The Battle of Shiroyama, the final stand of the Satsuma Rebellion, which effectively brought an end to the samurai class on 24 September 1877.
It’s been nine years since the Meiji Restoration, the massive political event that gives birth to the powerful nation state of the Empire of Japan. During the Meiji Era, Japan is changing rapidly from an isolated feudal society to a modernised and industrialised state influenced by Western ideas and technology. Watchhh out.
But it’s changing too fast for some.
Especially for the samurai class.
A barrage of modern reforms is threatening their very way of life. More importantly, the government is effectively chucking the privileged social status of the samurai class under the proverbial cart. Unemployment is on the rise and so is the number of disaffected samurai. Not a class you want to rub the wrong way you would think.
Enter Saigō Takamori, one of the most influential samurai of all time, described by historian Ivan Morris as “the quintessential hero of modern Japanese history.”
