BakumatsuExpansion eras
1837–1877
Bakumatsu (1837–1877). You start as Ashigaru and could rise all the way to Karō, if you survive. This era covers 37 historical battles.
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- Ashigaru
- Samurai
- Platoon leader
- Company commander
- Battalion commander
- Bugyō
- Karō
Historical battles
| Year | Battle | Est. casualties |
|---|---|---|
| 1837 | Ōshio Heihachirō's RebellionŌshio Heihachirō, a former police official of the Osaka magistrate's office, rose up under a banner reading "Save the People." The revolt was crushed in half a day, but the fire it started burned down a fifth of Osaka. | ≈2% |
| 1863 | Shimonoseki Campaign (U.S. and French reprisals)Chōshū's shore batteries fired on foreign ships passing through the strait. Soon an American warship forced its way into the strait and sank two Chōshū vessels, and then French warships landed men and tore down the batteries. | ≈5% |
| 1863 | Anglo-Satsuma WarA British squadron sailed into Kagoshima Bay over the Namamugi Incident. Batteries and warships traded fire in a storm; British captains were killed by cannon fire, and much of the castle town burned. After this battle, Satsuma began learning from Britain. | ≈2% |
| 1863 | Tenchūgumi IncidentRōnin of the "revere the emperor, expel the barbarians" movement rallied behind the court noble Nakayama Tadamitsu and attacked the Gojō intendant's office in Yamato. After the coup of the eighteenth day of the eighth month they lost their backers, and the domains' troops chased them into the Yoshino mountains. A little over a month later they were destroyed. | ≈2% |
| 1863 | Ikuno IncidentHirano Kuniomi and other rōnin rose at Ikuno in Tajima in support of the Tenchūgumi. Their leader ran off that same night, the peasant militia they had raised turned on them, and within three days they had scattered. | ≈1% |
| 1864 | Kinmon IncidentChōshū troops attacked Kyoto and fought Aizu and Satsuma troops at the Hamaguri Gate. Kijima Matabei was shot and then took his own life, and Kusaka Genzui took his own life at the Takatsukasa residence. The fire burned down more than twenty thousand homes in Kyoto. | ≈15% |
| 1864 | Shimonoseki Campaign (Four-Nation Fleet)Seventeen British, French, Dutch and American warships bombarded Shimonoseki, and landing parties seized the batteries. Takasugi Shinsaku negotiated the peace. The men of Chōshū had seen it with their own eyes: there was no expelling the foreigners. | ≈8% |
| 1864 | Mito RebellionMito's "revere the emperor" faction, the Tengutō, rose on Mount Tsukuba and fought the shogunate and Mito's conservatives for the better part of a year. In the end more than a thousand of them set off for Kyoto, crossed snowbound mountains, and surrendered to Kaga in Echizen. Three hundred and fifty-two were beheaded at Tsuruga. | ≈4% |
| 1865 | Battles of Ōda and EdōTakasugi Shinsaku rose at Kōzan-ji with a few dozen men. The other militia units followed, and they beat the domain's conservative army at Ōda and Edō. From then on, Chōshū was set on overthrowing the shogunate. | ≈5% |
| 1866 | Four Borders War: ŌshimaThe shogunate fleet shelled Suō-Ōshima, and the troops who landed burned, killed and looted across the island. Takasugi Shinsaku made a night attack on the shogunate warships aboard the Heiin Maru, and Chōshū troops then retook the island. | ≈6% |
| 1866 | Four Borders War: Geishū FrontThe troops of Hikone and Takada went into battle in their ancestral armor and were scattered by Chōshū's riflemen. Later the shogunate's Western-style infantry arrived, and the two armies faced off in the hills until the ceasefire. | ≈8% |
| 1866 | Four Borders War: Sekishū FrontŌmura Masujirō led his troops through Tsuwano territory and won battle after battle. The lord of Hamada abandoned his castle and fled, and his own men set it on fire. | ≈10% |
| 1866 | Four Borders War: Kokura FrontChōshū troops crossed the Kanmon Strait to attack Kokura. Then came news that the shogun Iemochi had died of illness at Osaka Castle. The domains pulled out one after another, and Kokura set fire to its own castle. | ≈12% |
| 1868 | Battle of Toba-FushimiFifteen thousand former shogunate troops marched on Kyoto and were stopped at Toba and Fushimi by Satsuma and Chōshū guns. The imperial brocade banner was raised over the new government's lines; Yodo shut its castle gates and Tsu changed sides. Tokugawa Yoshinobu abandoned his army and fled back to Edo by ship. | ≈15% |
| 1868 | Naval Battle of AwaEnomoto Takeaki's Kaiyō Maru chased Satsuma's Kasuga Maru and Shōhō Maru off the coast of Awa. The Shōhō Maru ran aground and was burned by her own crew. It was Japan's first battle between modern warships. | ≈3% |
| 1868 | Battle of Kōshū-KatsunumaKondō Isami, under the alias Ōkubo Takeshi, raced with the Kōyō Chinbutai to seize Kōfu Castle and arrived a step too late. Men deserted all along the way. They met Itagaki Taisuke's troops at Katsunuma and broke in less than half a day. | ≈12% |
| 1868 | Battle of Utsunomiya CastleŌtori Keisuke and Hijikata Toshizō led the former shogunate army to take Utsunomiya Castle. A few days later, new government reinforcements took it back. Hijikata was shot in the foot. | ≈8% |
| 1868 | Battle of ShirakawaThe new government army took Shirakawa Castle, the gateway to the northeast. The Northern Alliance had more men but older guns. They counterattacked again and again, and were thrown back every time. | ≈12% |
| 1868 | Battle of UenoThe Shōgitai dug in at Kan'ei-ji in Ueno. Ōmura Masujirō shelled them from the Hongō heights with Saga's Armstrong guns, and it was over in a single day. The temple's great hall burned to ash, and the bodies lay on the hill for days because no one dared collect them. | ≈25% |
| 1868 | Hokuetsu War: Battle of Nagaoka CastleKawai Tsugunosuke, chief retainer of Nagaoka, wanted to stay neutral, but his proposal at the Ojiya talks was flatly rejected, and Nagaoka joined the Alliance. The castle was lost, retaken, and lost again for good. Kawai was shot in the leg and died on the road to Aizu. | ≈15% |
| 1868 | Battle of Nihonmatsu CastleNihonmatsu's main force was away at Shirakawa, and only old men and boys were left in the castle. Boy soldiers aged twelve to seventeen shouldered guns to meet the attack. The castle fell in a single day. | ≈20% |
| 1868 | Battle of Bonari PassThe new government army avoided the roads Aizu was guarding in strength and went over the mountains to strike the lightly held Bonari Pass. The defenders broke in half a day, and the road to Wakamatsu Castle lay open. | ≈10% |
| 1868 | Battle of Aizu-Wakamatsu CastleThe new government army poured into the town below Wakamatsu Castle. Boys of the Byakkotai on Mount Iimori saw the town burning, thought the castle had fallen, and nineteen of them took their own lives. The castle held out under siege for a month; its keep was riddled by cannon fire, and in the end it opened its gates and surrendered. | ≈20% |
| 1868 | Battle of Matsumae CastleHijikata Toshizō took Matsumae Castle, and the former shogunate army held all of Ezo. Soon after, the flagship Kaiyō Maru was caught in a storm off Esashi, struck a reef and sank. | ≈3% |
| 1869 | Naval Battle of Miyako BayThe former shogunate forces tried to seize the new government's ironclad Kōtetsu in Miyako Bay. The Kaiten rammed alongside to board her, but the two decks stood at different heights, and the men who jumped across were mowed down by the Kōtetsu's Gatling gun. Captain Kōga Gengo was killed. | ≈15% |
| 1869 | Battle of Futamata PassHijikata Toshizō threw up breastworks on the mountain road at Futamata and fought from afternoon until the next morning, driving the new government army back. But the lines elsewhere gave way first, and Hijikata had to fall back to Hakodate. | ≈5% |
| 1869 | Assault on Hakodate and Surrender of GoryōkakuThe new government army attacked Hakodate by land and sea. Hijikata Toshizō rode toward the Ipponginomon barrier, was shot and fell from his horse. Seven days later, Enomoto Takeaki handed over Goryōkaku, and the Boshin War was over. | ≈25% |
| 1874 | Saga RebellionFormer Minister of Justice Etō Shinpei raised troops in Saga. Ōkubo Toshimichi went to Saga in person to take charge, and the revolt was crushed in under a month. Etō fled to Kagoshima to see Saigō and was turned away; he was later caught in Tosa and beheaded, his head put on display. | ≈3% |
| 1876 | Shinpūren RebellionMore than 170 men of the Keishintō in Kumamoto refused to use Western guns. Armed only with swords and spears, they attacked the Kumamoto garrison by night and killed its commander, Taneda Masaaki. At dawn the garrison troops regrouped, and the revolt was put down within a day. | ≈5% |
| 1876 | Akizuki RebellionThe samurai of Akizuki in Fukuoka rose in support of the Shinpūren and were crushed by Nogi Maresuke and the Kokura garrison. | ≈2% |
| 1876 | Hagi RebellionFormer councillor Maebara Issei rose in Hagi. He had been a student of Yoshida Shōin and a hero of the Restoration. The revolt was put down in about ten days, and Maebara was captured and beheaded. | ≈3% |
| 1877 | Siege of Kumamoto CastleMore than ten thousand Satsuma rebels besieged Kumamoto Castle. A few days before the fighting began, the castle keep caught fire for reasons no one knows and burned down. The commander, Tani Tateki, held out with the garrison for more than fifty days, until relief forces broke through. | ≈6% |
| 1877 | Battle of UekiThe 14th Regiment, hurrying down from Kokura, ran into the Satsuma rebels at Ueki and lost its regimental colors in the night fighting. Its commander, Major Nogi Maresuke, carried that with him for the rest of his life. | ≈6% |
| 1877 | Battle of TabaruzakaThe one road to Kumamoto. The rain never stopped and men and horses were soaked through as the two armies fought back and forth over the slope for seventeen days. The government picked out police skilled with the sword to form a Drawn-Sword Unit, and many of them were former Aizu samurai. | ≈15% |
| 1877 | Battle of WadagoeFor the first and last time, Saigō Takamori stood at the front and commanded in person. The rebels were beaten. The next day he ordered the whole army disbanded and left each man to decide whether to stay or go. | ≈15% |
| 1877 | Breakout at Mount EnodakeThe remaining rebels climbed Mount Enodake under cover of night, burst down through the government encirclement, and fled south toward Kagoshima. | ≈8% |
| 1877 | Battle of ShiroyamaOnly some three hundred rebels made it back to Kagoshima, where tens of thousands of government troops surrounded them on Shiroyama. The final assault came at dawn on the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. Saigō Takamori was shot, and Beppu Shinsuke struck off his head as his second. The Satsuma Rebellion was over. | ≈50% |
Casualty rates are the game's estimates from historical sources, used to work out the chance of dying. Treat them as approximate.
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