Battle of Hokuetsu

Ukiyo-e print of the Battle of Hokuetsu by Utagawa Kuniteru II

Date	March 29, 1868
Location	Nagaoka, Echigo Province
Result	Decisive Imperial victory

Belligerents

Imperial faction:

Satsuma Domain

Chōshū Domain

Shogunate faction:

Nagaoka Domain

Commanders and leaders

The Battle of Hokuetsu (北越戦争, Hokuetsu senso) was a battle of the Boshin War of the Meiji Restoration, which occurred in 1868 in the northwestern part of Japan, in the area of modern Niigata Prefecture.

The Boshin War erupted in 1868 between troops favorable to the restoration of political authority to the Emperor and the government of the Tokugawa shogunate. The new Meiji government defeated the forces of Shōgun Tokugawa Yoshinobu (mostly from the western domains of Satsuma and Chōshū) at the Battle of Toba–Fushimi, and afterwards divided into three armies to advance on the Shogun’s capital of Edo. The imperial army marching up the coast of the Sea of Japan was commanded by Yamagata Aritomo and Kuroda Kiyotaka.

Makino Tadakuni, the daimyō of Nagaoka, in Echigo Province (modern day Niigata Prefecture) was a supporter of the Tokugawa shogunate, and refused to submit to the new government even after the fall of Edo Castle to the imperial armies. With the assistance of two Prussian businessmen (the brothers Edward and Henry Schnell) as military advisors, he purchased two Gatling guns (only one other existed in Japan at the time), 2,000 French rifles, and various other armaments.

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