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Battles, incidents, and historical events related to Japanese swords
4 events
December 1868 – June 1869 (Meiji 1, 10th month – Meiji 2, 5th month)
In 1869, the last battle of the Boshin War was fought at Goryōkaku fortress in Hakodate, Hokkaido. Enomoto Takeaki and Hijikata Toshizō led the remnant shogunate forces against the new Meiji government army. Hijikata died from a bullet wound in the final days. As one of the last large-scale organized battles involving Japanese swords, Hakodate stands at the threshold of tradition and modernity.
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February 8, 1904 – September 5, 1905
In Meiji 37–38 (1904–1905), the Japanese Empire fought a large-scale land and naval war against the Russian Empire. This war fundamentally changed the positioning of the Japanese sword. The sword, which after the Haitōrei (sword abolition edict) had often been regarded as "unnecessary for practical combat," was reappraised as a "spiritual symbol of bushidō" against the backdrop of the exploits of Nogi Maresuke and Tōgō Heihachirō and the Japanese military's victory in the Russo-Japanese War, and for officers' military swords, the practice of fitting a Japanese blade into a Western-style mounting became established.
March 4–20, 1877 (Meiji 10)
Fought over seventeen days from March 4 to 20, 1877 (Meiji 10), at Tabaruzaka in Higo Province (present-day Ueki-machi, Kita Ward, Kumamoto City, Kumamoto Prefecture), this was the largest and most costly engagement of the Satsuma Rebellion. Imperial government forces and the Satsuma army under Saigō Takamori fought a desperate struggle for control of Tabaruzaka, the strategic route by which reinforcements could reach besieged Kumamoto Castle. The government deployed the 'Battōtai' (drawn-sword corps)—swordsmen selected from the police force—to counter Satsuma close-combat tactics, an episode credited with reviving recognition of the Japanese sword's practical value after its decline under the Sword-Abolition Edict.
February 15 – September 24, 1877 (Meiji 10)
From February to September 1877, Saigō Takamori led Satsuma samurai in the final samurai rebellion against the Meiji government. Symbolizing the clash of sword and rifle, the siege of Shiroyama and Saigō's death became the iconic end of the samurai era, occurring just one year after the Haitōrei edict banning sword-wearing.