Satsuma Rebellion

Satsuma Rebellion
Part of the Shizoku rebellions
Map of the campaign
Date 29 January – 24 September 1877 Location Kyūshū, Japan Result Imperial victory
Belligerents
Empire of Japan	Satsuma Domain
Commanders and leaders
Emperor Meiji Prince Arisugawa Yamagata Aritomo Kuroda Kiyotaka Tani Tateki	Saigō Takamori † Kirino Toshiaki † Beppu Shinsuke †
Strength
51,800 imperial army 5,054 imperial guardsmen 18,000 police	12,000 infantry 200 artillerymen 60 artillery pieces
Casualties and losses
15,000 killed and wounded[1]	21,000 killed and wounded[2][1] 4,000 captured or deserted

The Satsuma Rebellion, also known as the Seinan War (Japanese: 西南戦争, Hepburn: Seinan Sensō, lit. "Southwestern War"), was a revolt of disaffected samurai against the new imperial government of Japan, nine years into the Meiji era. Its name comes from the Satsuma Domain, which had been influential in the Restoration and became home to unemployed samurai after military reforms rendered their status obsolete. The rebellion lasted from 29 January until 24 September of 1877, when it was decisively crushed, and its leader, Saigō Takamori, was shot and mortally wounded.

Saigō's rebellion was the last and most serious of a series of armed uprisings against the new government of the Empire of Japan, the predecessor state to modern Japan. The rebellion was very expensive for the government, which forced it to make numerous monetary reforms including leaving the gold standard. The conflict effectively ended the samurai class and ushered in modern warfare fought by conscript soldiers instead of military nobles. It is also the most recent civil war fought in Japan.