In the 1878 (Meiji 11) "Takebashi Incident," when some 260 soldiers of the Konoe Artillery 1st Battalion rebelled at the Takebashi barracks, the residence of Councilor Okuma Shigenobu (1838–1922)＝photo＝ in front of Shimizu Gate — 300 to 400 meters away in a straight line — came under shellfire, as we noted before. The direct trigger was dissatisfaction over rewards from the previous year's Satsuma Rebellion; Okuma, who had been stingy with those rewards, was targeted as the man responsible.
From Takebashi intersection toward Sendai-mae intersection, Kiji Bridge spans the moat almost immediately. Over 30 meters long today, in Edo times it was a small bridge in front of what is now Sophia University. On the Imperial Palace side before Shimizu moat, near today's car dealerships, stood Kijibashi Gate. Okuma's mansion occupied the whole stretch from there to near Shimizu Gate — now the Kudan Joint Government Building, Tokyo Legal Affairs Bureau, and Chiyoda Ward Office. Okuma lived here only about eight years from 1876 (Meiji 9) to 1884, but during that time, after going into opposition in 1881 (the Meiji 14 coup), he founded Tokyo Senmon Gakko (now Waseda University) in October 1882.
The estate later became the French legation, a gendarmerie drill ground, and more; in 1935 (Showa 10) national Takehei housing (gendarmerie barracks, later civil-service dormitories) was built. Demolished from 2001 (Heisei 13), a 23-story ward office was completed in 2007.
In our October 19 blog post on the Takebashi Incident, writer Sawachi Hisae wrote on the memorial to the rebel soldiers at Aoyama Cemetery that "aspirations linked to the Freedom and People's Rights Movement must have been a fire sustaining those soldiers." That those soldiers fired shells into the home of Okuma — a leading figure who founded the Constitutional Progressive Party — is a bitter twist of history.