5.8 Edo Period 1867: Civil War
On November 9, 1867, Tokugawa Yoshinobu tendered his resignation to the Emperor Meiji, thus formally returning governing power to the Emperor. Undoubtedly expecting to be the first among equals in a new government, he then left Kyoto for Osaka.
However, there were many who did not want Yoshinobu in the new government. The opposition centered in Satsuma and Chōshū. Led by men such as Saigō Takamori, they feared Yoshinobu’s land, wealth, and special status. In a meeting in Kyoto, opponents of Yoshinobu produced a forged document purporting to be an edict of the Emperor against Yoshinobu.
At the urging of supporters to protest the charges, Yoshinobu amassed a large body of troops and went to Kyoto. The troops of Satsuma and Chōshū under Saigō Takamori met the Tokugawa forces in southern Kyoto in the Battle of Toba-Fushimi, the first battle of the Boshin War. The forces of Satsuma and Chōshū flew the Imperial Banner. Yoshinobu refused to fight against the forces of the Emperor and fled to Edo. After he left, his forces collapsed.
The Imperial forces followed Yoshinobu’s forces to Edo. There a peace agreement was reached and Edo Castle was peacefully surrendered.
Resistance continued in northern Japan by some of the domains who remained loyal to the bakufu and by naval forces under Admiral Enomoto Takeaki. The resistance was helped by French military advisors under Jules Brunet, who had been part of a contingency sent by the French Second Republic. The opposition groups coalesced at Hokkaido where they founded the Republic of Ezo. The Republic of Ezo attempted to get international help and recognition but in vain. Enomoto offered to confer the territory to the Tokugawa shogun under Imperial rule, but his proposal was declined by the Imperial Governing Council.
The leaders of the Ezo Republic included: Ōtori Keisuke (1833-1911), a respected Western scholar both in military and governmental affairs; Hijikata Toshizō (1835 –1869), the Vice-Commander of Shinsengumi; Arai Ikunosuke (1836-1909), a naval officer; Nagai Naoyuki (1816 –1896), a bureaucrat.
The Imperial forces continued northward. In April, 1869 the Imperial forces decisively defeated the Republic of Ezo’s forces in the Battle of Hakodate. Eventually peace came and the Bakufu was abolished.
After restoration of Emperor Meiji, sonnō jōi was replaced with fukoku kyōhei, or “enrich the nation, strengthen the armies,” which would serve a similar purpose to spur on Meiji Period modernization and later, more ominously, Japan’s actions leading up to World War II.
The leaders on both sides who survived the Boshin War went on to become very important in both governmental affairs and science.
Tokugawa Yoshinobu went into retirement, and largely avoided the public eye for the rest of his life. Yoshinobu moved to Shizuoka, the place to which Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder of Tokugawa shogunate, had also retired. In 1902, the Meiji Emperor allowed him to re-establish his own house as a Tokugawa branch with the highest rank in the peerage (kōshaku or “prince”) for his service to Japan. His ninth daughter, Tokugawa Tsuneko (1882–1939) married Prince Fushimi Hiroyasu, a second cousin to Emperor Shōwa and his granddaughter married Prince Takamatsu, the brother of Emperor Shōwa, to become Princess Takamatsu. In 1868 Emperor Meiji (1852-1912) and his court moved to Edo, which was renamed Tokyo or “Eastern Capital.” Edo had long been the seat of political power and this was a move that recognized it, though the citizens of Kyoto were very unhappy with the development. During his reign Japan saw rapid modernization that transformed Japan into a world power.