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Battles, incidents, and historical events related to Japanese swords
2 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.