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Battles, incidents, and historical events related to Japanese swords
10 events
February 15, 1869 (Meiji 2/1/5)
Confucian scholar Yokoi Shonan was assassinated on February 15, 1869 (Meiji 2/1/5) when six exclusionist (jōi) men, including Totsukawa gōshi, ambushed his palanquin on Teramachi-dōri in Kyoto. He was 61 years old. Shonan, who had been invited to serve as san'yo (councilor) in the new Meiji government, was struck down by gunfire and sword blows and died. This was the assassination of a senior figure of the new Meiji government, an enlightened proponent of opening the country who fell to the blades of the exclusionists. It is also an incident that demonstrates the use of Japanese swords in actual combat on the eve of the Haitōrei (the Sword Abolishment Edict).
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May 14, 1878 (Meiji 11)
Minister of Home Affairs Ōkubo Toshimichi was assassinated on May 14, Meiji 11 (1878), at Shimizudani, Kioi-chō, Kōjimachi Ward, Tokyo Prefecture, by six shizoku from Ishikawa and Shimane Prefectures (the principal assailant being Shimada Ichirō), who cut him in 16 places with Japanese swords. Age at death: 49. The incident occurred two years after the Sword Abolition Edict (Haitōrei) (Meiji 9, 1876) took effect. The sword used was seized by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department and is now on public display in the Police Reference Room at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's headquarters building. It is recorded in Meiji and sword history as a major incident in which a Japanese sword was used in a political assassination after the Sword Abolition Edict.
Night of October 28, 1863 (Bunkyū 3, 9th month, 16th day; some sources say the 18th / October 30)
In the 9th month of Bunkyū 3 (1863), Kondō Isami and Hijikata Toshizō's faction purged Serizawa Kamo, a senior Mito-faction commander, at the Yagi residence in Mibu, Kyoto, in a struggle for control of the Shinsengumi. The incident established Kondō as sole commander and set the Shinsengumi on its path toward stricter internal discipline.
May 30, 1863 (Bunkyū 3, 4th month, 13th day)
On May 30, 1863 (Bunkyū 3/4/13), Kiyokawa Hachirō, a sonnō jōi advocate of the late Bakumatsu period, was ambushed near Azabu Ichinohashi in Edo by shogunate assassins led by Sasaki Tadasaburō and was killed. Age at death: 34. The incident came after he led the Rōshigumi to Kyoto, declared sonnō jōi there, and returned to Edo. The rōshi who objected to this declaration and remained in Kyoto became the foundation of the Shinsengumi. An incident that symbolizes the political assassinations of the late Bakumatsu and the actual combat use of Japanese swords.
December 13, 1867 (Keiō 3, 11th month, 18th day)
In the 11th month of Keiō 3 (1867), the Shinsengumi lured out and killed Itō Kashitarō and other members of the Goryō Eishi — a group that had split from the Shinsengumi to pursue anti-shogunate activities — at Aburanokōji in Kyoto. The Goryō Eishi were effectively destroyed in what became the Shinsengumi's last major internal purge.
15th day of the 11th month, Keiō 3 (1867)
On the night of the 15th day of the 11th month of Keiō 3 (1867), Sakamoto Ryōma, a central figure in the Satchō Alliance, was assassinated at the Ōmiya in Kawaramachi, Kyoto. He was 33 years old. His death came just after he had witnessed the success of the Taisei Hōkan, and it is remembered as a tragedy that struck just before the dawn of a new era. The identity of the culprits remains unconfirmed to this day, and the manner of his death, cut down by a sword, symbolizes the end of the Bakumatsu era, when swords and firearms coexisted.
February 13, 1219 (Kenpō 7, 1st month, 27th day)
On February 13, 1219 (Kenpō 7/1/27), Minamoto no Sanetomo, the third shogun of the Kamakura shogunate, was assassinated on the stone steps of Tsurugaoka Hachimangu shrine by his nephew Kugyo immediately following Sanetomo's investiture as Right Minister. The killing ended the direct Minamoto shogunal line in its third generation, cementing the dominance of the Hojo regents. Sanetomo's beheading stands as one of the most consequential political murders in Japanese history.
March 24, 1860 (3rd day, 3rd month, Man'en 1)
On March 24, 1860 (the 3rd day of the 3rd month of Man'en 1), Tairō Ii Naosuke was assassinated by 18 rōnin from Mito and Satsuma outside Sakuradamon Gate of Edo Castle—the greatest political terrorism of the late Tokugawa period. This incident, carried out as retaliation for the Ansei Purge, symbolized the collapse of shogunate authority and intensified the Sonnō Jōi movement.
April 21, 1701 (Genroku 14) / Raid: January 30, 1703 (Genroku 15, 12th month, 14th day)
In 1701–1703, Lord Asano of Akō domain attacked Kira Yoshinaka in Edo Castle and was sentenced to seppuku. The following year, forty-seven loyal retainers led by Ōishi Kuranosuke avenged their lord by raiding Kira's mansion — Japan's most celebrated act of samurai loyalty.
June 21, 1582 (Tenshō 10, 6th month, 2nd day)
In the early hours of June 21, 1582 (2nd day of the 6th month, Tenshō 10), Oda Nobunaga, on the verge of unifying Japan, was slain at Honnō-ji in Kyoto by the revolt of his retainer Akechi Mitsuhide. As the greatest rebellion in Japanese history, this event left an indelible mark on posterity.