Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 4.djvu/241

 retiring to an adjacent mountain, died by their own hands. Their example found imitators in two other places, and finally the Satsuma samurai rose in arms under Saigo.

This was an insurrection very different in dimensions and motives from the paltry outbreaks that had preceded it. During four years the preparations of the Satsuma men had been unremitting. They were well equipped with rifles and cannon; they numbered some thirty thousand, being thus nearly as numerous as the Government's standing army; they were all of the military class, and in addition to high training in Western tactics and in the use of modern arms of precision, they knew how to wield that formidable weapon, the Japanese sword, of which their opponents were for the most part ignorant. Ostensibly their object was to restore the samurai to their old supremacy, and to secure for them all the posts in the army, the navy, and the administration. But although they doubtless entertained that intention, it was put forward mainly with the hope of winning the coöperation of the military class in all parts of the Empire. The real purpose of the revolt was to secure the governing power for Satsuma. A bitter struggle ensued. Beginning on January 29, 1877, it was brought to a close on September 24 of the same year, by the death, voluntary or in battle, of all the rebel leaders. During that period the number of men engaged on the Government's side