Mito Rebellion

Mito rebellion; 水戸幕末争乱
	Part of Bakumatsu conflicts
	; Shogunate troops moving to quell the Mito rebellion in 1864.; ; "Takeda Kōunsai at Mt. Tsukuba" by Utagawa Kuniteru III
Date	May 2, 1864 – January 14, 1865; (8 months, 1 week and 5 days)
Location	Eastern Japan
Result	Shogunate victory
Belligerents
Tengutō; Shishido Domain; Local samurai and kokugakusha volunteers;	Tokugawa shogunate; Mito Domain; Sagara Domain; Suwa Domain; Matsumoto Domain; Iida Domain; Takasaki Domain; Kasama Domain;
Commanders and leaders
Takeda Kōunsai ; Yamakuni Hyōbu ; Matsudaira Yorinori ; Kameyama Yoshiharu ;	Tokugawa Yoshinobu; Takenaka Shigekata; Ichikawa Sanzaemon; Tanuma Okitaka; Yajima Denzaemon; Shiohara Hikoshichi;
Strength
2,000	About 10,000
Casualties and losses
About 1,300 rebels killed, around 353 were executed, and 100 died in captivity	Around 6,700 shogunate members killed

The Mito rebellion (水戸幕末争乱, Mito bakumatsu sōran), also called the Kantō Insurrection or the Tengutō Rebellion (天狗党の乱, tengutō no ran), was a civil war that occurred in the area of Mito Domain in Japan from May 2, 1864 to January 14, 1865. It involved an uprising and terrorist actions against the central power of the Shogunate in favour of the sonnō jōi ("Revere the emperor, expel the barbarians") policy.^[3]

Outline

A shogunal pacification force was sent to Mount Tsukuba on 17 June 1864, consisting of 700 Mito soldiers led by Ichikawa, with 3 to 5 cannons and at least 200 firearms, as well as a Tokugawa shogunate force of 3,000 men with over 600 firearms and several cannons.^[4]

As the conflict escalated, on 10 October 1864 at Nakaminato, the shogunate force of 6,700 was defeated by 2000 insurgents, and several shogunal defeats followed.^[5]

The insurgents were weakening, however, dwindling to about 1,000. By December 1864 they faced a new force under Tokugawa Yoshinobu (himself born in Mito) numbering over 10,000, which ultimately forced them to surrender.^[6]

The uprising resulted in 1,300 dead on the rebels' side, which suffered vicious repression, including 353 executions and approximately 100 who died in captivity.^[7]

Other

Mito and Hikone had been hostile since the Sakurada Gate incident in 1860. Mito and Hikone were reconciled by Tsuruga, the death place of Tengutō members, after 110 years of the incident.
Nuclear dense zones of Japan are concentrated near Mito and near Tsuruga, these two places are related by the Tengutō rebellion. Especially, Jōyō (Ōarai, a neighbor of Mito) and Monju (Tsuruga) are two sodium-cooled fast reactors in Japan.

Notes

^ ^a ^b Shimazaki, Tōson; Naff, William (October 1, 1987). Before the Dawn (1st ed.). United States: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0824809149.
^ "Account of the Battle of Wada Peak handwritten by Takashima Domain strategist Shiohara Hikoshichi found". 全国郷土紙連合 Zenkoku Kyōdoshi Rengō. All-Japan Local Newspaper Association. 2021. Retrieved 29 October 2023.
^ The Cambridge History of Japan, p.641
^ Totman, p.112
^ Totman, p.118
^ Totman, p.119-120
^ Totman, p.120

References

Totman, Conrad. (1980). The Collapse of the Tokugawa Bakufu, 1862–1868 University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, ISBN 0-8248-0614-X

[Naff2-1] Shimazaki, Tōson; Naff, William (October 1, 1987). Before the Dawn (1st ed.). United States: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0824809149.

[2] "Account of the Battle of Wada Peak handwritten by Takashima Domain strategist Shiohara Hikoshichi found". 全国郷土紙連合 Zenkoku Kyōdoshi Rengō. All-Japan Local Newspaper Association. 2021. Retrieved 29 October 2023.

[3] The Cambridge History of Japan, p.641

[4] Totman, p.112

[5] Totman, p.118

[6] Totman, p.119-120

[7] Totman, p.120

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Mito Rebellion

Contents

Outline

Other

See also

Notes

References