Military --- Conscription

Source
edited Jansen, Marius B., Gilbert Rozman. "Japan in Transition From
Tokugawa to Meiji" Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986.
ISBN 0691054592

I'm leaving out alot of the tedious details...

Announced in 1872… formulated into Conscription Edict of 1873 and went
into effect 1874 (the origins of conscription can be found as early
as 1870)
In 1873 conscription was enforced in Tokyo… 1874 Osaka and Nagoya

*guys who were not the head of their families targeted

heirs of farms or family businesses …son-in-laws adopted as family
heirs were also exempted = identical to the French conscription (keep
in mind TMPD adopted the Parisian model of law enforcement as well).
The French based conscription system will be reformed with a German model.

I have not been able to find specifics such as age etc… I do have
several more books to skim.

10,000 of the Imperial Guard were from Satsuma, Choshu and Tosa (duh!
…this is why during the Seinan War there were cases of sons fighting
against their fathers)
Satsuma samurai fought well during the Seinan War because they were
well trained in the Imperial Army (and they held important ranks)…then
ofcourse they all sided with Saigo
*other texts make the generalization that the Imperial Army was poorly
trained
Seinan War 1876-1877 …if conscription was not in place the rebellion
would have been disastrous for the new government

Conscription in the 1880s …police posts in the countryside (sometimes
only 2-3 officers) were also telegraph/postal centers (officers were
trained in prefectural police schools on how to use these systems)
…these police posts linked central gov. to rural areas …these police
enforced conscription laws.
*it is obvious that people such as Fujita Goro had to stay up to date
with the latest "technology" keep in mind that he did work in an urban
area

Police+village officials were supposed to work together and collect
data on identities+age+physique …the army sent doctors to the
countryside to do physical exams (the word army/police are used
interchangeably at times in texts) …the army will slowly take over the
enforcement of conscription because evasion of the draft was common.
Results: introduced villagers to the "world"…for the first time they
got to travel beyond their traditional hans.

Seinan War and the TMPD teaser…
An important quote :P
"Indeed, the defeat of the Satsuma force owed as much or more to the
role played by the well-trained, samurai-based Tokyo police
detachments (over 5,000 men)*…" (Chapter 7 The Military D. Eleanor
Westney 184)
Note: another book says 6,000 men