meiji intrigue

[nokhor]

1. during the meiji restoration, it seems that there was a lot of intrigue and changing of allegiances between the mori and shimazu while they were supposedly united against the tokugawa. anyone have detailed info or a good reference point?

2. i can understand the mori and shimazu antagonism towards the tokugawa during the meji restoration since they were on the wrong side at sekigahara. but another major apparently were the yamanouchi of tosa, what was their beef?

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indeed

[Minagawa Daimon]

its all in the book "Samurai Sketches",if i can find it somewhere in my room i'll give you a history of those 2 clans and their rivalry.

[FwSeal]

I'm not well-versed in the late Edo Period, but Yamaouchi Yodo (Toyoshige) comes off as one of the more moderate figures involved in those events. He was a friend to Tokugawa Yoshinobu and had come out on the side of reforms within the Tokugawa shogunate and been placed under house arrest (along with Matsudaira Yoshinaga and others) as part of Ii Naosuke's Ansei Purge. He supported Yoshinobu throughout the crisis that came later and seems to have greatly distrusted the Shimazu's intentions.
I'd say the most famous activist from Yamaouchi's domain (Tosa Province) was Sakamoto Ryoma.

[Brown Wolf]

I wonder if Japan would have fought in WWII if the meiji restoration had never occured?

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"Failure is not an option"