>
>
> The best history in English on Choshu is Albert Craig's Choshu in the Meiji Restoration. It was first published in 1961 but a new edition came out in 2000.
The first Choshu expedition does not seem to have been a particularly military affair. The whole bakumatsu era seems to have been particularly confusing. The bakufu was weakened by questions of succession, the han were split between 'conservatives' and 'loyalists',rich peasants and farmers were demanding 'yonaoshi, there were bizarre outbreaks of popular emotion like 'ee ja nai ka.' Also no telegraph etc so information took a long time to be transmitted. People changed their names frequently too!
Choshu loyalists and extremists wanted to reestablish their influence over the court which they had lost to Satsuma. The shotai under Kijima, Kusaka and others tried to attack the Kin Mon and were repulsed by a mixture of Satsuma and Aizu troops in alliance with the bakufu at that time. Many daimyo and han sympathised with Choshu who were seen as obedient to the Emperor in resisting foreigners. Also a defeat by the bakufu of Choshu might turn out badly for the other powerful han, especially Satsuma. At the same time Choshu was about to be attacked at Shimonoseki by the Four Countries (US, England, France and Holland) for attacking foreign ships. Choshu was completely defeated in this encounter but some strange rapport sprang up between defeated and conqueror, and relations between England and the Choshu loyalists became quite warm. This led to the supply of Western arms through Sakamoto and Thomas Glover.
The bakufu made threatening noises to the Choshu daimyo, Mori Takachika (I think), who is generally considered to be a weak personalitiy (known as the sansei daimyo as when he woke during meetings he always said 'sansei!' I agree.) and the heir, Motonori, who were both placed under 'best behaviour' orders. The Elders concerned were forced to take their own lives and their heads were delivered to the shogun. Four staff officers were also executed. Kijima, Kusaka and several other shotai leaders died in the fighting.
Sufu Masonosuke, the loyalist bureaucratic who was responsible for the first Kyoto movements by Choshu committed suicide at around this time, possible because of the attempted assassination of Inoue Kaoru, to whom he was very close. Inoue did not seem likely to survive and the loyalist policy was in complete tatters.
However, Takasugi Shinsaku was fortuitiously in prison at the time and therefore escaped death or punishment. Inoue survived. Ito and Arigata were not invovled and these were the shotai leaders who came to the fore in 1867/8. Saigo Takamori of Satsuma was one of those who eventually advised against too harsh a punishment of Shohu in 1864, said to be the first sign of rapprochment between the two han - always considered as tiger and dragon till now.
Please correct any mistakes, o wise ones of the forum.
Read Craig, he is excellent.
Gillian
>
> Wow, some good history! Do you happen to have any information on the
> first Choshu expedition? For example, the numbers on each sides,
> what hans participated, any tactics, other important information...
>
> All the books ive looked at and websites ive read just keep
> saying "and there was a first choshu expedition, which succeeded,
> aww..., and then there was a second, which failed, yay..."
>
> --- In samuraihistory@yahoogroups.com, Tom Helm
> wrote:
> > First off 007,
> > ����� Shame on you for not paying attention in class! A the battle
> of
> > Toba--Fushimi ,which happened by accident, the Shinsen-gumi lead
> the
> > Tokugawa forces. They fought a bitter argument to be first in line
> > cause they thought so highly of themselves. Carrying sword and
> spear
> > they the first to encounter the Satsuma-Choshu troops and the
> first to
> > be cut down. Their retreat prevented the western trained Tokugawa
> > troops behind them to organize properly thus the advantage was
> given to
> > the loyalist army with the first shots. After this I beleive it
> was
> > Hijikata who said "swords are useless, the age of the gun is
> here.." or
> > something to that effect.
> > ����� Surely though you are thinking of Tabaruzaka, 17 days of
> slaughter on
> > the outskirts of Kumamoto. In a small pass in the hills, covered
> by
> > thick bamboo grove, in the pouring rain (it rained for 15 days!)
> the
> > "samurai" army from Satsuma repeatedly attacked and repelled the
> > Government troops. Their guns were nearly useles in the constant
> > downpour, they couldn't maneuver as they had been trained and they
> had
> > no covering artillery.
> > ����� On the 16th day the farmers were replaced by Aizu samurai,
> who carried
> > a burning hatred for Satsuma, artillery was finally in place
> nearby on
> > a commanding hilltop and the rain stopped. It was all she wrote
> after
> > that...
> > -t
> >
> > Kosu ni kosarenu Tabaruzaka!!
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ---
> Samurai Archives: http://www.samurai-archives.com
> Samurai Archives store: http://www.cafeshops.com/samuraiarchives
> ---
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> samuraihistory-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
>