Boshin War Facts for Kids

Campaign map of the Boshin War (1868–69). The western lands of Satsuma, Chōshū and Tosa (in red) joined forces to defeat the Shogunate forces at Toba-Fushimi, and then progressively took control of the rest of Japan until the final stand-off in the northern island of Hokkaidō.

The Boshin War (戊辰戦争, Boshin Sensō, "War of the Year of the Yang Earth Dragon"), sometimes known as the Japanese Revolution, was a civil war in Japan, fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and those seeking the Meiji Restoration of political power to the Imperial Court.

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Guns of the Boshin War, from top to bottom: a Snider, a Starr, and an unknown musket
A British-made Minie Rifle use in the Boshin War
Mortar with shell, Boshin War (1868–1869), Japan
Scenes of the Battle of Toba–Fushimi. Shogunate forces are on the left, including battalions from Aizu. On the right are forces from Chōshū and Tosa. These are modernized battalions, but some of the forces were also traditional samurai (especially on the shogunate side).
Troops from Sendai, following their mobilization in April, joined a northern alliance against Imperial troops in May 1868.
Wooden cannons used by the Sendai fief during the Boshin War, Sendai City Museum
The Imperial Navy's French-built ironclad Kotetsu (the former CSS Stonewall)
The 16-year-old Emperor Meiji, moving from Kyoto to Tokyo, end of 1868
The teenaged Emperor Meiji with foreign representatives, 1868–1870
Reception by the Meiji Emperor of the second French military mission to Japan, 1872
A romanticized vision of the Battle of Hakodate (函館戦争の図), painted circa 1880. The cavalry charge, with a sinking sailship in the background, is led by the leaders of the rebellion in anachronistic samurai attire. French soldiers are shown behind the cavalry charge in white trousers. With a modern steam warship visible in the background, imperial troops with modern uniforms are on the right.

Boshin War facts for kids

Images for kids

See also