Tenguto no Ran(Rebellion of Tenguto) (天狗党の乱)
Tenguto no Ran (Rebellion of Tenguto) was raising of an army at Mt. Tsukuba on May 2, 1864 by the radical party of Sonno Joi (19th century slogan advocating reverence for the Emperor and the expulsion of foreigners) including Koshiro FUJITA, a feudal retainer of Mito Domain and others, as well as the following related conflicts occurred all over the country (the main leader surrendered on January 14, 1865). People other than samurai and from other domains than the Mito Domain joined the Tenguto no Ran and political propaganda was carried out during marching.
Mitogaku (the scholarship and academic traditions that arose in the Mito Domain) and the principle of reverence for the Emperor.
Since the time the second lord of the Mito Domain Mitsukuni TOKUGAWA started compilation of Dainihonshi (Great history of Japan) in Shoko-kan (a place for compilation of history books) until when Kuniyuki TOKUGAWA, the grandson of the tenth lord Yoshiatsu TOKUGAWA, completed it in 1906, many feudal retainers of the domain were engaged in this project for generations.
As the compilation progressed, the system of thought came to be developed, which resulted in the formation of a school of learning called Mitogaku, and all the feudal retainers of Mito Domain were affected by the sonnoron (the thought respecting the Emperors) of the Mitogaku.
However, this thought focused on sonnno (reverence for the emperor) respected the Imperial Family more than the bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun). Therefore, this thought caused the bakufu to be suspicious about the Mito Domain, which resulted in the domain falling away from the center of the shogunate government.
Confrontation between factions
The activities on the Dainihonshi compilation project, which became diminished during the middle of the Edo period, were revived by Suiken TACHIHARA. A lot of disciples gathered to Tachihara, including Yukoku FUJITA, the son of Fujita-ya (second hand clothing store), who was allowed to become a disciple at the age of 10.
Yukoku showed his talent by submitting 'Seimeiron' upon request from the roju (senior councilor of the bakufu) Sadanobu MATSUDAIRA when he was 18. However, Tachihara made a break with Yukoku because they had different ideas about the compilation of Dainihonshi and Yukoku was dismissed since he submitted a written opinion sealed and presented to the lord of the Domain Harumori TOKUGAWA while he was suspended by Tachihara. The master and disciple were opposed to each other.
In 1797, the lord of the Domain Harumori decided to continue the compilation of Dainihonshi following Yukoku's idea, and Tachihara left the Shoko-kan. This caused the conflicts between the master and a disciple to develop into a battle between the factions.
Subsequently, Tachihara's faction (conservatives) and Fujita's faction (reformers) kept having political conflict with each other. Toko FUJITA, who took over the reformers, made an effort to make up the relationship between the conflicting factions. However, when Toko was killed by the Ansei Great Earthquakes in 1855, the dispute, without a mediator, quickly became mired in a mess. It evolved into a purge of blood.
Because of these disputes, both factions lost their talented persons who could lead each faction, and they lost the power to resolve the issues and reconcile with each other.
From the reformers to extremists
The Emperor Komei, who got furious about the bakufu which signed the Treaty of amity and commerce between the United states and Japan by ignoring the Emperor's intention, joined the plan of the Mito Domain, which was trying to regain power in the shogunate government. On September 14, 1858, the Emperor took an extraordinary action of giving a chokusho (official document issued by Emperor) directly to the Mito Domain (for details, refer to the section 'Bogo no micchoku' ［a secret imperial decree］).
The main group of the bakufu (which included Tairo ［chief minister］ Naosuke II), thought the secret Imperial command was actually regarding the plan of overthrowing the Shogunate, and ordered the Mito Domain to submit the chokusho to the bakufu. Meanwhile, the main group of the bakufu also put more oppression to the persons who took part in the Hitotsubashi group (group supporting Yoshinobu from the Hitotsubashi-Tokugawa family) in which the Mito Domain was playing the central role regarding the problem of a successor of the Seii Taishogun Iesada TOKUGAWA (Ansei no Taigoku ［suppression of extremists by the Shogunate］).
Regarding the order by the bakufu to submit the chokusho, there arose a conflict within the Mito Domain between the conservatives (which was formed by the people in the previous conservatives), which wanted to submit the chokusho, and the extremists (which was formed by the people in the previous reformers), which did not want to submit it. Following the order by the Imperial Court to return the chokusho in the next year, finally the opinion of the domain people was consolidated and the domain decided to return the chokusho directly to the Imperial Court.
Since the domain decided to return the chokusho, the stronger oppression was put on the extremists. Some of the extremists thought that the conservatives may secretly give the chokusho to the bakufu, and tried to leave the domain and resort to violence to stop it.
The roshi (masterless samurai) of the Mito Domain such as Taichiro TAKAHASHI gathered at Nagaoka (present Ibaraki machi, Higashiibaraki-gun, Ibaraki Prefecture) and several hundreds of comrades and farmers joined them. They conducted inspections at Nagaoka-shuku Station holding a sign which said "Dainihon shidai shiko kusunoki-kou shokon hyo" and tried to stop the chokusho to be brought in Edo.
This action, which is later called 'Nagaoka tonshu,' had certain effect to warn against the conservatives. However, it also put the extremists who remained in the Mito Domain at further risk. The former lord of domain Nariaki TOKUGAWA, who was under house arrest, persuaded them that stopping the return of the chokusho is against the Emperor's will, and so the core members escaped to Edo and the group broke up.
The Mito roshi, who escaped to Edo, joined a few days later the feudal retainer of Satsuma and they killed Naosuke II (the Sakuradamongai Incident). When Nariaki died on September 29, 1860, their actions became more radical. Two weeks later on October 11, 37 roshi, including Hyakutaro TAKEUCHI, rushed to the residence of Satsuma Domain in Edo (Shiba) and submitted a written opinion stating that they will lead the vanguard of the expulsion of foreigners.
Following this incident, they brought on Tamatsukuri-sei disturbance, attack on the British provisional legation, and Sakashita mongai Incident
Raising an army
In the spring of 1862, Yoshinobu TOKUGAWA and Shungaku MATSUDAIRA returned to the shogunate government due to political tactics of Hisamitsu SHIMAZU, and Shungaku said 'Shogun Iemochi TOKUGAWA should go to Kyoto and apologize for his misgovernment to the Emperor.'
Also, the imperial messenger visited twice the Shogun and it was unavoidable for the bakufu to promise to execute the imperial order (abrogation of the treaty and expulsion of foreigners).
Prior to the Shogun's visit to Kyoto, Yoshinobu, who was in the position of guardian, was supposed to go to Kyoto first. However, Yoshinobu only had vassals provided by the bakufu and did not have any trusted retainers. Then, Yoshinobu ordered the Mito Domain, which was his family home, to accompany him to Kyoto.
On February 3, 1863 Yoshinobu HITOTSUBASHI left Edo. On February 12 (9 days later), the lord of the Mito Domain Yoshiatsu TOKUGAWA and his followers followed Yoshinobu and left Edo. The followers included Kounsai TAKEDA, Hyobu YAMAGUNI, and Koshiro FUJITA, all of whom later led a disturbance.
In Kyoto, they came to have a firmer conviction of Sonno Joi as they exchanged opinions with other patriots such as feudal retainer of Choshu Domain Kogoro KATSURA and Genzui KUSAKA.
Furthermore, Fujita, together with the Choshu Domain, planned to force the bakufu to conduct the expulsion of foreigners by raising armies in Kyoto and Edo at the same time, but Kounsai persuaded them not to execute this since the timing was not right, and it ended up in failure.
On the other hand, Yoshinobu already realized that the expulsion of foreigners cannot be achieved. However, if he didn't do anything by the time the Shogun arrived at Kyoto, the Shogun would not be able to escape criticism. Then, he planned to make an excuse for not being able to execute it by setting the deadline of the expulsion of foreigners only one month after the Shogun's return to Edo. However, it later caused the extremists to express their dissatisfaction.
Although the bakufu got some time until the expulsion of foreigners due to the Coup of August 18, the Emperor's will for the expulsion of foreigners was firm. An demand notice to exclude foreign ships from the Yokohama port was made to Yoshinobu on October 13, and the same was made to the chief roju Tadashige Sakai who visited the Imperial Court on October 26. This was the end of the bakufu's effort to postpone the expulsion of foreigners, and the bakufu began the negotiation to exclude foreign ships from the Yokohama port on October 26. Since the bakufu had already notified the counterpart of the negotiation, the envoys of the U.S. and the Netherland, that 'the bakufu was doing the negotiation being forced by the Imperial Court,' the negotiation proceeded smoothly.
Since the exclusion of foreign ships from the Yokohama port was rejected by the U.S. and the Netherland, the bakufu tried to have a conference with the envoys of the U.S., Britain, France and Russia to persuade them to cooperate on October 31. However, they rejected to attend the conference.
Although the bakufu cleverly succeeded to delay the execution of the expulsion of foreigners, partly thanks to the maneuver by Katamori MATSUDAIRA against the Imperial Court, the dissatisfaction of the Joi-ha (supporters of expulsion of the foreigners) further mounted up.
Koshiro FUJITA and others who thought that bakufu would do nothing regarding the order to close the Yokohama port and order regarding the defense navy issued by the Imperial Court on March 26, 1864, and they decided to raise an army themselves to lead an attack to execute the expulsion of foreigners. They went around the northern Kanto area to gather followers and money.
On May 2, 1864, they finally raised an army with the 62 followers who gathered at the Mt. Tsukuba. Since Fujita was as young as 23 years old, they held the Mito machi-bugyo (town magistrate) Inanoemon TAMARU, who was understanding toward their activities, as the shusho (commander-in-chief).
When the superintendent officer of the Mito Domain Hyobu YAMAGUNI heard that Koshiro raised an army and that his younger brother Inanoemon TAMARU was made as the shusho, he went to see them by the order of the lord of the domain Yoshiatsu to talk them out of it. However, Hyobu was persuaded to join them instead. It is said that Hyobu was 71 years of age then and the youth of Koshiro, who was 23, pressured him to join them.
After raising the army, roshi, citizens and peasants joined them from around the country. The army gathered around 150 people in a few days, and even 1,000 people gathered when at peak.
The origin of the name of 'Tenguto'
There are two theories about the origin of the name of 'Tenguto.'
Among the conservatives, there were many high-ranking samurai who succeeded the family of pedigree for generations. On the other hand, there were a lot of lower-ranking samurai among the reformers.
One theory says that the conservatives scornfully called the reformers Tengu because 'parvenus got carried away and became like a Tengu.'
The other theory says that reformers called themselves as Tengu because they were setting the world aright.
Denunciation carried out by conservatives
Tenguto, who were referred to as "tsukubazei" or "波山勢" because they raised the army on the Mt. Tsukuba, was joined by citizens, peasants and Shinto priests, in addition to roshi and feudal retainers of domain who were solicited by Koshiro FUJITA.
On May 8, 1864, they moved to Nikko in the Shimotsuke Province (Nikko City, Tochigi Prefecture) and attempted to pay a visit to The Nikko Tosho-gu shrine, but Nikko magistrate stopped them and so only a few of them paid a visit to the shrine.
Tenguto then left Nikko and headed to the Hitachi Province. Then they heard that Sanzaemon ICHIKAWA (the conservative) founded shoseito with the anti-Fujita parties of the Kodokan school in the Mito domain and that they began to exclude the extremists, so they headed back to the Mt. Tsukuba.
On their way, Genzo TANAKA organized other groups of army and sent them to Tochigi and Manabe with the aim of raising funds but resulted in vain.
Because those groups set fire to the towns that refused to provide funds, since then Tenguto came to be recognized as 'violent crowd.'
Bakufu issued an order to track down and kill Tenguto, and ordered domains in Hitachi and Shimotsuke Province to dispatch troops. In response to these orders, the Mito Domain organized an army to search out and kill Tenguto with Ichikawa and others playing important roles, and on August 8, 1864, a battle between the allied force of domains versus Tenguto began.
The allied force was attacked at night by Tenguto at the Taho-in Temple around Shimotsuma area and lost. Ichikawa and others ran back to the Mito domain and occupied the Mito-jo Castle. Then they avenged Tenguto by setting fire to the residence of the family members of Tenguto, imprisoning the family member (a theory says they even shot them dead).
Those patriots gathered under the emblem on flag of Sonnno Joi when the army was raised, but they, even Fujita and other core members, could not help feeling disturbed about their family being abused. As the goal of Tenguto gradually came to be the conflicts within the Mito Domain, the royalists from other domains began to left and resulted in 500 people in total leaving Tenguto. They at first stayed around the Mt. Tsukuba, but later headed to Edo in order to exclude the foreign ships from the Yokohama Port. However, they were surrounded by the army of bakufu, fought against the army and lost.
(Other groups of army organized by Genzo TANAKA later reached the Mt. Yamizo and broke up, and most of them were arrested and executed.)
The main body of Tenguto with the feudal retainers of Mito Domain playing central roles went to the Mito-jo Castle, fought against Ichikawa and his group. However, they lost again there and moved back near to Nakaminato.
Meanwhile, the lord of the Shishido Domain Yorinori MATSUDAIRA was ordered by the bakufu and went to Mito to suppress the domestic conflict on behalf of the lord of the Mito Domain Yoshiatsu TOKUGAWA who was staying in Kyoto, but the core members of the extremists, including Kounsai TAKEDA, joined him and many of the samurai of the sonjo party also accompanied him, so Ichikawa and others prepared to fight against them and refused to let them go into the castle. Although Yorinori negotiated with Ichikawa to go into the castle, they ended up going into a battle in the suburbs of Mito. Yorinori reluctantly backed down and occupied Nakaminato, which was near Mito, to line up. When occupying Nakaminato, a group of Tenguto came and helped Yorinori. Yorinori moved to Shinseikan, in the castle town of Mito-jo Castle, and tried again and negotiated with Ichikawa but he refused Yorinori to come into the castle, and the battle went worse. Yorinori and his force fought well but again retreated to Nakaminato considering the recruital and end of the battle. Yorinori, backed up by Tenguto, came to be considered as a part of Tenguto by the bakufu partly due to maneuvers by Ichikawa. Yorinori and his force became the subject of suppression. Tenguto, which was getting surrounded by the punitive force of the bakufu, went to Nakaminato to join Yorinori and others. Yorinori and his party at first hesitated to act together with the Tenguto, which was considered to be violent crowd. However, by this time many of the party member came to agree with the thoughts of Tenguto and Yorinori, who was on the backfoot, decided to join Tenguto and fight together against Ichikawa. Because Yorinori joined Tenguto, Kounsai TAKEDA, who was originally against Tenguto's raising army, started acting with them.
Pursuit by the bakufu
Shoseito, including Ichikawa, lost once and asked the bakufu to support them, and they surround the Nakaminato. The bakufu sent troops with Okitaka TANUMA as a commander in chief. Shoseito and the troops of the bakufu surround Nakaminato.
On November 4, Yorinori MATSUDAIRA was lured by the bakufu and moved to the castle town of the Mito-jo Castle hoping 'to tell the bakufu their true intentions,' and committed Seppuku (suicide by disembowelment). More than 1,000 people, including the vassals of Yorinori, surrendered and were temporary placed in the Sakura Domain and the Koga Domain later. Tenguto fell into confusion, but more than 1,000 members managed to escape and gathered at Daigo-village (Daigo-machi, Ibaraki Prefecture) in the northern part of the Mito Domain. At the meeting held then, Kounsai TAKEDA became the supreme commander of them. They decided to run away from the bakufu's pursuers, go to Kyoto, and through Yoshinobu HITOTSUBASHI, appeal the Imperial Court their wish of Sonno Joi. Tenguto, which regretted about setting fire to the town and causing opposition by the people, set internal rules and banned looting and killing. Since these internal rules were observed during their way to Kyoto, people of the domains they passed by felt relieved and more than a few of the towns actually welcomed them nicely. The fact that Tenguto paid necessary expenses at post stations and observed rules was described in "Yoake-mae" (Before the Dawn), a representative work by Toson SHIMAZAKI.
Tenguto had Kounsai TAKEDA as supreme commander, Hyobu YAMAGUNI as military advisor, Inanoemon TAMARU at headquarters of army, Koshiro FUJITA and Hyakutaro TAKEUCHI as assistants, and organized 天勇隊, 虎勇隊, 竜勇隊, 正武隊, 義勇隊 and Kiheitai Army. On November 29, they left Daigo and advanced through Nakasen-do Road, by passing by the Shimotsuke Province, Kozuke Province, Shinano Province and Mino Province for approximately 2 months, to Kyoto.
As a matter of course, domains were ordered by the bakufu to track down and kill Tenguto. However, Tenguto was an experienced army and one theory even says that they had dozens of cannons. Also, Tenguto passed through small domains and the domains were too scared to track down Tenguto, so they just watched Tenguto and the bakufu troops passing by. Among those domains, some secretly negotiated with Tenguto and donated military fund in return for avoiding passing through the castle town.
However, this does not mean there was no battle. On November 16, 1864, Tenguto had a battle against the army of the Takasaki Domain at Shimonita, Joshu. The fierce battle resulted in four deaths of Tenguto members and 36 deaths of the army of Takasaki Domain, which withdrawn (the battle of Shimonita). On November 19, Tenguto entered into a battle against the allied forces of Takashima Domain and Matsumoto Domain at Wada-toge, which was near the Lake Suwa in Shinshu. Both Tenguto and the allied forces had about ten people dead each, but Tenguto won the battle (the battle of Wada-toge). At that time, a member of Tenguto 不動院全海, a Buddhist monk in Hitachikuji, who was called 'Imabenkei' for his strength, was killed in the battle. Yosaburo KITAZAWA, a feudal retainer of Takashima Domain, who wanted to have his strength, took a part of his flesh home, marinated it with miso, then grilled and ate it.
The fact that Tenguto won the battle against Takasaki Domain and other domains raised the military fame of Tenguto and increased the number of domains avoiding to enter into a battle against Tenguto. The army of bakufu which was pursuing Tenguto just followed them while keeping certain distance from them and did not easily start the battle.
Tenguto members moved through Nakasen-do Road and arrived around Unumajuku, Mino Province. Then, a large allied force of Hikone Domain, Ogaki Domain, Kuwana Domain, Owari Domain and Inuyama Domain lined up there and was waiting for Tenguto. Tenguto judged that it was difficult to win a battle against the punitive force and arrive at Kyoto through Nakasen-do Road, and they circumnavigated to the north and proceeded.
Yoshinobu HITOTSUBASHI from the Mito Domain tried to end the affairs and offered the Imperial Court that he himself would track down and kill Tenguto. Yoshinobu, accompanied by the forces of Kaga Domain and Aizu Domain went to hunt Tenguto. In addition to Yoshinobu, the punitive force of Tenguto lined up a larger and stronger army against Tenguto. Tenguto arrived at Ibijuku and judged that it was not possible to go through the lakeside of the Lake Biwa to get to Kyoto. They decided to take a detour and go through the Haeboshi-toge to enter the Echizen Province and head to Kyoto. It was already in December and really cold, and it was feared that they may not be able to go over the hill which was steep and had a lot of snow; however, they made it to Echizen.
Surrender
On January 8, 1865, Tenguto arrived at their final place, Shinbo, Echizen Province (Tsuruga City, Fukui Prefecture). The punitive force of the bakufu had guessed where Tenguto was heading, and was getting ready to surround them. Tenguto had believed that Yoshiatsu TOKUGAWA and Yoshinobu TOKUGAWA would listen to them and tell their vision to the Imperial Court. However, when they learned that the army of bakufu from Kyoto was led by Yoshinobu TOKUGAWA and their petition was not accepted, they realized that their wish will never come true.
The supervisor of the army of the Kaga Domain Jinshichiro NAGAHARA and others who were at the front-line against Tenguto sympathized Tenguto members who were trying to plead without resisting, and recommended Kounsai TAKEDA and others to surrender. As a result of the negotiation, on January 14, 1865, Kounsai TAKEDA and other core member of Tenguto decided that it is meaningless to try to move further. Some members of Tenguto insisted to enter into a battle, but it was turned down and Tenguto surrendered to the Kaga Domain. Tenguto disarmed and the disturbance was completely suppressed.
At first, the Kaga Domain was impressed by the pro-Imperial thoughts of Tenguto and welcomed them nicely. However, when the army of bakufu led by Okitaka TANUMA arrived at Tsuruga, they took a strong line to handle the post war situation. They arrested the Tenguto members and imprisoned in nishin-gura Storehouse.
The core members including Fujita were just imprisoned in the storehouse, but others were tightly shackled and confined.
Many of the members were confined in a small nishin-gura Storehouse and were provided only with one rice ball and a cup of water per day. In extremely cold weather and in a nishin-gura Storehouse filled with the smell of the toilet and rotten fish, many fell sick. It is said that more than 20 people died of illness.
The Kaga Domain submitted a petition to the bakufu and pleaded to give them generous punishment and save their lives since Tenguto acted the way they did by their pro-Imperial thoughts. However, bakufu wanted to prevent people from sympathizing Tenguto and the extremists from raising an army again, and decided to execute them all.
On March 1, Kounsai TAKEDA and other core members were beheaded in the precincts of the Raiko-ji Temple first and a total of 353 members were beheaded by March 20. Others were either exiled to a remote island or expelled.
Kinjiro TAKEDA and 110 other members who were determined to be exiled to a remote island were taken to the Obama Domain and suspended. The Obama Domain treated them as associate feudal lord of domain, built a residence for them in Sagaki (Sagaki, Mihama-cho, Fukui Prefecture) and treated them well. In 1868, they were ordered by the Imperial Court to go back to the Mito Domain and left Sagaki.
Travel
On November 1st, 1864 left Daigo - 3rd in Kawahara - 4th in Koebori - 5th Yaita - 6th Kobayashi - 7th Kanuma - 8th Ogaki - 9th Kuzu - 10th Yanada - 11th and 12th Ota - 13th Honjo - 14th Yoshii - 15th Shimonita - 16th Honjuku - 17th Hiraga - 18th Mochizuki - 19th Wada - 20th Shimosuwa - 21st Matsushima - 22nd Kamiho - 23rd Katagiri - 24th Komaba - 25th Seinaiji - 26th Magome - 27th Oi - 28th Mitake - 29th Unuma - 30th Tennno - December 1st Ibi - 2nd Hinata - 3rd Nagamine - 4th Ogawahara - 5th 秋生 - 6th Nakajima - 7th Hokeiji - 8th Yabuta - 9th and 10th Imajo - 11th Shinbo
Decision regarding main leaders
Described in the order of name, date of execution (old lunar calendar), and death haiku.
Beheaded and the severed head was exposed in Mito
The severed head was salt-preserved and sent to Mito. For three days from April 20, the severed head was taken around the castle town of the Mito-jo Castle. Then exposed at Nakaminato, and then discarded.
After the rebellion
When the rebellion was suppressed, the Mito Domain with shoseito playing the central role executed the family member of the people who joined the Tenguto no Ran, including the wife and children of Kounsai TAKEDA. However, some of the Tenguto members who obtained absolution hid in Kyoto while being supported by the Choshu Domain, and called themselves as Honkokujito and acted with the aim of regaining power.
Meanwhile, when the Boshin War was started against the Mito Domain, which became a complete Sabaku-ha (supporters of the Shogun) due to the actions of the conservatives, the Imperial Court ordered to hunt down and kill shoseito. This led to the remnants of Tenguto, including Honkokujito members, went back to the Mito Domain.
The remnants of Tenguto took advantage of the opportunity, regained power and severely clamped down shoseito.
Shoseito members, including Sanzaemon ICHIKAWA, left the Mito Domain and moved from place to place to fight and joined the Hokuetsu War and the Aizu War. Sometimes they fought well against the new government army. However, when the new government army won and the battles in the Tohoku region calmed down, the shoseito members who had left the Mito Domain went back to the Mito Domain, which was governed by the Tenguto, and attacked the Mito-jo Castle (the battle of Kodokan school). However, the Mito-jo Castle withstood the attack by shoseito and shoseito which struggled to attack the castle left the Mito Domain again. They kept fighting against the new government army and the army of the Mito Domain, but lost in the battle in Yokaichiba, Shimousa Province (the battle of Matsuyama). Many of the shoseito members, including Ichikawa, were executed. The real power of the Domain was controlled by Tenguto members such as Kinjiro TAKEDA, and they oppressed shoseito even harder. Appalling revenges and lynches were done not only among the feudal retainers of the domain but also among peasants and citizens.
These repetitive internal conflicts resulted in blood and talents' disappearance. The Mito Domain, which once played an important role during the upturn of the end of the Edo period, no longer had any talented person and could not produce any senior officials in the Meiji Government.
Episode and others
Although these facts are behind the conflict of ideology and political battle in the Mito Domain, the facts that many people, including samurai and others, joined Tenguto from other domains than Mito and that political campaign was conducted during the march should be noted because it was possible that their awareness and thoughts might have changed from the early stage of the rebellion through the march in the terrible conditions. Futaro YAMADA compares Tenguto no Ran with the 'Chosei' of Zedong MAO, which is very interesting.
Hyobu YAMAGUNI left a death haiku which was brilliant among other dark haiku. Also, Yae (beheaded by shoseito), the second daughter of Hyobu's younger brother Inanoemon TAMARU, left a death haiku which cannot be believed to have been written by a 17-year-old.
Being dragged to a death road, the path to the journey is in full bloom
An old man in the Tsuruga City once (maybe during the war) told someone close to him that the legs of Tenguto members who were to be executed were tied with a bamboo in order to prevent them from running away. The execution was made public and he went to see it.
Regarding the purge and confusion in the Mito Domain after the Tenguto no Ran until the 'battle of Kodokan school' are detained in "Oboegaki Bakumatsu no Mito Han" (Memorandum - The Mito Domain during the end of Edo period).
In some places in the Ibaraki Prefecture, including Mito, call internal conflict 'Tengu.'
Due to the connection they had during the Tenguto no Ran, the Mito City and Tsuruga City are sister cities.
As described above, the Mito Domain did not produce any important official in the new government in the early Meiji period. Some became government employee from the Mito Domain, but most of them were lower class policemen.
The rebellion is sometimes called 'Genji Kasshi no Hen' (Conspiracy of Genji Kasshi).
Memorial monuments, etc.
In 1874, the Matsubara-jinja Shrine (Tsuruga City) was founded in Matsushima-cho, Tsuruga City to mourn the soul of Tenguto members including Kounsai TAKEDA, and reisai (regular festival) is held on October 10 every year.
In 1954, the nishin-gura Storehouse, in which the Tenguto members were imprisoned, was moved to the precincts of a shrine and now it is a memorial museum for the patriots of the Mito Domain, called 'kaitenkan.'
In Matsushima City, 'memorial monument for the patriots of the Mito Domain' and a statue of Kounsai TAKEDA are built.
In 1969, Kaiten-jinja Shrine was built which mourns the soul of Tenguto members in Matsumoto-cho, Mito City. The nishin-gura Storehouse, which was moved from the Tsuruga City to the Tokiwa jinja Shrine in Tokiwa-cho, Mito City in 1957, was again moved to the precincts of the Kaiten-jinja Shrine in 1989. In the nishin-gura Storehouse, which is called 'Kaiten-kan,' materials related to Tenguto are displayed and the last writing of the Tenguto members still remains on the door and the wall.
At the remained site of the Mito Akanuma-ro prison where the family members of Tenguto were executed, a memorial monument is built.
In Shimonita-machi, Kanra-gun, Gunma Prefecture, 'Shimonita old battlefield monument' is established in the Shimonita-machi Furusato Center (Folk Heritage Museum), 'Giretsu senshu no hi' and 'Ishin no so hi' in the Yamagiwainari-jinja shrine (Yamagiwa park), graves of Tenguto members and feudal retainers of Takasaki Domain in Honsei-ji Temple, and 'monument for the dead samurai of the Takasaki Domain' (the letters were written with a brush by Kaishu KATSU) in Shimoosaka, Shimonita-machi.
Around the old battlefield of Wada-toge in the Shimosuwa Town, Suwa District, Nagano Prefecture, there is a 'ronin-zuka' for the souls of the dead Tenguto members.
There is a monument in Tanagura-machi, Higashishirakawa-gun, Fukushima Prefecture for the members of Tenguto who lost at Mt. Yamizo.
In Nasu-machi, Tochigi Prefecture, there is 'a grave of 14 vagrants' Tenguto members who lost at Mt. Yamizo and then executed.
In Chiaraijima, Fukaya City, Saitama Prefecture, there is a monument for Tenguto.
In Hitachinaka City, Ibaraki Prefecture, there is 'Tenguto Hyakuiroyama Senjo Kuyohi' (monument for Tenguto at the battle place of Hyakuiroyama).
In Kashima City, Ibaraki Prefecture, there is a 'grave of Tenguto' for the 23 members of Tenguto who belonged to a troop called Ohira-gumi Group and were executed.
In Kasama City, Ibaraki Prefecture, there is a Kubizuka (tomb of the head) for Tenguto members.
In Namegata City, Ibaraki Prefecture, there is a 'Tenguzuka' for the repose of Tenguto members who were executed by the Aso Domain; there is also a chukonhi (monument for loyal souls) for Tenguto members in the precincts of the Omiya-jinja Shrine.
At the Tsukubasan-jinja Shrine in Tsukuba City, Ibaraki Prefecture, there is a statue of Koshiro FUJITA.