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Rh The civil dissensions, however, continued; the great clan of Chōshiu became engaged in actual warfare against the Shōgun's troops in Kyōto and were proclaimed "rebels," against whom an Imperial army was despatched; the young Shōgun, Iyemochi, died and was succeeded by Keiki; and the Emperor Kōmei also died and was succeeded by his young son, Mutsuhito, the present Emperor. Finally, the new Shōgun, observing the drift of political affairs and the need of the times for a more centralized and unified administration, resigned his position; and the system of government was re-formed with the Emperor in direct control. The new Emperor declared in a manifesto: "Henceforward we shall exercise supreme authority, both in the internal and [the] external affairs of the country. Consequently the title of Emperor should be substituted for that of Tycoon [Shōgun], which has hitherto been employed in the treaties." Of this manifesto, one writer says: "Appended were the seal of Dai Nippon, and the signature, Mutsuhito, this being the first occasion in Japanese history on which the name of an Emperor had appeared during his lifetime."

But the effect of the reorganization of the government seemed to the adherents of the former Shōgun to work so much injustice to them that they rose in arms against the Sat-Chō [Satsuma-Chōshiu] combination which was then influential at court. This led, in 1867, to a civil war, which, after a severe