Anglo-Satsuma War

Bombardment of Kagoshima (薩英戦争)
Bird's-eye view of the bombardment of Kagoshima by the Royal Navy, August 15, 1863. Le Monde Illustré.
Date 15–17 August 1863 Location Kagoshima, Kyushu, Japan Result Limited British success
Belligerents
United Kingdom	Satsuma
Commanders and leaders
Sir Augustus Kuper	Shimazu Hisamitsu
Strength
7 steam warships	3 steam ships 80 cannons
Casualties and losses
3 warships damaged 20 killed, 53 wounded	3 steam warships sunk 5 Junks destroyed 500 homes destroyed 5 killed, 13 wounded

The Bombardment of Kagoshima, also known as the Anglo-Satsuma War (薩英戦争, Satsu-Ei Sensō^?), took place on 15–17 August 1863 during the Late Tokugawa shogunate. The Royal Navy was fired on from coastal batteries near the town of Kagoshima and in retaliation bombarded the town. The British were trying to extract a payment from the daimyō of Satsuma following the Namamugi Incident of 1862, in which British people were attacked (one killed, two wounded) by Satsuma samurai for not showing the proper respect for the daimyō's regent, Shimazu Hisamitsu.

Following the Namamugi Incident on September 14, 1862, Lieutenant-Colonel Neale, the British Chargé d'Affaires, demanded from the bakufu an apology and a huge indemnity for the Namamugi outrage of £100,000 ($440,000 in Mexican silver dollars), representing roughly 1/3 of the total revenues of the Bakufu for one year. Neale kept threatening a naval bombardment of Edo if the payment was not made. Britain also demanded of the Satsuma domain the arrest and trial of the perpetrators of the outrage, and £25,000 compensation for the surviving victims and the relatives of Charles Lennox Richardson.

The Bakufu (Japanese central government), led by Ogasawara Nagamichi in the absence of the Shogun who was in Kyoto, eager to avoid trouble with European powers, negotiated with France and Great Britain on July 2, 1863, on board the French warship Sémiramis, apologized and paid the indemnity to the British authorities. Participating in the settlement were the main French and British political and navy representatives of the time: Duchesne de Bellecourt the French Minister in Japan, Lieutenant-Colonel Neale the Chargé d'affaires of Great Britain, Admiral Jaurès and Admiral Kuper.

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