôshû han]], which crumbled soon afterwards as the shogunate turned against Chôshû. Much of the benefits Tsushima had secured from the shogunate, with Chôshû's help, also disappeared as Chôshû and the shogunate came to blows in 1864.
Katsui thus decided to lead a coup against the very group which had freed him two years earlier. In a course of action which somewhat mirrored that earlier coup, Katsui led a group of men to the Tsushima [[daimyo yashiki|domain mansion]] in Kyoto, where he confronted [[Oura Sakubei|Ôura Sakubei]], chief Tsushima official in Kyoto and son of [[Oura Norinosuke|Ôura Norinosuke]], one of the leaders of the rival faction. In the ensuing skirmish, Sakubei was mortally wounded, and Katsui fled to Tashiro, one of Tsushima's ''[[tobichi]]'' fiefs on mainland Kyushu. Gathering up forces, he then returned to Tsushima and snuck into the ''daimyô's'' palace, capturing Sô Yoshiakira and seizing dominance within the domain's politics.
In 1864/10, Katsui closed Ôura's [[Nisshinkan (Tsushima)|Nisshinkan]], a training school and center of ''[[sonno|sonnô]] [[joi|jôi]]'' ideology, and over the next several months killed nearly one hundred relatives and supporters of Ôura, or forced them to commit suicide. Ôura Norinosuke himself died in prison as the result of a hunger strike, and lost one grandson to suicide and one to execution.
By early [[1865]], Katsui was able to name himself chief councilor. Less than a year later, however, he was killed and replaced by another ''sonnô jôi'' faction, this time led by [[Hirata Oe|Hirata Ôe]].
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==References==
*Robert Hellyer, ''Defining Engagement'', Harvard University Press (2009), 227-230.
[[Category:Bakumatsu]]
[[Category:Samurai]]