Battle of Toba-Fushimi

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Battle of Toba-Fushimi
Part of Boshin War
Top: Engagement of Toba. Shogunate forces on the left, Satsuma forces on the right. Middle: engagement of Fushimi (near Takasegawa). Shogunate forces are on the left, including battalions from Aizu. On the right are forces from Chōshū and Tosa. Bottom: Encounter of Tominomori. Shogunate forces on the left, Chōshū forces on the right.
Date 27 January 1868–31 January 1868 Location Kyoto Result Decisive Imperial victory
Combatants
Satsuma, Chōshū, Tosa later: Yodo, Tsu	Bakufu, Aizu, Kuwana, Takamatsu, Tsu, Matsuyama, Ogaki
Commanders
Ruler: Meiji Emperor Army: Saigō Takamori later:Komatsumiya Akihito	Shogun: Tokugawa Keiki Army: Takenaka Shigekata, Takigawa Tomoakira, Sakuma Nobuhisa, Matsudaira Masatada, Hayashi Gonsuke, Sagawa Kanbei, others
Strength
5,000 combatants	15,000 combatants
Casualties
unknown	unknown

Boshin War
Toba-Fushimi – Awa – Kōshū-Katsunuma – Utsunomiya Castle – Ueno – Hokuetsu - Bonari Pass – Aizu – Miyako Bay – Hakodate – Hakodate Bay

The Battle of Toba-Fushimi (Japanese:鳥羽・伏見の戦い) occurred between pro-Imperial and Shogunate forces during the Boshin War in Japan. The battle started on January 27, 1868 (January 3rd according to the Lunar calendar), when the shogunate forces and the forces of Chōshū, Satsuma and Tosa clashed near Toba and Fushimi, and lasted for 4 days, ending with the defeat of the Shogun forces.

The battle started with Shogunate forces, numbering 15,000, moved in the direction of Kyoto to deliver the letter of the former shogun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu, warning the Emperor of the intrigue plotted by Satsuma and the court nobles who supported it, such as Iwakura Tomomi.^[1] The Satsuma-Choshu forces had occupied the city of Kyoto and the Imperial court on January 3rd, and obtained a proclamation of restoration of Imperial power by the 15 year-old Emperor Meiji.

On the 24th, the commanders for the Shogunate's army were chosen, separated by order of their objectives, which included Fushimi, Toba, Nijo Castle, Yodo, and Matsudaira Katamori's former residence of Kurotani, in Kyoto.^[2] On the 27th, the Shogunate force's vanguard under Takigawa Tomoakira approached a Satsuma-manned barrier post at Toba. After being denied permission to pass peacefully, Takigawa's unit, made up largely of the men of the Mimawarigumi under Sasaki Tadasaburo, was flanked by the Satsuma force and fired upon unprovoked. After receiving the first volley, Sasaki ordered his men to charge the Satsuma gunners, but since the Mimawarigumi was armed with spears and swords, they were killed en masse.^[3] Chōshū and Tosa forces in Fushimi simultaneously opened fire on Shogunate forces in their area.^[4] The Shogunate force's commanders in that area, including Takigawa and the leader of a French-trained infantry unit, rode off in fright, leaving their men in chaos. However, Kuwana forces and the unit under Kubota Bizen-no-Kami held their ground, making the skirmish rage on, inconclusive.^[5] These were to be the first shots of the Boshin War. Other nearby skirmishes in the greater scheme of the battle were similarly to rage on inconclusively, for two days.

On the second day, Iwakura Tomomi gave Saigo Takamori and Okubo Toshimichi, two senior figures in the Sat-cho alliance, forged orders from the Emperor ordering the punishment of Yoshinobu and Aizu by military force, and granting use of the Imperial banners.^[6] These banners were also forged, having been made by Okubo Toshimichi a few months previously, and stored in the Chōshū domain until the forged edict was secured, necessitating their use.^[7] In addition, Komatsumiya Akihito (小松宮彰仁親王, 1846-1903) was chosen as the Commander in Chief of the army, which effectively made the forces centered around the Satsuma-Chōshū alliance the Imperial army, or Kangun (官軍). This was to be the newly-ensconced kangun's greatest tool of psychological warfare, sending Shogunate forces into confusion and disarray, since anyone who fired on the banners of the Emperor would be branded zokugun (賊軍), or "rebel forces".

Further, several local daimyos, heretofore faithful to the Shogun, started to defect with their armies and castles, such as the Daimyo of Yodo (淀藩) on the 5th, and the Daimyo of Tsu (津藩) on the 6th, tilting the military balance in favour of the Imperial side.

On the 7th, Tokugawa Keiki, apparently disturbed by the Imperial seal given to the actions of Satsuma and Chōshū, abandoned combat, and fled from his castle in Osaka, to board the warship Kanrin Maru and reach his capital of Edo. His Osaka castle was soon invested (on March 1, Western calendar), putting an end to the battle of Toba-Fushimi.

Large parts of the 15,000-strong shogunate forces had been trained by French military advisers, but the majority of the men deployed in the front lines remained forces armed in archaic fashion, with pikes and swords. It is important to note that there was not a clearly defined intent to fight on their part, attested to by the fact that many of the men in the vanguard had rifles which were empty. Meanwhile the forces of Chōshū and Satsuma were numerically inferior by 3:1 but worked much more cohesively.

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Fukushima Hiroshi. Bakumatsu Ishin: Yume no Ato Kikō. Tokyo: Kyōiku Shoseki, 1990.
• Totman, Conrad. Collapse of the Tokugawa Bakufu, 1862-1868. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1980.
• Yamakawa Kenjirō. Hōshu Aizu Byakkōtai Jūkyūshi-den. Aizu-Wakamatsu: Aizu Chōrei Gikai, 1926.
• Yamakawa Kenjirō. Aizu Boshin Senshi. Tokyo: Tokyo Daigaku Shuppankai, 1933.