Hagi Rebellion

Part of Shizoku rebellions of the Meiji period

Maebara Issei, leader of the rebellion

Date	28 October 1876 – 5 November 1876
Location	Hagi, Yamaguchi Prefecture
Result	Government victory; rebellion crushed

Belligerents

Imperial Japanese Army

shizoku rebels of former Chōshū Domain

Commanders and leaders

Maebara Issei

Strength

Unknown

200

The 1876 Hagi Rebellion (萩の乱, Hagi no ran^?) was one of a number of ex-samurai uprisings which took place in the early Meiji period against the new Meiji government of Japan

Following the 1868 Meiji Restoration, many members of the former samurai class were disgruntled with the direction the nation had taken. The abolition of their former privileged social status under the feudal order had also eliminated their income, and the establishment of universal military conscription had eliminated much of their raison d'etre. The very rapid modernization (Westernization) of the country was resulting in massive changes to Japanese culture, dress and society and appeared to many samurai to be a betrayal of the jōi ("Expel the Barbarians") portion of the Sonnō jōi justification used to overthrow the former Tokugawa shogunate. Maebara Issei, one of the heroes of the Meiji restoration and a leader of the Imperial Army at the Battle of Aizu was among the dissatisfied. Maebara had been a pupil of Yoshida Shōin and an early advocate of modernization. He had risen to the post of Military Minister in the new Meiji government, but had resigned due to disagreements with Kido Takayoshi over the treatment of the former daimyō after the abolition of the han system.

When Maebara was contacted by the leaders of the Shinpūren Rebellion to join forces in a widespread uprising against the Meiji government, he gathered a group of like-minded samurai on October 26, 1876, in Hagi, the former capital of Chōshū Domain (now Yamaguchi Prefecture), and proposed a lightning strike against the government offices located in Yamaguchi city. As his forces numbered only around 100 warriors, it was decided to make a night attack, with the date set at October 28. The governor of Yamaguchi Prefecture, hearing of Maebara's preparation, sent word to him with news of the crushed Shinpūren Rebellion, and urged that he stand down.

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