Edo Castle Surrendered: The Tokugawa Shogunate Falls
The surrender of Edo Castle on April 11, 1868, was negotiated between Saigo Takamori, commander of the imperial forces, and Katsu Kaishu, the Tokugawa shogunate's chief minister, sparing the city and its million inhabitants from destruction. Saigo had marched an army of 50,000 to Edo's gates, and the shogun Yoshinobu had already fled. Katsu argued that burning Edo would only strengthen resistance in the north and deprive the new government of Japan's administrative center. The peaceful handover accelerated the Meiji Restoration, allowing Japan to modernize without the devastation of prolonged civil war. Saigo later rebelled against the very government he had helped create, dying in the Satsuma Rebellion of 1877.
April 11, 1868
158 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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