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SAMURAI
侍
samurai
The Samurai Backlash to the Opening of Japan
Some of the more reactionary elements of the samurai class responded by turning to terrorism. They attacked Europeans, bakufu officials, and anyone who seemed to be collaborating with the foreigners. Most of these terrorists were young, unemployed samurai. Their rallying cry was sonnō jōi / 尊皇攘夷 (“Revere the Emperor and expel the foreigner”). Dissatisfied with the present and fearful of the future, these disenfranchised samurai dreamed of return to a bygone era.
The bakufu government eventually fell. In 1867, the last shogun, Keiki, resigned under pressure from the samurai. The bakufu’s authority was ceded to the Emperor. This transfer of power from the bakufu to the emperor became known as the Meiji Restoration.
Those samurai who believed that the restoration of Imperial power would lead to a new golden age for their class were soon disappointed. Emperor Meiji wanted to transform Japan into a European-style power, not transport the country back to the feudal period. In 1871, the feudal domains of the daimyo were abolished in favor of a prefectural system. At first, Japan’s central government continued issuing stipends to the daimyo and their samurai, but this proved too great a burden. The result was more financial hardship for the samurai.
In the 1870s the Japanese government also established a Western-style conscript army of draftees. In 1876, a law was passed which forbade anyone but members of the army to wear swords in public. The samurai regarded their swords as symbols of their rank and manhood, so the prohibition was an unforgivable insult.
It was only a matter of time before the samurai responded with force. The 1877 Satsuma Rebellion was the last gasp of the samurai class. The rebellion was led by Saigo Takamori, a disillusioned daimyo who had ironically helped bring about the Meiji Restoration. In February of 1877 he and his troops marched against the capitol. It took central government forces seven months to quell the uprising.
When he sensed that his cause was lost, Saigo Takamori took his own life on the battlefield. He is remembered today with mixed feelings. On one hand, he was a reactionary who resisted Japan’s march toward modernity. On the other hand, though, he is admired by some for his commitment to his ideals—even if they were ultimately the wrong ones.