About This Print

The Satsuma Rebellion began in late January 1877¹.  Nine months later the rebellion had been crushed and its leader, Saigō Takamori, was dead by his own hand after being trapped by government troops and mortally wounded.

This triptych, issued in March 1878, almost six months after the end of the rebellion, depicts the rebels under the leadership of Kirino Toshiaki being attacked by government police and soldiers in a Miyazaki brothel during the final days of the rebellion. According to published accounts, after government offensives drove the rebels out of Satsuma and Higo provinces, the rebels retreated into Hiuga, eventually retreating "in small bodies to Takaoka, Miyazaki and Sadoware" with the government in hot pursuit.²  A report of July 14, 1877 in the English language Japan Weekly Mail stated "It is now pretty clear that Saigo is at Takahara in Bungo, while Kirino and Kishima are at Miyazaki in Hiuga, making every preparation for a desperate defence."³  In early August, Miyazaki fell to government forces and while Saigō evaded government forces for a few more weeks, he was to meet his fate on September 24, 1877 after government troops assaulted his final stronghold at Shiroyama. 

The events surrounding this pictured engagement are likely detailed in the print's scroll, shown in detail below.  While there is at least one other print depicting this engagement at a brothel in Miyazaki, I haven't come across any English language accounts of the action in and around Miyazaki that mention the rebels being attacked at a brothel.