Shimonoseki Expedition, Japan

Shimonoseki Campaign (下関戦争・馬関戦争)

Part of the Chōshū Rebellion

Capture of a Choshu battery at Shimonoseki by British sailors and marines; picture taken by Felice Beato

Date	20 July – 14 August 1863, 5–6 September 1864
Location	Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi, Japan
Result	Allied victory

Belligerents

Netherlands

Commanders and leaders

Sir Augustus Leopold Kuper

Benjamin Jaurès

François de Casembroot

David McDougal

Lord Mōri Takachika

Takasugi Shinsaku

Strength

Land:
2,000
Sea:
28 warships

Land:
1,500
100 artillery pieces
Sea:
6 warships
40 war-junks

Casualties and losses

72 killed or wounded
2 warships damaged

47 killed or wounded

The Shimonoseki Campaign (Japanese: 下関戦争/馬関戦争^?, Hepburn: Shimonoseki Sensō/Bakan Sensō) refers to a series of military engagements in 1863 and 1864, fought to control Shimonoseki Straits of Japan by joint naval forces from Great Britain, France, the Netherlands and the United States, against the Japanese feudal domain of Chōshū, which took place off and on the coast of Shimonoseki, Japan.

The Japanese term for this event translates to the Shimonoseki War.

Despite efforts of appeasement by the Tokugawa shogunate to establish an atmosphere of peaceful solidarity, many feudal daimyōs remained bitterly resentful of the shogunate's open-door policy to foreign trade. Belligerent opposition to European and American influence erupted into open conflict when the Emperor Kōmei, breaking with centuries of imperial tradition, began to take an active role in matters of state and issued on March 11 and April 11, 1863 his "Order to expel barbarians" (攘夷実行の勅命 – Jōi jikkō no chokumei).

The Chōshū clan, under the daimyō Mōri Takachika, began to take action to expel all foreigners after the deadline of the 10th day of the 5th month, by the traditional Japanese calendar. Openly defying the shogunate, Takachika ordered his forces to fire without warning on all foreign ships traversing Shimonoseki Strait. This strategic but treacherous 600-meter waterway separates the islands of Honshū and Kyūshū and provides a passage connecting the Inland Sea with the Sea of Japan.

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