1.
Boshin War
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The war found its origins in dissatisfaction among many nobles and young samurai with the shogunates handling of foreigners following the opening of Japan during the prior decade. Increasing Western influence in the led to a decline similar to other Asian countries at the time. An alliance of western samurai, particularly the domains of Chōshū, Satsuma and Tosa, Tokugawa Yoshinobu, the sitting shogun, realizing the futility of his situation, abdicated political power to the emperor. Yoshinobu had hoped that by doing this, the Tokugawa house could be preserved and those loyal to the Tokugawa retreated to northern Honshū and later to Hokkaidō, where they founded the Ezo republic. Defeat at the Battle of Hakodate broke this last holdout and left the imperial rule supreme throughout the whole of Japan, around 120,000 men were mobilised during the conflict, and of these about 3,500 were killed. When the Boshin War began, Japan was already modernizing, following the course of advancement as that of the industrialized Western nations. But Japan protected its economy by rejecting Western-enforced free trade. And since those Western nations, especially the United Kingdom and France, were involved in the countrys politics. Over time, the war has been romanticized as a bloodless revolution, in 1854, Commodore Perry opened Japan to global commerce with the implied threat of force, thus initiating a period of rapid development in foreign trade and Westernization. His efforts culminated in March 1863 with his Order to expel barbarians, other attacks included the shelling of foreign shipping in Shimonoseki. During 1864, these actions were successfully countered by armed retaliations by foreign powers, such as the British Bombardment of Kagoshima, the Shogunate further ordered a punitive expedition against Chōshū, the First Chōshū expedition, and obtained Chōshūs submission without actual fighting. Despite the bombardment of Kagoshima, the Satsuma domain had become closer to the British and was pursuing the modernization of its army, the Scottish dealer Thomas Blake Glover sold quantities of warships and guns to the southern domains. American and British military experts, usually former officers, may have directly involved in this military effort. The British ambassador Harry Smith Parkes supported the forces in a drive to establish a legitimate, unified Imperial rule in Japan. The Shogunate also was preparing for conflict by modernizing its forces. In line with Parkes designs, the British, previously the Shogunates primary partner, the Tokugawa thus came to rely mainly on French expertise, comforted by the military prestige of Napoleon III at that time, acquired through his successes in the Crimean War and the War of Italy. In 1865, Japans first modern naval arsenal was built in Yokosuka by the French engineer Léonce Verny and this in turn prompted Chōshū to form a secret alliance with Satsuma. In the summer of 1866, the Shogunate was defeated by Chōshū, in late 1866, however, first Shogun Iemochi and then Emperor Kōmei died, respectively succeeded by Yoshinobu and Emperor Meiji
2.
Japanese warship Kasuga
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Kasuga Maru was a Japanese wooden paddle steamer warship of the Bakumatsu and early Meiji period, serving with the navy of Satsuma Domain, and later with the fledgling Imperial Japanese Navy. She was originally named Keangsoo, and was a dispatch vessel built for the Imperial Chinese Navy. She was constructed in 1862 by Whites at Cowes, she formed part of the Lay-Osborn Floatilla during the Taiping Rebellion, Keangsoo was the largest of the vessels which made up the Lay-Osborn Floatilla. She was 241.5 feet long overall, had a beam of 29 feet and her engines produced an average cruising speed of 16.9 knots, while on two boilers she could operate at an average speed of 14.2 knots. The main armament on the vessel were two mounted smoothbore muzzle-loading 68-pounder guns and her secondary armament consisted of four 18-pounder long guns. Keangsoo was a dispatch vessel, laid down at Whites shipyard at Cowes on the Isle of Wight in 1862. Whites had become known for winning contracts with the Ottoman Navy during the 1850s. Prince Gong of the Qing Dynasty gave permission for Lay to proceed with this task, while some, such as HMS Africa were purchased from the Royal Navy, Keangsoo was one of three dispatch vessels alongside Tietsin and Kwangtung which were procured as new builds. Keangsoo underwent trials in May 1863 while underway to China, however, Lay and Osborne agreed that Osborne would only accept orders from Lay, and he in turn would only pass orders on from the Chinese Government if he agreed with them on an individual basis. The ships reached Shanghai in September, and the Chinese refused to provide stores or funds since Osborne would not accept a new Chinese commander, when the authorities attempted to bribe the enlisted men from the fleet to join them, Osborne sent it to Chefoo. Following the intervention of a British minister, the fleet was ordered to depart for India with Osborne taking Keangsoo, Kwangtung, Amoy and the yacht Thule to Bombay. The Keangsoo was then laid up alongside the remaining vessels of the flotilla. She was then acquired by her Captain Forbes once again, following the end of the conflict in 1865. While at Nagasaki, Keangsoo was purchased by Matsukata Masayoshi, a leading Satsuma samurai, on November 3,1867, for the amount of 160,000 ryō, whence she was renamed Kasuga Maru. With a speed of 17 knots, and six cannons, she was faster than anything in the Tokugawa shogunate Navy, and Matsukata intended to convert her into a warship. However, already alarmed by the high cost, as the price was four times the budget Matsukata had been authorized and she was assigned to be used as a cargo ship. In disgust, Matsukata gave up command of the ship he had bought, only to see it converted into a warship just a few months later under the command of his assistant, Akatsuka Genroku. Kasuga Maru entered Hyōgo harbour in January 1868, where she was blockaded by three ships of the Tokugawa Navy, Kaiyō Maru, Banryū Maru and Shōkaku Maru
3.
Imperial Japanese Navy
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The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 until 1945, when it was dissolved following Japans defeat and surrender in World War II. The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force was formed after the dissolution of the IJN, the Japanese Navy was the third largest navy in the world by 1920, behind the Royal Navy and the United States Navy. It was supported by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service for aircraft and it was the primary opponent of the Western Allies in the Pacific War. This eventually led to the Meiji Restoration, accompanying the re-ascendance of the Emperor came a period of frantic modernization and industrialization. Following the attempts at Mongol invasions of Japan by Kubilai Khan in 1274 and 1281, Japan undertook major naval building efforts in the 16th century, during the Warring States period, when feudal rulers vying for supremacy built vast coastal navies of several hundred ships. Around that time Japan may have developed one of the first ironclad warships when Oda Nobunaga, in 1588 Toyotomi Hideyoshi issued a ban on Wakō piracy, the pirates then became vassals of Hideyoshi, and comprised the naval force used in the Japanese invasion of Korea. Japan built her first large ocean-going warships in the beginning of the 17th century, from 1604 the Bakufu also commissioned about 350 Red seal ships, usually armed and incorporating some Western technologies, mainly for Southeast Asian trade. For more than 200 years, beginning in the 1640s, the Japanese policy of seclusion forbade contacts with the outside world and prohibited the construction of ocean-going ships on pain of death. Contacts were maintained, however, with the Dutch through the port of Nagasaki, the Chinese also through Nagasaki and the Ryukyus and Korea through intermediaries with Tsushima. Apart from Dutch trade ships no other Western vessels were allowed to enter Japanese ports, an exception was during the Napoleonic wars. However frictions with foreign ships started from the beginning of the 19th century, the Nagasaki Harbour Incident involving the HMS Phaeton in 1808 and other subsequent incidents in the following decades led to the Shogunate to enact an edict to repel foreign vessels. Western ships which were increasing their presence around Japan due to whaling, the shogunate also began to strengthen the nations coastal defenses. Numerous attempts to open Japan ended in failure in part to Japanese resistance, during 1853 and 1854, American warships under the command of Commodore Matthew Perry entered Edo Bay and made demonstrations of force requesting trade negotiations. After two hundred years of seclusion the 1854 Convention of Kanagawa led to the opening of Japan to international trade and this was soon followed by the 1858 Treaty of Amity and Commerce and treaties with other powers. In 1855, with Dutch assistance, the Shogunate acquired its first steam warship, Kankō Maru, samurai such as the future Admiral Enomoto Takeaki were sent by the Shogunate to study in the Netherlands for several years. In 1859 the Naval Training Center relocated to Tsukiji in Tokyo, in 1857 the Shogunate acquired its first screw-driven steam warship Kanrin Maru and used it as an escort for the 1860 Japanese delegation to the United States. In 1865 the French naval engineer Léonce Verny was hired to build Japans first modern naval arsenals, at Yokosuka, in 1867–1868 a British Naval mission headed by Commander Richard Tracey went to Japan to assist the development of the Japanese Navy and to organize the naval school of Tsukiji. The Shogunate also allowed and then ordered various domains to purchase warships and to develop naval fleets, Satsuma, a naval center had been set up by the Satsuma domain in Kagoshima, students were sent abroad for training and a number of ships were acquired
4.
Hakodate, Hokkaido
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Hakodate is a city and port located in Oshima Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the city of Oshima Subprefecture. As of July 31,2011, the city has an population of 279,851 with 143,221 households. The total area is 677.77 km2, the city is now the third biggest in Hokkaido after Sapporo and Asahikawa. Hakodate was Japans first city whose port was opened to trade in 1854 as a result of Convention of Kanagawa. Also, the city had been the biggest city in Hokkaido before the Great Hakodate Fire of 1934, Hakodate was founded in 1454, when Kono Kaganokami Masamichi constructed a large manor house in the Ainu fishing village of Usukeshi. There was constant low level conflict in the Oshima peninsula at the time with the Ainu as armed merchants like the Kono family established bases to trade in the region. This conflict culminated in an uprising from 1669 to 1672, led by Ainu warrior Shakushain after which the Ainu in the region were suppressed, Hakodate flourished during the Hoei period and many new temples were founded in the area. In 1779, the Tokugawa shogunate took direct control over Hakodate, merchant Takadaya Kahei, who is honoured as the founder of Hakodate port, set up trading operations, which included opening the northern Etorofu sea route to the Kuril island fisheries. He is credited with turning Hakodate from a trading outpost into a thriving city, a Hakodate magistracy was established in 1802. The port of Hakodate was surveyed by a fleet of five U. S. ships in 1854 under the conditions of the Convention of Kanagawa, as negotiated by Commodore Matthew Perry. S. A mariner in Perrys fleet died during a visit to the area and he stayed in Hakodate until 1884, during which time he documented the local natural environment, equipped the local meteorological station and ran guns to the Boshin War rebels. As one of few points of Japanese contact with the outside world, the Russian consulate included a chapel from where Nicholas of Japan is credited with introducing Eastern Orthodox Christianity to Japan in 1861. The Orthodox church is neighbored by several other historical missionary churches, including Anglican, Hakodate also played a central role in the Boshin War between the Tokugawa shogunate and the Meiji Emperor which followed Perrys opening of Japan. Shogunate rebel Enomoto Takeaki fled to Hakodate with the remnants of his navy and his handful of French advisers in winter 1868 and they formally established the Republic of Ezo on December 25. The republic tried unsuccessfully to gather international recognition to foreign legations in Hakodate, including the Americans, French, the rebels occupied Hakodates famous European-style Goryōkaku fort and used it as the centre of their defences in southern Hokkaido. Government forces defeated the secessionists in the Battle of Hakodate in 1869, military leader, Hijikata Toshizō, was one of those slain in the fighting. In 1878, Isabella Bird reported of the city in her travelogue, The streets are wide and clean
5.
Empire of Japan
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The Empire of Japan was the historical Japanese nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 to the enactment of the 1947 constitution of modern Japan. Imperial Japans rapid industrialization and militarization under the slogan Fukoku Kyōhei led to its emergence as a world power, after several large-scale military successes during the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific War, the Empire also gained notoriety for its war crimes against the peoples it conquered. A period of occupation by the Allies followed the surrender, Occupation and reconstruction continued well into the 1950s, eventually forming the current nation-state whose full title is the State of Japan or simply rendered Japan in English. The historical state is referred to as the Empire of Japan or the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan in English. In Japanese it is referred to as Dai Nippon Teikoku, which translates to Greater Japanese Empire and this is analogous to Großdeutsches Reich, a term that translates to Greater German Empire in English and Dai Doitsu Teikoku in Japanese. This meaning is significant in terms of geography, encompassing Japan, due to its name in kanji characters and its flag, it was also given the exonym Empire of the Sun. After two centuries, the policy, or Sakoku, under the shoguns of the Edo period came to an end when the country was forced open to trade by the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854. The following years saw increased trade and interaction, commercial treaties between the Tokugawa shogunate and Western countries were signed. In large part due to the terms of these Unequal Treaties, the Shogunate soon faced internal hostility, which materialized into a radical, xenophobic movement. In March 1863, the Emperor issued the order to expel barbarians, although the Shogunate had no intention of enforcing the order, it nevertheless inspired attacks against the Shogunate itself and against foreigners in Japan. The Namamugi Incident during 1862 led to the murder of an Englishman, Charles Lennox Richardson, the British demanded reparations but were denied. While attempting to exact payment, the Royal Navy was fired on from coastal batteries near the town of Kagoshima and they responded by bombarding the port of Kagoshima in 1863. For Richardsons death, the Tokugawa government agreed to pay an indemnity, shelling of foreign shipping in Shimonoseki and attacks against foreign property led to the Bombardment of Shimonoseki by a multinational force in 1864. The Chōshū clan also launched the coup known as the Kinmon incident. The Satsuma-Chōshū alliance was established in 1866 to combine their efforts to overthrow the Tokugawa bakufu, in early 1867, Emperor Kōmei died of smallpox and was replaced by his son, Crown Prince Mutsuhito. On November 9,1867, Tokugawa Yoshinobu resigned from his post and authorities to the Emperor, however, while Yoshinobus resignation had created a nominal void at the highest level of government, his apparatus of state continued to exist. On January 3,1868, Satsuma-Chōshū forces seized the palace in Kyoto. On January 17,1868, Yoshinobu declared that he would not be bound by the proclamation of the Restoration, on January 24, Yoshinobu decided to prepare an attack on Kyoto, occupied by Satsuma and Chōshū forces
6.
Republic of Ezo
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The Republic of Ezo was a short-lived state established in 1869 by former Tokugawa retainers in what is now known as Hokkaido, the large but sparsely populated northernmost island in modern Japan. Ezo is notable for being the first government to attempt to institute democracy in Japan, Enomoto made a last effort to petition the Imperial Court to be allowed to develop Hokkaido and maintain the traditions of the samurai unmolested, but his request was denied. On January 27,1869, the independent Republic of Ezo was proclaimed, with a government organization based on that of the United States, elections were based on universal suffrage among the samurai class. This was the first election held in Japan, where a feudal structure under an Emperor with military warlords was the norm. Through Hakodate Magistrate Nagai Naoyuki, attempts were made to reach out to foreign legations present in Hakodate in order to obtain diplomatic recognition. The treasury included 180,000 gold ryō coins Enomoto retrieved from Osaka Castle following Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobus precipitous departure after the Battle of Toba–Fushimi in early 1868. During the winter of 1868–1869, the defenses around the peninsula of Hakodate were enhanced. The brigades were themselves divided into two each, under Japanese command. Brunet demanded a personal pledge of loyalty from all officers. The Imperial forces progressed swiftly, won the Battle of Hakodate, Enomoto surrendered on June 26,1869, turning the Goryōkaku over to Satsuma staff officer Kuroda Kiyotaka on June 27,1869. Kuroda is said to have been impressed by Enomotos dedication in combat. On September 20 of the year, the island was given its present name. We pray that this portion of the Empire may be conferred upon our late lord, Tokugawa Kamenosuke, Enomoto was sentenced to a brief prison sentence, but was freed in 1872 and accepted a post as a government official in the newly renamed Hokkaido Land Agency. He later became ambassador to Russia, and held ministerial positions in the Meiji Government. The Influence of the Sea on the Political History of Japan, black, John R. Young Japan, Yokohama and Yedo, Vol. II. Shinsengumi, The Shoguns Last Samurai Corps, onodera Eikō, Boshin Nanboku Senso to Tohoku Seiken. French Policy towards the Bakufu and Meiji Japan 1854–1895, Richmond, new York, M. E. Sharpe,1998. Kinsé shiriaku A history of Japan, from the first visit of Commodore Perry in 1853 to the capture of Hakodate by the Mikados forces in 1869, media related to Republic of Ezo at Wikimedia Commons
7.
SMS Danzig (1851)
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SMS Danzig was the first steam-powered warship in the Prussian Navy. She is most notable for her role in the Battle of Tres Forcas in 1856, Danzigs design was conceived by the British engineer John Scott Russell and it was originally planned to build her in the United Kingdom. However, Prince Adalbert of Prussia decided to build the vessel in Danzig instead to stimulate the local economy. The keel was laid at JW Klawitters works there on 24 August 1850, with the copper mined near Berlin, the wood for the coming from the outskirts of Danzig. She entered service in June 1853, Danzigs first voyage was on 12 July 1853 to pick up her armament of ten 68-pounder guns from Deptford. The guns had to be picked up directly, since they could not be exported due to the demands of the Crimean War) and she had a crew of 220 officers and men. From April to June 1854, the ship was in Piraeus to protect Otto of Greece, after this, the ship sailed to Syros to pick up a load of marble for Berlin Museums. As Danzig was the ship with an engine, she had to tow the other vessels in case of no wind. At the invitation of Napoleon III, she visited Cherbourg, due to differences between Prince Adalbert and the ships commander, Wilhelm von Hessen-Philippsthal-Barchfeld, the prince dismissed the commander until reaching Gibraltar. In the meantime, the ship was commanded by Artur von Bothwell, Prince Adalbert planned a punitive expedition against Riffian pirates, who had in 1852 attacked the brig Flora. The battle is considered to be one of the first examples of German gunboat diplomacy, after the battle, the ship sailed to Syra, where antique coffins where loaded for Berlin Museums. On 20 November 1856, she returned to Danzig, where she would be decommissioned, due to severe dry rot damage to the hull, the navy considered replacing Danzigs wooden hull with iron, but this plan was ultimately scratched on cost grounds. She was sold to the English firm Dorset and Blythe for 56,000 taler, now renamed the Eagle, the ship sailed to England in 1864, where she was bought later the same year by the Tokugawa Shogunate, which renamed her as the Kaiten. She was armed with 13 cannons, and during the Boshin War was operated by forces loyal to the Shogun. She was the key actor in the Naval Battle of Miyako Bay, in which, after an attempt to board and overtake the Kōtetsu. She was then the flagship of the navy during the Naval Battle of Hakodate Bay. In the late Meiji Era, Arai Ikunosuke, once the Navy Minister of the Republic of Ezo, hildebrand, Hans H. Röhr, Albert, Steinmetz, Hans-Otto. Stichwort, Dampf-Korvette „Danzig“, in, Hans H. Hildebrand/Albert Röhr/Hans-Otto Steinmetz, biographien – ein Spiegel der Marinegeschichte von 1815 bis zur Gegenwart, Ratingen o. J. vol
8.
Japanese gunboat Chiyodagata
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Chiyoda was a gunboat of the Tokugawa Navy, and Japans first domestically-built steam warship. She was a 3rd class wooden gunboat and laid down May 7,1861, and launched July 2,1863 by the shipbuilder, completed in May 1866, She participated in the conflict of the Boshin War with the Bakufu loyalists, against the newly formed Imperial Army. She was captured during the Naval Battle of Hakodate Bay, and was grounded during the conflict, in May 1868 she was seized by the Japanese government, then captured by the rebels on 4 October 1868. Recaptured again by the Japanese government, she was stricken from the naval roster in June 1869. From 28 January 1888 Chiyoda through 1911 she served as a whaling ship, after which time she was broken up
9.
Arai Ikunosuke
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Arai Ikunosuke was a Japanese samurai of the late Edo period. Prominent as Navy Minister of the Republic of Ezo, he became famous as the first head of the Japan Meteorological Agency. Also known as Akinori or Akiyoshi, Arai Ikunosuke was born in the Tedai-cho district of Edo, near the Yushima Seidō shrine as the son of the Tokugawa gokenin Arai Seibei. His father donated his money to aid villagers from the flood of Fujigawa and he began learning the Chinese classics at age 7, and on the recommendation of his uncle, starting at age 12 he studied swordsmanship, archery, and horse riding. At age 14, he entered the Shogunates academy at Shoheizaka and he began his career in the Shogunate at age 20, entering into Dutch studies, and was posted as an instructor at the Nagasaki Naval Training Center. After studying mathematics, sailing, and navigation, Arai was appointed a director of the Naval Training Center in 1862. However, he was reassigned to the Shogunates Kōbusho military academy in 1864, during this time, he wrote the first English-Japanese dictionary. With his sentence of death commuted, Arai worked with Enomoto in land reclamation for a time, before working in the Agricultural School, Arai died of diabetes in 1909, at the age of 74. Shinsengumi, The Shoguns Last Samurai Corps, ISBN 0-8048-3627-2 Information on the Shogunate navy, including Arais command More information on Arai
10.
Battle of Awa
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The Battle of Awa occurred on 28 January 1868 during the Boshin War in Japan, in the area of Awa Bay near Osaka. Involving ships of the Tokugawa shogunate and Satsuma vessels loyal to the court in Kyoto. Enomoto Takeaki led the navy to victory at Awa, in one of the few Tokugawa successes of the Boshin War. The Satsuma Domain was preparing to return its troops to Kagoshima aboard two transports, the Hōō and the Heiun, protected by the Satsuma warship Kasuga stationed in Hyōgo harbour. The shogunal navy under Enomoto Takeaki was nearby with the battleship Kaiyō Maru as its main unit, enomotos fleet moved to blockade the withdrawal of the Satsuma ships. On 28 January, in the morning, the Satsuma ships left Hyōgo harbor. Heiun left through the Strait of Akashi, and Kasuga went south with Hōō towards the Strait of Kien, Kaiyō Maru pursued and prepared for combat. At a distance of 1, 200–2,500 meters, Kaiyō Maru fired about 25 times on the two Satsuma ships, and Kasuga responded with 18 shots, without significant damage to either side. However, as more Shogunate navy ships had arrived, Kasuga broke off the engagement, unable to flee, Hōō was run aground at Yuki-ura and was destroyed by her crew. Looking at the burning Hōō, Enomoto expressed admiration at the fight put on by his enemies, Although they are enemies, the future Imperial Japanese Navy Fleet Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō was a gunner aboard Kasuga during the engagement. Making Waves, Politics, Propaganda, And The Emergence Of The Imperial Japanese Navy, yoake no senkan, Kaiyo Maru monogatari
11.
Fall of Osaka Castle
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On February 2,1868, the Tokugawa-held Osaka Castle was captured by pro-Imperial Kangun forces. The fall followed the Tokugawa defeat in the Battle of Toba–Fushimi, troops loyal to the bakufu tried to regroup under Tokugawa Yoshinobu. At Osaka Castle, Tokugawa Yoshinobu gathered his advisors and military leaders to plan strategy and, to boost morale, advised that he would personally take to the field as commander of bakufu forces. On January 31,1868, Tokugawa Yoshinobu slipped away from Osaka Castle accompanied by the daimyōs of Aizu, as Kaiyō maru had not arrived, he took refuge for the night on an American warship, USS Iroquois, anchored in Osaka Bay. The Kaiyō maru arrived two hours later and picked up the Tokugawa party, when the remnants of his forces learned that the Shogun had abandoned them, they departed Osaka Castle, which was later surrendered to Imperial forces without resistance. The castle was seized and burnt on Sunday 2 February 1868, the Castle of Osaka was symbolic as it was the power-base of the Tokugawa Bakufu in Western Japan. It was also significant and it had been the location of the Siege of Osaka. The Castle of Osaka was burnt and reduced to ruins by the new government, and was later used as a ground for military barracks
12.
Battle of Utsunomiya Castle
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The Battle of Utsunomiya Castle was a battle between pro-imperial and Tokugawa shogunate forces during the Boshin War in Japan in May 1868. It occurred as the troops of the Tokugawa shogunate were retreating north towards Nikkō, in early spring 1868, former Tokugawa retainers under Ōtori Keisuke and Hijikata Toshizō left the shoguns capital of Edo en masse and gathered at Kōnodai. There were small numbers of men of Aizu under Akizuki Noborinosuke and Kuwana troops under Tatsumi Naofumi also present, as well as a handful of surviving shinsengumi, such as Shimada Kai. While many of their numbers were samurai, there were many members of other social classes present. Their objective was Utsunomiya, a town on the road northward to Nikkō and Aizu. The daimyō of Utsunomiya, Toda Tadatomo, was absent, as he had been charged by Tokugawa Yoshinobu with traveling to Kyoto and submitting a letter of apology and submission. This left Utsunomiya in the hands of Tadatomos retired predecessor, Toda Tadayuki, who also advocated surrender, but was not involved in the efforts of the former Shogunate. However, as these domains were small and their daimyō had fled, they did not have much in terms of money or supplies, and Hijikata was unable to acquire what he had hoped for. Almost simultaneously, a peasant riot broke out in Utsunomiya, giving the former Shogunate forces the opportunity to strike. The castle fell the day, with Toda Tadayuki escaping to Tatebayashi. Ōtori, leading the main element of the army, entered the castle and his forces handed out the castles supply of rice to the townsfolk who, as previously noted, had been rioting for the past several days. Efforts were then made to strengthen the position of Ōtoris force, despite their best efforts, this combined unit was not able to take Mibu Castle, and withdrew to Utsunomiya after sustaining a total of 60 men killed and wounded, including eight officers. Faced with defeat, Ōtoris forces withdrew northward, by way of Nikkō, soldiers of the Shogunate, who supported continued war, began decamping en masse and leaving Edo for Aizu, which necessitated Aizus stance to be changed to one that was pro-war. In later years, Ōtori wrote an account of the battle, titled Nanka Kikō, which appeared in Kyū Bakufu, a magazine he helped edit, abe Akira, Utsunomiya-han, in Hanshi Daijiten, Vol.2. Kikuchi Akira, Shinsengumi Hyakuichi no Nazo, tōkyō, Shin Jinbutsu Ōraisha,2003 Ōtori Keisuke. Tsunabuchi Kenjō, ed. Matsudaira Katamori no Subete
13.
Battle of Ueno
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The Battle of Ueno was a battle of the Boshin War, which occurred on July 4,1868, between the troops of the Shōgitai under Shibusawa Seiichirō and Amano Hachirō, and Imperial Kangun troops. Facing them were the forces of the Chōshū, Ōmura, Sadowara, Hizen, Chikugo, Owari, Bizen, Tsu, Inaba. From their base, the Shogitai had been harassing Imperial troops, creating trouble in Edo, thus forcing the Imperial side, although outnumbered, the Shōgitai took up positions around Kanei-ji and the nearby Nezu Shrine. When the battle began, the forces of Satsuma, led by Saigō Takamori, attacked head-on at the gate, but were stopped by the Shogitai forces, which were superior in number. The Satsuma forces suffered casualties, until the forces of Choshu managed to make a second attack from the rear. While the Shogitai put up resistance, the Tosa troops also used Armstrong cannons and Snider guns to devastating effect. According to Saigo Takamori, With our ample preparations we made short work of, rinnōji no Miya escaped, reached Enomoto Takeakis warship Chogei-maru and was dropped off further north, on the Pacific coast. Harada Sanosuke of the Shinsengumi is said to have joined the Shōgitai, about 300 Shogitai are said to have died in the battle, and a thousand houses were burnt in collateral damages. Katsu Kaishus Attempt to Reinstate the Tokugawa Family, monumenta Nipponica, Vol.36, No.3. Edo in 1868, The View from Below, monumenta Nipponica, Vol.45, No.2. Tokugawa Yoshinobu, Gendai Nihon no Enshutsusha, tōkyō, Nihon Hōsō Shuppan Kyōkai,1997
14.
Fall of Edo
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Saigō Takamori, leading the victorious imperial forces north and east through Japan, had won the Battle of Kōshū-Katsunuma in the approaches to the capital. He was eventually able to surround Edo in May 1868, Katsu Kaishū, the Shoguns Army Minister, negotiated the surrender, which was unconditional. Some groups continued to resist after this surrender but were defeated in the Battle of Ueno in northeastern Tokyo. The city was fully under control in July 1868, during that time, Tokugawa Yoshinobu had been under voluntary confinement at Kanei-ji temple. On 3 September 1868, the city was renamed Tokyo, a small monument has been erected at the location of the surrender meeting between Saigō Takamori and Katsu Kaishū, at Minato-ku, Shiba 5-33-1, two minutes from Tamachi Station. ISBN9780674003347, OCLC44090600 Kornicki, Peter, Meiji Japan, Political, Economic and Social History, 1868–1912. ISBN9780415156189, ISBN9780415156196, ISBN9780415156202, ISBN9780415156219, ISBN9780415156226, OCLC470242993 Perkins, Japan Goes to War, a Chronology of Japanese Military Expansion from the Meiji Era to the Attack on Pearl Harbor
15.
Battle of Aizu
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The Battle of Aizu was fought in northern Japan in autumn 1868, and was part of the Boshin War. Aizu was known for its skill, and maintained at any given time. It was often deployed to security operations on the fringes of the country. Also, in the period immediately before, during, and after Commodore Perrys arrival, during the tenure of the 9th generation lord Matsudaira Katamori, the domain deployed massive amounts of their troops to Kyoto, where Katamori served as Kyoto Shugoshoku. Earning the hatred of the Chōshū domain, and alienating his ally, though the Aizu forces fought as part of the greater efforts of the Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei, they were eventually abandoned by the forces of the former Bakufu under Ōtori Keisuke. Aizu, now fighting alone, had its forces besieged at Tsuruga Castle and this was the start of a month-long siege. A detached unit from the Byakkotai — young, predominantly teenage, samurai — are famous for having committed seppuku on Mount Iimori, overlooking the castle. Because of the smoke from the castle town, which was in between them and the castle itself, they mistakenly assumed that the castle had fallen. Their story is known because of the one among them whose suicide was unsuccessful. A remnant of Shinsengumi, a unit which Aizu had supervised while in Kyoto, was present at the battle, after a month of siege, Aizu officials agreed to surrender, through the mediation of their neighbor, the Yonezawa Domain. Soon after, Matsudaira Katamori, his son Nobunori, and the senior retainers came before the commanders in person. The samurai population was sent away to prisoner of war camps, and the Aizu domain, as it had been since the mid-17th century, ceased to exist
16.
Battle of Noheji
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The Battle of Noheji was a minor battle of the Boshin War of the Meiji Restoration in Japan on November 7,1868. It is considered a part of the larger Aizu campaign, on September 20,1868 the pro-Shōgunate Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei was proclaimed at Morioka, capital of the Nanbu clan who rule Morioka Domain. The territory of the Nambu extended along the half of Mutsu Province, as far north as Shimokita Peninsula. The northeast of Mutsu Province was dominated by the Nambu clans hereditary rivals, the Tsugaru first sided with the pro-imperial forces of Satchō Alliance, and attacked nearby Shōnai Domain. However, the Tsugaru soon switched course, and briefly became a member of the Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei, however, for reasons yet unclear, the Tsugaru backed out of the alliance and re-joined the imperial cause after a few months. The village of Noheji in what is now part of Aomori Prefecture was an important port for the Nambu clan on Mutsu Bay, Noheji was garrisoned by approximately 400 men from Hachinohe Domain after the defection of the Tsugaru back to the imperial side. The port was shelled by Kubota Domain warship Shunyo-maru commanded by Saga Domains Nakamuta Kuranosuke on September 10, the Nambu garrison at Noheji responded to the fire, coming under attack as they approached the burning hamlet. The Nambu forces attempted to encircle the Tsugaru attackers to cut off their escape, accounts of the number of casualties of the battle vary widely. Based on the number of graves at the cemetery at Noheji, per the official domain records from Hirosaki Domain, the Tsugaru clan lost 29 men, and similar records from the Nambu clan indicate losses of 45 men on the Nambu side. As a result of minor skirmish, Tsugaru Domain was able to prove its defection from the Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei. Tsugaru forces later joined the army in attacking the Republic of Ezo at Hakodate. As a result, the clan was able to evade the punishment meted out by the government on the northern domains after the establishment of the Meiji government. On November 6,1869, Hirosaki Domain dispatched two emissaries to Noheji, to meet with the leaders of Makado hamlet. The emissaries claimed that the Tsugaru clan had been forced into attacking Noheji under pressure from Saga Domain, Boshin sensō kara Seinan sensō e. Buke kazoku meiyoden 武家家族名誉伝 Volume 1, Boshin nanboku sensō to Tōhoku seiken. Land and Lordship in Early Modern Japan
17.
Battle of Miyako Bay
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The Battle of Miyako Bay was a naval action on 6 May 1869. The navy of the Imperial forces also moved north to support the invasion of Hokkaidō. The Imperial navy departed Tokyo on 9 March 1869, and reached the harbor of Miyako, north of Sendai, the government fleet had been rapidly constituted around the French-built ironclad warship Kōtetsu, which had been purchased from the United States. Other ships included Kasuga, Hiryū, Teibō, Yōshun, and Mōshun, there were altogether eight Imperial ships, Kōtetsu, Kasuga,3 small corvettes and 3 transport ships. Anticipating the arrival of the Imperial fleet, the organized a plan to seize the revolutionary new warship Kōtetsu. Kaiten was commanded by Arai Ikunosuke, and contained the elite Shinsengumi, their leader Hijikata Toshizō, Nicol had been selected for the attack since he was a native of Bordeaux, and knew the characteristics and construction of the revolutionary warship Kōtetsu, built in the same city. Banryū, with the elite Yūgekitai and former French Navy quartermaster Clateau, Takao under command of ex-French Navy officer Eugène Collache, with the elite Shinkitai ]. The ships encountered bad weather, in which Takao suffered from engine trouble, Banryū eventually returned to Hokkaidō, without joining the battle. To create surprise, Kaiten planned to enter Miyako harbor under an American flag, unable to achieve more than 3 knots due to engine trouble, Takao trailed behind, and Kaiten first joined battle. Kaiten approached the ships and raised the Republic of Ezo flag seconds before boarding Kōtetsu. She rammed her prow into the side of Kōtetsu, and started firing her guns and her deck however proved higher than that of Kōtetsu by close to three meters, forcing the samurai to jump one by one in a trickle. After the first surprise passed, Kōtetsu managed to repel the attack with a Gatling gun, most of the attacking samurai perished, Nicol was hit by two bullets, and boarding party commander Kōga Gengo was killed and his position taken over by Admiral Arai Ikunosuke. In the action, Kaiten damaged three enemy warships, but finally disengaged without having captured Kōtetsu, Kaiten steamed out of Miyako Bay pursued by the Imperial fleet, just as Takao was entering. The 40 crewmen managed to flee for a few days, and they were brought to Tokyo for imprisonment and trial. Although the fate of the Japanese rebels is unknown, Collache was eventually pardoned and deported back to France, the Naval Battle of Miyako was a daring but desperate attempt by the Republic of Ezo forces to neutralize the powerful Kōtetsu. It was the first case of a maneuver in Japan. Although the attempt ended in failure, the loss of the Takao was marginal, the Imperial Navy continued north unimpeded, and supported landing and combat operations of thousands of government troops in the Battle of Hakodate. Shinsengumi, The Shoguns Last Samurai Corps
18.
Battle of Hakodate
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It was the last stage of the Boshin War, and occurred around Hakodate in the northern Japanese island of Hokkaidō. The Boshin War erupted in 1868 between troops favorable to the restoration of political authority to the Emperor and the government of the Tokugawa shogunate, the Meiji government defeated the forces of the Shogun at the Battle of Toba–Fushimi and subsequently occupied the Shoguns capital at Edo. On August 21, the fleet encountered a typhoon off Chōshi, in which Mikaho was lost and Kanrin Maru, heavily damaged, forced to rally the coast, where she was captured at Shimizu. The rest of the fleet reached Sendai harbor on August 26, one of the centers of the Northern Coalition against the new government, composed of the fiefs of Sendai, Yonozawa, Aizu, Shōnai and Nagaoka. Imperial troops continued to progress north, taking the castle of Wakamatsu, the rebels, numbering around 3,000 and traveling by ship with Enomoto Takeaki reached Hokkaidō in October 1868. They landed on Takanoki Bay, behind Hakodate on October 20, Hijikata Toshizo and Otori Keisuke each led a column in the direction of Hakodate. Various expeditions were organized to take control of the southern peninsula of Hokkaidō. On November 5, Hijikata, commanding 800 troops and supported by the warships Kaiten, on November 14, Hijikata and Matsudaira converged on the city of Esashi, with the added support of the flagship Kaiyo Maru, and the transport ship Shinsoku. Unfortunately, Kaiyō Maru was shipwrecked and lost in a tempest near Esashi, while the governments of France and the United Kingdom conditionally recognized the new republic, the Meiji government in Tokyo did not. A defense network was established around Hakodate in anticipation of the attack by the troops of the new Imperial government, in the meantime, an Imperial fleet had been rapidly constituted around the ironclad warship Kōtetsu, which had been purchased by the Meiji government from the United States. Other Imperial ships were Kasuga, Hiryū, Teibō, Yōshun, Mōshun, the fleet left Tokyo on March 9,1869, and headed north. The Imperial navy reached the harbor of Miyako on March 20, anticipating the arrival of the Imperial fleet, the rebels organized a daring plan to seize the powerful new warship Kōtetsu. To create surprise, the Kaiten entered Miyako harbor with an American flag and they raised the Ezo Republic flag seconds before boarding the Kōtetsu. The crew of Kōtetsu managed to repel the attack with a Gatling gun, the two Ezo warships escaped back to Hokkaidō, but the Takao was pursued and self-wrecked. The Imperial troops, numbering 7,000, finally landed on Hokkaidō on April 9,1869 and they progressively took over various defensive positions, until the final stand occurred around the fortress of Goryōkaku and Benten Daiba around the city of Hakodate. Japans first major engagement between two modern navies, the Naval Battle of Hakodate Bay, occurred towards the end of the conflict. After having lost close to half their numbers and most of their ships, the battle marked the end of the old feudal regime in Japan, and the end of armed resistance to the Meiji Restoration. The new Imperial government, finally secure, established new institutions soon after the end of the conflict
19.
Tokugawa shogunate
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The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the Tokugawa bakufu and the Edo bakufu, was the last feudal Japanese military government, which existed between 1600 and 1868. The head of government was the shogun, and each was a member of the Tokugawa clan, the Tokugawa shogunate ruled from Edo Castle and the years of the shogunate became known as the Edo period. This time is called the Tokugawa period or pre-modern. Following the Sengoku period, the government had been largely re-established by Oda Nobunaga during the Azuchi–Momoyama period. After the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, central authority fell to Tokugawa Ieyasu, society in the Tokugawa period, unlike the shogunates before it, was supposedly based on the strict class hierarchy originally established by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The daimyō were at the top, followed by the warrior-caste of samurai, with the farmers, artisans, and traders ranking below. In some parts of the country, particularly smaller regions, daimyō and samurai were more or less identical, since daimyō might be trained as samurai, otherwise, the largely inflexible nature of this social stratification system unleashed disruptive forces over time. Taxes on the peasantry were set at fixed amounts which did not account for inflation or other changes in monetary value, as a result, the tax revenues collected by the samurai landowners were worth less and less over time. This often led to confrontations between noble but impoverished samurai and well-to-do peasants, ranging from simple local disturbances to much bigger rebellions. None, however, proved compelling enough to challenge the established order until the arrival of foreign powers. The Tokugawa Shogunate came to an end in 1868 with the resignation of the 15th Tokugawa Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu. The bakuhan taisei was the political system in the Edo period of Japan. Baku is an abbreviation of bakufu, meaning military government—that is, the han were the domains headed by daimyō. Vassals held inherited lands and provided service and homage to their lords. The bakuhan taisei split feudal power between the shogunate in Edo and provincial domains throughout Japan, provinces had a degree of sovereignty and were allowed an independent administration of the han in exchange for loyalty to the shogun, who was responsible for foreign relations and national security. The shogun and lords were all daimyō, feudal lords with their own bureaucracies, policies, the shogun also administered the most powerful han, the hereditary fief of the House of Tokugawa. Each level of government administered its own system of taxation, the emperor, nominally a religious leader, held no real power, this was invested in the shogun. The shogunate had the power to discard, annex, and transform domains, the sankin kōtai system of alternative residence required each daimyō to reside in alternate years between the han and the court in Edo
20.
Hokkaido
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Hokkaido, formerly known as Ezo, Yezo, Yeso, or Yesso, is the second largest island of Japan, and the largest and northernmost prefecture. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaido from Honshu, the two islands are connected by the underwater railway Seikan Tunnel. The largest city on Hokkaido is its capital, Sapporo, which is also its only ordinance-designated city, about 43 km north of Hokkaido lies Sakhalin island, Russia, whereas to its east and north-east are the disputed Kuril Islands. Hokkaido was settled by the Ainu, Nivkh, and Orok before recorded history, the Nihon Shoki, finished in 720 AD, is often said to be the first mention of Hokkaido in recorded history. According to the text, Abe no Hirafu led a navy and army to northern areas from 658 to 660 and came into contact with the Mishihase. One of the places Hirafu went to was called Watarishima, which is believed to be present-day Hokkaido. During the Nara and Heian periods, people in Hokkaido conducted trade with Dewa Province, from the Middle Ages, the people in Hokkaido began to be called Ezo. Hokkaido, formerly known as Ezochi Ezochi or Ezogashima, the Ezo mainly relied upon hunting and fishing and obtained rice and iron through trade with the Japanese. During the Muromachi period, the Japanese created a settlement at the south of the Oshima Peninsula, as more people moved to the settlement to avoid battles, disputes arose between the Japanese and the Ainu. The disputes eventually developed into a war, takeda Nobuhiro killed the Ainu leader, Koshamain, and defeated the opposition in 1457. Nobuhiros descendants became the rulers of the Matsumae-han, which was granted trading rights with the Ainu in the Azuchi-Momoyama. The Matsumae familys economy relied upon trade with the Ainu and they held authority over the south of Ezochi until the end of the Edo period in 1868. The Matsumae clan rule over the Ainu must be understood in the context of the expansion of the Japanese feudal state, medieval military leaders in northern Honshū maintained only tenuous political and cultural ties to the imperial court and its proxies, the Kamakura Shogunate and Ashikaga Shogunate. Feudal strongmen sometimes located themselves within medieval institutional order, taking shogunal titles, in fact many of the feudal strongmen were descended from Emishi military leaders who had been assimilated into Japanese society. The Matsumae clan were of Yamato descent like other ethnic Japanese people, the Emishi were conquered and integrated into the Japanese state dating back as far as the 8th century, and as result began to lose their distinctive culture and ethnicity as they became minorities. By the time the Matsumae clan ruled over the Ainu most of the Emishi were ethnically mixed, there were numerous revolts by the Ainu against feudal rule. The last large-scale resistance was Shakushains Revolt in 1669–1672, in 1789, a smaller movement, the Menashi-Kunashir Rebellion, was also crushed. After that rebellion the terms Japanese and Ainu referred to clearly distinguished groups, in 1799–1821 and 1855–1858 the Edo Shogunate took direct control over Hokkaido in response to a perceived threat from Russia
21.
Gunboat
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In the age of sail, a gunboat was usually a small undecked vessel carrying a single smoothbore cannon in the bow, or just two or three such cannons. A gunboat could carry one or two masts or be oar-powered only, but the version of about 15 m length was most typical. Some types of gunboat carried two cannons, or else mounted a number of guns on the railings. The gun that such boats carried could be heavy, a 32-pounder for instance. For example, in the Battle of Alvøen during the Gunboat War of 1807-1814, Gunboats used in the Battle of Valcour Island on Lake Champlain during the American Revolutionary War were mostly built on the spot, attesting to the speed of their construction. All navies of the era kept a number of gunboats on hand. Gunboats saw extensive use in the Baltic Sea during the late 18th century as they were well-suited for the extensive coastal skerries and archipelagoes of Sweden, Finland and Russia. The rivalry between Sweden and Russia in particular led to an expansion of gunboat fleets and the development of new gunboat types. The majority of these were developed from the 1770s and onwards by the naval architect Fredrik Henrik af Chapman for the Swedish archipelago fleet. The designs, copied and refined by the rival Danish and Russian navies, spread to the Mediterranean, British ships engaged larger 22 m Russian gunboats off Turku in southeast Finland in 1854 during the Crimean War. The Russian vessels had the distinction of being the last oared vessels of war in history to fire their guns in anger, Gunboats played a key role in Napoleon Bonapartes plan for the invasion of England in 1804. Denmark-Norway used them heavily in the Gunboat War, between 1803 and 1812 the United States Navy had a policy of basing its navy on coastal gunboats, experimenting with a variety of designs. President Thomas Jefferson and his Democratic-Republican Party opposed a strong navy and they proved useless against the British blockade during the War of 1812. With the introduction of power in the early 19th century. Initially, these vessels retained full sailing rigs and used steam engines for auxiliary propulsion, the British Royal Navy deployed two wooden paddle-gunboats in the Lower Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River during the Rebellions of 1837 in Upper and Lower Canada. The United States Navy deployed an iron-hulled paddle gunboat, the USS Michigan, the Von der Tann became the first propeller-driven gunboat in the world. Conradi shipyards in Kiel built the steam-powered 120 long tons gunboat in 1849 for the navy of Schleswig-Holstein. 1, Von der Tann was the most modern ship in the navy and she participated successfully in the First Schleswig War of 1848-1851
22.
Japanese warship Kanrin Maru
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Kanrin Maru was Japans first sail and screw-driven steam corvette. She was ordered in 1853 from the Netherlands, the only Western country with which Japan had diplomatic relations throughout its period of sakoku, by the Shoguns government and she was delivered on September 21,1857 by Lt. Willem Huyssen van Kattendijke of the Dutch navy. The ship was used at the newly established Naval School of Nagasaki in order to build up knowledge of Western warship technology. Kanrin Maru, as a steam warship, represented a new technological advance in warship design which had been introduced in the West only ten years earlier with HMS Rattler. The ship was built by the shipyard of Fop Smit at Kinderdijk in the Netherlands and she allowed Japan to get its first experience with some of the newest advances in ship design. Kanrin Maru was accompanied by a United States Navy ship, the Powhatan, the official objective of the mission was to send the first ever Japanese embassy to the US, and to ratify the new treaty of Friendship, Commerce, and Navigation between the United States and Japan. By the end of 1867, the Bakufu was attacked by pro-imperial forces, enomoto Takeaki finally made a rendition in May 1869, and after the end of the conflict, Kanrin Maru was used by the new Imperial government for the development of the northern island of Hokkaido. She was lost there in a typhoon in 1871, at Esashi, in 1990, a ship replica twice the size of the original was ordered for manufacture in the Netherlands, according to the original plans. The ship was visible in the park of Huis Ten Bosch in Kyūshū. It is now used as a ship to the Naruto whirlpools from Minami Awaji harbour. H. Huygens, Z. M. schroef-schooner Bali, in, Verhandelingen en berigten betrekkelijk het zeewezen en de zeevaartkunde,17, pp. 178–183, esp. p.182 Steam, Steel and Shellfire. The steam warship 1815-1905 Conways History of the ship ISBN 0-7858-1413-2 The origins of Japanese Trade Supremacy
23.
Esashi, Hokkaido (Hiyama)
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Esashi is a town in Hiyama District, Hiyama Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital of Hiyama Subprefecture, one of the oldest towns in Hokkaido, the name Esashi comes from the Ainu word for kombu, a type of edible kelp well known in Japan. It is the birthplace of a music tradition called Esashi oiwake. Esashi is a district and port located on the western seaboard of Hokkaido on the Assabugawa river. The town is bordered by the municipalities of Kaminokuni, Assabu and it has a ferry connection to Okushiri island. The rail link was discontinued in 2014, Esashi Station was the terminus of the Esashi Line, kamome Island in the town is part of Hiyama Prefectural Natural Park. Esashi has a subtropical climate with far less snow in winter than elsewhere in Hokkaido due to the influence of the warming tsushima-kairyu ocean current. The area is home to Esashi Oiwake, a traditional Japanese folk music derived from mago-uta verses from Shinshu which spread throughout Japan during the Edo era and have become an Esashi art form, the district holds a national oiwake convention each September. The oiwake musician 青坂満 comes from Esashi, the ubagami-daijingu dogyo festival, based around the ubagami-daijingu shrine, is celebrated in August. Esashi was the subject of the 1992 single Esashi love-song by Yuka Õne, the town also has a celebrated historical dance, Doba Shishimai. The dances three acts include a Shinto ritual dance of three fawns, a dance and a dance of hinds quarreling over a fawn. Esashi has a sister town, Notogawa in Shiga prefecture. It also has official status with Suzu city in Ishikawa prefecture. In the Edo period, Esashi grew wealthy as a fishing town. The towns prosperity coined a saying, Even Edo is not as busy as Esashi in May, several Meiji-era residences of those who grew wealthy on the trade are preserved in the town today, including the Sekikawa family country house and the Nakamura family house. The majority of Esashis historic buildings are located on Esashi Inishie Road, the fisheries failed around the turn of end of the 19th century and the town tried to replace its major industry with tourism. 1900 Esashi Town became a First Class Village,1955 Esashi Town and Tomari Village were merged to form the new town of Esashi
24.
Ironclad warship
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An ironclad is a steam-propelled warship protected by iron or steel armor plates used in the early part of the second half of the 19th century. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of warships to explosive or incendiary shells. The first ironclad battleship, Gloire, was launched by the French Navy in November 1859 and this type of ship would come to be very successful in the American Civil War. Ironclads were designed for several roles, including as high seas battleships, coastal defense ships and this change was pushed forward by the development of heavier naval guns, more sophisticated steam engines, and advances in metallurgy which made steel shipbuilding possible. The quick pace of change meant that ships were obsolete as soon as they were finished. Many ironclads were built to use of the ram or the torpedo. There is no end to the ironclad period, but towards the end of the 1890s the term ironclad dropped out of use. New ships were constructed to a standard pattern and designated battleships or armored cruisers. The ironclad became technically feasible and tactically necessary because of developments in shipbuilding in the first half of the 19th century. According to naval historian J. Richard Hill, The had three characteristics, a metal-skinned hull, steam propulsion and a main armament of guns capable of firing explosive shells. It is only when all three characteristics are present that a ship can properly be called an ironclad. Each of these developments was introduced separately in the decade before the first ironclads, in the 18th and early 19th centuries fleets had relied on two types of major warship, the ship of the line and the frigate. The first major change to these types was the introduction of power for propulsion. While paddle steamer warships had been used from the 1830s onwards, steam-powered screw frigates were built in the mid-1840s, and at the end of the decade the French Navy introduced steam power to its line of battle. The desire for change came from the ambition of Napoleon III to gain influence in Europe. The first purpose-built steam battleship was the 90-gun Napoléon in 1850, the introduction of the steam ship-of-the-line led to a building competition between France and Britain. Eight sister ships to Napoléon were built in France over a period of ten years, altogether, France built ten new wooden steam battleships and converted 28 from older ships of the line, while the United Kingdom built 18 and converted 41. The era of the wooden steam ship-of-the-line was brief, because of new, in the 1820s and 1830s, warships began to mount increasingly heavy guns, replacing 18- and 24-pounder guns with 32-pounders on sailing ships-of-the-line and introducing 68-pounders on steamers
25.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
26.
Saga Domain
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Saga Domain, also known as Hizen Domain, was a Japanese domain in the Edo period. It is associated with Hizen Province in modern-day Saga Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, in the han system, Saga was a political and economic abstraction based on periodic cadastral surveys and projected agricultural yields. In other words, the domain was defined in terms of kokudaka and this was different from the feudalism of the West. The Nabeshima clan were originally vassals of the Ryūzōji clan who controlled the region, however, Ryūzōji Takanobu was killed in battle with the Shimazu and Arima clans in 1584, and Nabeshima Naoshige became the guardian of Takanobus young heir, Ryūzōji Takafusa. Six years later, Toyotomi Hideyoshi granted approval for Nabeshima to overthrow Ryūzōji, Nabeshima supported Hideyoshis invasions of Korea in the 1590s, and fought in the Western Army, against the Tokugawa clan in the fateful battle of Sekigahara in 1600. During this battle, however, he turned against and captured Western Army general Tachibana Muneshige, earning some degree of favor from Tokugawa Ieyasu, the domain was governed from Saga Castle in the capital city of Saga by the Nabeshima clan of tozama daimyō. The Nabeshima enjoyed an income of 357,000 koku throughout the Tokugawa period, including among their vassals the lords of the nearby Ogi, Hasunoike, and Kashima Domains. The domains location close to Korea and far from Edo, the capital, along with its trade connections. The area was a center for production and techniques as a result of its connections with Korea. Remnants of the Ryūzōji continued to surface from time to time, however, Ryūzōji Takafusa died in 1607, and six years later an order was issued by the shogunate granting his brother, Ryūzōji Katsushige, control of the domain. The area also bore a considerable Christian peasant population, which erupted in protest in the famous Shimabara Rebellion, the shogunate imposed upon Saga responsibility for defense of the port of Nagasaki and enforcement of the maritime restrictions. Though this burden was shared with the Fukuoka Domain, each domain bearing these responsibilities in alternate years, as a result, it was not unknown for Saga to seek to lessen its losses by reducing the number of samurai it sent to defend the port. As no further troops could be summoned to the port in time, the shogunate was forced to submit to the demands of the British ship, the domain would be further weakened by a typhoon in 1828 which cost Saga approximately 10,000 lives. Towards the end of the Tokugawa period, elements within Saga sided with groups from Tosa, Satsuma, Saga leaders would later turn against the new Meiji government, launching the Saga Rebellion in 1874, which ultimately failed. Saga recovered in the last decade or so of the period, however, taking in Western technology. The bureaucracy was cut by 80%, and efforts were made to support, the domains economy came to be focused upon ceramics, tea, charcoal, and related goods, and prosperity was found through trade. Saga thus began operations at the first Japanese iron refinery in 1849, in 1853, Russian Admiral Yevfimy Putyatin arrived in Nagasaki harbor, and provided the first demonstration of a steam locomotive to the Japanese. Ishiguro Hirotsugu, Nakamura Kisuke, and Tanaka Hisashige were among the first Japanese engineers, when the shogunate relaxed the restrictions on the construction of large ships, an order was placed with the Dutch
27.
Satsuma Domain
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Satsuma Domain, also known as Kagoshima Domain, was a Japanese domain of the Edo period. It is associated with the provinces of Satsuma, Osumi and Hyūga in modern-day Kagoshima Prefecture, in the han system, Satsuma was a political and economic abstraction based on periodic cadastral surveys and projected agricultural yields. In other words, the domain was defined in terms of kokudaka and this was different from the feudalism of the West. The domain was ruled from Kagoshima Castle in Kagoshima city and its kokudaka was assessed at 770,000 koku, the second highest kokudaka after that of Kaga Domain. The Shimazu family controlled Satsuma province for four centuries prior to the beginning of the Edo period. Despite being chastised by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in his 1587 Kyūshū Campaign, during the decisive battle of Sekigahara in 1600, the Shimazu fought on the losing side. Satsuma was one of the most powerful feudal domains in Tokugawa Japan and it was controlled throughout the Edo period by the tozama daimyō of the Shimazu clan. Since the mid-15th century, Satsuma fought with the Ryūkyū Kingdom for control of the Northern Ryūkyū Islands which lay southwest of Japan, in 1609, Shimazu Iehisa requested permission from the shogunate to invade Ryūkyū. After a three-month war which met resistance, Satsuma captured the Ryūkyūan capital of Shuri. In the ensuing treaty, Satsuma annexed the Amami and Tokara Islands, demanded tribute. For the remainder of the Edo period, Satsuma influenced their politics, though not the wealthiest han in terms of kokudaka, Satsuma remained among the wealthiest and most powerful domains throughout the Edo period. The Shimazu exercised their influence to exact from the shogunate a number of special exceptions and they also received special exceptions from the shogunate in regard to the policy of sankin kōtai, another policy meant to restrict the wealth and power of the daimyō. Under this policy, every feudal lord was mandated to travel to Edo at least once a year, the Shimazu were granted permission to make this journey only once every two years. These exceptions thus allowed Satsuma to gain more power and wealth relative to the majority of other domains. Though arguably opposed to the shogunate, Satsuma was perhaps one of the strictest domains in enforcing particular policies, in the 1830s, Satsuma used its illegal Okinawa trade to rebuild its finances under Zusho Hirosato. The Satsuma Daimyo of the 1850s, Shimazu Nariakira, was interested in Western thought and technology. At the time, contacts with Westerners increased dramatically, particularly for Satsuma, as Western ships frequently landed in the Ryukyus and sought not only trade, to increase his influence in the Shogunate, Nariakira engineered a marriage between Shogun Tokugawa Iesada and his adopted daughter, Atsu-hime. In 1854, the first year of Iesadas reign, Commodore Perry landed in Japan, however, the treaties signed between Japan and the western powers, particularly the Harris Treaty of 1858, put Japan at a serious disadvantage
28.
HMS Pearl (1855)
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HMS Pearl was a Pearl-class 21-gun screw corvette of the Royal Navy launched in 1855, displacing 2,187 tons. In September 1857, during the Indian Rebellion,175 of the crew were formed into Pearls Naval Brigade. The small force, armed largely with rifles, took part in several actions and it was accompanied in many of these by a similar force formed from the crew of Shannon. The ship was captained by Edward Southwell Sotheby from its commission in 1855, john Borlase replaced Sotheby, on the ships return from India in 1859, from 23 August 1859 to 18 June 1864 when the ship was paid off in Portsmouth. Pearl sailed around the East Indies and China and played a part in the Taiping Rebellion, in May 1861 the Pearl was involved in an incident involving a British merchant ship named North Star and Chinese pirates. On 13 May, pirates in a junk attacked the North Star off the coast of Hong Kong Island and they killed or mortally wounded at least five members of the crew and stole over 4,000 dollars worth of gold before abandoning the ship. Only two survivors remained on the ship and they hid from the pirates until they left the North Star, HMS Pearl was anchored off Green Island at the time and she eventually recovered both the merchantman and the survivors. The Royal Navy, A History From the Earliest Times to the Death of Queen Victoria, Ships of the Royal Navy, The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy. The Cruise of the Pearl Round the World, With an Account of the Operations of the Naval Brigade in India, the Sail and Steam Navy List, All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815–1889. Record of service at the Naval Database website
29.
Jules Brunet
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Jules Brunet was a French Army officer who played a famous role in the Japanese Boshin War. He was sent to Japan with the French military mission of 1867 and he later became a General and Chief of Staff of the French Minister of War in 1898. Brunet was born in Belfort, then in the Alsace region of eastern France and his father was a military veterinary doctor. He graduated from the École Polytechnique in 1859, and joined the artillery school, Brunet participated in the French intervention in Mexico from August 1862 to June 1864, and received the Légion dhonneur in October 1864. In 1863 he was posted to the prestigious Horse Artillery Regiment of the Imperial Guard, Napoleon III sent a group of military advisors to Japan to help modernize the Shoguns army. Brunet was sent as an instructor, selected in September 1866. The mission arrived in early 1867 and trained the Shoguns troops for about a year, while in Japan, he was promoted to captain. Then in 1868 the Shogun was overthrown in the Boshin War, the French military mission was then ordered to leave Japan by Imperial decree. He did not join his new posting in the French army, while not formally resigning, in a letter to Napoleon III, Brunet explained the plan of the alliance, as well as his role in it, A revolution is forcing the Military Mission to return to France. Alone I stay, alone I wish to continue, under new conditions, the results obtained by the Mission, together with the Party of the North, soon a reaction will take place, and the Daimyos of the North have offered me to be its soul. I have accepted, because with the help of one thousand Japanese officers and non-commissioned officers, our students, Brunet took a very active role in the Boshin War. Brunet and Captain André Cazeneuve were present at the Battle of Toba-Fushimi, after that Imperial victory, Brunet, Cazeneuve, and the Shoguns Admiral, Enomoto Takeaki, fled to Edo on the warship Fujisan. When Edo also fell to the Imperial forces, Enomoto and Brunet fled to the island of Hokkaidō. Brunet helped organize the Ezo army, under hybrid Franco-Japanese leadership, otori Keisuke was Commander-in-chief, and Brunet was second in command. Each of the four brigades were commanded by a French officer, the final stand of the Shogun/Ezo forces was the Battle of Hakodate. The Ezo forces, numbering 3,000, were defeated by 7,000 Imperial troops, in an interesting postscript to his involvement in the Boshin War, Brunet spoke highly of Shinsengumi vice-commander Hijikata Toshizō in his memoirs. Praising Hijikatas ability as a leader, he said if the man had been in Europe. Brunet and the other French advisers were wanted by the Imperial government, but they were evacuated from Hokkaidō by a French warship and then taken to Saigon by the Dupleix
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International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
