The "Takebashi Incident," set at the Imperial Guard barracks near Takebashi. On August 23, 1878 (Meiji 11), more than 260 soldiers of the 1st Battalion, Imperial Guard Artillery, rose in revolt—and Shibata Gorō＝photo top, then a cadet at the Army Officer School, left a vivid account. He is a fascinating figure in his own right.
"Gunfire rang incessantly; footsteps hurried past; voices cried that war had come. I... leapt up, changed into my officer-school uniform, and rushed out... I galloped straight up Kudanzaka. Bullets flew everywhere, striking the stone wall and scattering sparks—danger beyond measure..."
That passage comes from the long-selling Records of a Meiji Man—The Posthumous Writings of Shibata Gorō of Aizu (Ishimitsu Mahito, Chūkō Shinsho, 1971), compiled from Shibata's memoirs＝photo bottom.
Shibata concludes: "Whether the Satsuma Rebellion or this riot, both surely stem from the strain, friction, immaturity, and contradictions inherent in the Restoration."
Hearing that Shibata was born in 1860 to a family of Aizu domain samurai, the words make sense. When the Aizu forces—including the famed Byakkotai—were defeated by the Satsuma-Chōshū-led government army in the Boshin War, the boy Shibata was eight. His grandmother, mother, and sisters took their own lives; he and his father followed the lord's house into exile on the Shimokita Peninsula in conditions akin to penal transport, living in extreme poverty. Selected by the domain, he became a clerk at the Aomori prefectural office; at fifteen he entered the Army Cadet School and then the officer school, rising to Army general.
What made his name in history was the Boxer Rebellion (North China Incident) of 1900. When a revolt by a new religious movement broke out, military attachés and civilians from Japan, the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and other powers were besieged for two months in Beijing's legation quarter until relief forces arrived and occupied the city. Shibata, then military attaché (artillery lieutenant colonel), distinguished himself and later received heaps of decorations from various countries; his high standing with Britain is said to have helped pave the way for the Anglo-Japanese Alliance two years later.
Of course, this was on the eve of the Russo-Japanese War (1904), when the great powers did as they pleased with a weakened Qing China. After the Empress Dowager Cixi fled Beijing, Shibata is said to have seized large quantities of silver coin as spoils during the occupation—so from China's perspective he may have been an unwelcome "outsider," the very image of "Japanese imperialism." Yet he is also credited with strictly forbidding looting of civilians in areas under Japanese control and restoring order swiftly—the Aizu man's face shining through, one who had tasted the hardships of occupation himself.
Records of a Meiji Man records that during World War II Shibata told the author Ishimitsu, "We will lose this war." On September 15, 1945, immediately after defeat, the 85-year-old Shibata attempted suicide and died that December from the wound. As Ishimitsu analyzed, whether he could not bear the disgrace of defeat by his juniors is unclear—but he lived and died a soldier to the end.