Battle of Ueno

The Battle of Ueno (Japanese:上野戦争) was a battle of the Boshin War, which occurred on July 4, 1868 (May 15 by the lunar calendar), between the troops of the Shōgitai under Shibusawa Seiichirō and Amano Hachirō. Though the Shōgitai was mostly made up of former Tokugawa retainers and residents of the surrounding provinces, some domains supported the Shōgitai, such as Takada "han" (Echigo Province, 150,000 "koku"), Obama "han" (Wakasa Province, 103,000 "koku"), Takasaki "han" (Kōzuke Province, 52,000 "koku"), and Yūki "han" (Shimosa Province, 18,000 "koku"). [Mori Mayumi. "Shōgitai Ibun". Tōkyō: Shinkōsha, 2004, p. 123.] Facing them were the combined forces of the Chōshū, Omura, Sadowara, Hizen, Chikugo, Owari, Bizen, Tsu, Inaba, and Higo domains, under the general command of Chōshū's Omura Masujiro. [Ibid, p. 170.] Shibusawa and Amano initially had the 2000-strong Shōgitai posted in Ueno to protect Tokugawa Yoshinobu, who was, at the time, in self-imposed confinement at Kan'eiji, as well as Prince "Rinnōji no Miya" Yoshihisa, who was the abbot of the temple. ["Gekidosuru Aizu Boshin Hen". Vol. 5 of "Aizuwakamatsu Shi". Tōkyō: Kokushō-kankōkai, 1981, p. 138] When the battle began, "Rinnōji no Miya" escaped, reaching Enomoto Takeaki's warship "Chogei-maru" and being dropped off further north, on the Pacific coast. [Ibid.] The Shōgitai took up positions around Kan'ei-ji (寛永寺; an important Tokugawa family temple) and the nearby Nezu Shrine (根津神社). [Yamakawa Kenjirō. "Aizu Boshin Senshi" Tōkyō: Tōkyō Daigaku Shuppankai, 1931, p. 196.] While they put up stiff resistance, the Tosa troops used Armstrong cannons and Snyder guns to devastating effect, thus ending the last center of resistance in Edo.

Harada Sanosuke of the Shinsengumi is said to have joined the Shōgitai, and died soon after this battle. [Kikuchi Akira. "Shinsengumi Hyakuichi no Nazo". Tokyo: Shin Jinbutsu Oraisha, 2000, p. 228-9.]

Notes

Further reading

*Kikuchi Akira. "Shinsengumi Hyakuichi no Nazo". Tōkyō: Shin Jinbutsu Ōraisha, 2000.
*Mori Mayumi. "Shōgitai Ibun". Tōkyō: Shinkōsha, 2004.
*Steele, M. William. "Against the Restoration. Katsu Kaishu's Attempt to Reinstate the Tokugawa Family". "Monumenta Nipponica", Vol. 36, No. 3. (Autumn, 1981), pp. 299-316.
*Steele, M. William. "Edo in 1868: The View from Below". "Monumenta Nipponica", Vol. 45, No. 2. (Summer, 1990), pp. 127-155.
*Takano Kiyoshi. "Tokugawa Yoshinobu: Gendai Nihon no Enshutsusha". Tōkyō: Nihon Hōsō Shuppan Kyōkai, 1997.
*Yamakawa Kenjiro. "Aizu Boshin Senshi". Tokyo: Tokyo Daigaku Shuppankai, 1931.