Editing Shogun (section)

====The Bakumatsu era and the end of the shogunate and the warrior class====
{{Further|Bakumatsu}}
[[File:1867 Osaka Yoshinobu Tokugawa.jpg|thumb|[[Tokugawa Yoshinobu]], the last shogun]]
The beginning of the [[Bakumatsu era]] at the end of the Edo period is the subject of various theories, and can be dated to the 1820s and 1830s, when the shogunate's rule became unstable, or to the [[Tenpō Reforms]] of 1841–1843, or to [[Matthew C. Perry]]'s arrival in Japan in 1853 and his call for the opening of the country. On the other hand, the end point is clear, when the 15th Shogun, [[Tokugawa Yoshinobu]], returned the authority to govern Japan to [[Emperor Meiji]].<ref name="bakumatsu">{{cite web|url=https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%B9%95%E6%9C%AB-600514|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240318134547/https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%B9%95%E6%9C%AB-600514|script-title=ja:幕末|language=ja|publisher=Kotobank|date=|archive-date=18 March 2024|access-date=18 March 2024}}</ref>

During this period, the shogunate, the imperial court, the various {{nihongo3|[[Han system|daimyo domains]]|藩|han}}, and the samurai were deeply divided into two factions: the {{nihongo|Nanki faction|南紀派|}}, which favored the shogunate's leadership in dealing with domestic and foreign crises, and the {{nihongo|Hitotsubashi faction|一橋派|}}, which recommended that the shogunate form a coalition with the powerful ''han'' (daimyo domain) and the imperial court. The Nanki faction favored [[Tokugawa Iemochi]] as the successor to the 13th shogun, [[Tokugawa Iesada]], while the Hitotsubashi favored [[Tokugawa Yoshinobu]]. When the shogunate concluded the [[Convention of Kanagawa]] in 1854 and the [[Treaty of Amity and Commerce (United States–Japan)|Treaty of Amity and Commerce]] in 1858, the Hitotsubashi faction opposed these treaties, but the shogunate captured and executed them in the [[Ansei Purge]]. In retaliation, Hitotsubashi samurai assassinated [[Ii Naosuke]], the {{nihongo3|Great Elder|大老|[[tairō]]}} in the [[Sakuradamon Incident (1860)|Sakuradamon Incident]]. To win over the Hitotsubashi faction, the shogunate advocated a {{nihongo3|Union of the Imperial Court and the Shogunate|公武合体|[[Kōbu gattai]]}} and welcomed [[Kazunomiya]], the younger sister of [[Emperor Komei]], as the wife of the 14th shogun, Tokugawa Iemochi, but the Hitotsubashi faction condemned this political marriage.<ref name="bakumatsu"/><ref name="nhkbaku">{{cite web|url=https://www.nhk.or.jp/kokokoza/nihonshi/contents/resume/resume_0000000604.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240319045445/https://www.nhk.or.jp/kokokoza/nihonshi/contents/resume/resume_0000000604.html|script-title=ja:第27回 幕府の滅亡|language=ja|publisher=[[NHK]]|date=|archive-date=19 March 2024|access-date=19 March 2024}}</ref>

The [[Chōshū Domain]] was the most radical, advocating the overthrow of the shogunate, emperor-centered politics, and the defeat of foreign powers. They expanded their political power through exchanges with [[Sanjo Sanetomi]] and others in the imperial court who shared their ideology. In response, the [[Satsuma Domain|Satsuma]] and [[Aizu domain]]s and some aristocrats who supported the ''Kōbu gattai'' expelled Sanjo Sanetomi and the Chōshū Domain from Kyoto in a political uprising on August 18 of the lunar calendar in 1863. In 1864, some forces of the Chōshū Domain marched toward Kyoto in the [[Kinmon incident]], but the combined forces of the shogunate, the Satsuma Domain, and the Aizu Domain defeated the Chōshū Domain. In 1864, the Shogunate sent a large force against the rebellious Chōshū Domain in the [[First Chōshū expedition]]. The Shogunate won the war without a fight, as the leaders of the Chōshū Domain committed [[seppuku]]. Meanwhile, the Chōshū Domain was defeated by foreign allied forces in the [[Shimonoseki campaign]], and the Satsuma Domain engaged the British forces in the [[Bombardment of Kagoshima]]. Both domains realized that Japan was militarily behind the Western powers, and they promoted reforms within their domains while strengthening their will to overthrow the shogunate.<ref name="bakumatsu"/><ref name="nhkbaku"/>

In 1866, [[Sakamoto Ryōma]] brokered a dramatic reconciliation between the previously hostile Chōshū and Satsuma domains, and the Chōshū and Satsuma domains formed the [[Satchō Alliance]]. In 1866, the shogunate launched the [[Second Chōshū expedition]], but was defeated by the Chōshū Domain, severely damaging the shogunate's prestige. The Satsuma Domain refused the shogunate's order to go to war. In 1867, the 15th shogun, [[Tokugawa Yoshinobu]], finally returned power to [[Emperor Meiji]], ending the Edo period and 700 years of shogunate rule over Japan.<ref name="bakumatsu"/><ref name="nhkbaku"/><ref name="worldbook-Japan">{{cite encyclopedia |year=1992 |title=Japan |encyclopedia=The World Book Encyclopedia |publisher=World Book |isbn=0-7166-0092-7 |pages=34–59}}</ref>

From 1868 to 1869, the imperial forces, led by the Chōshū and Satsuma domains, and the former shogunate forces, led by the Aizu Domain, fought the [[Boshin War]], which the imperial forces won. With this war, the domestic pacification of the imperial forces was nearly complete, and with the [[Meiji Restoration]], Japan began to rapidly modernize and emerge as an international military and economic power. The rapid modernization of Japan during the [[Meiji era]] (1868–1912) was aided by the fact that, under the rule of successive Tokugawa shoguns, many Japanese were educated in {{nihongo3|private elementary schools|寺子屋|[[terakoya]]}} and had a thriving publishing culture.<ref name="nhkbaku"/><ref name="nip080819">{{cite web|url=https://www.nippon.com/ja/japan-topics/b06904/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221121165510/https://www.nippon.com/ja/japan-topics/b06904/|script-title=ja:明治日本の産業革命|language=ja|publisher=nippon.com|date=6 August 2019|archive-date=21 November 2022|access-date=19 March 2024}}</ref>

The [[Satsuma Rebellion]] of 1877 was the last battle between the imperial forces and the disenfranchised ex-samurai and the last civil war in Japan. As a result of this war, the warrior class ended its history.<ref name="seinan">{{cite web|url=https://bookwalker.jp/series/160393/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210419002253/https://bookwalker.jp/series/160393/|script-title=ja:西南戦争 西郷隆盛と日本最後の内戦|language=ja|publisher=Chuko Shinsyo|date=|archive-date=19 April 2021|access-date=19 March 2024}}</ref>

The Honjō Masamune was inherited by successive shoguns and it represented the Tokugawa shogunate.<ref name=MasaHist>http://internal.tbi.net/~max/ff9ref2.htm History of Masamune by Jim Kurrasch {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070428153827/http://internal.tbi.net/~max/ff9ref2.htm |date=April 28, 2007 }}</ref> It was crafted by swordsmith [[Masamune]] (1264–1343) and recognized as one of the finest [[Japanese swords]] in history. After World War 2, in December 1945, [[Tokugawa Iemasa]] gave the sword to a police station at [[Mejiro, Tokyo|Mejiro]] and it went missing.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mystery of The Enigmatic Honjo Masamune Sword |url=https://www.swordsofnorthshire.com/blog/mystery-of-the-enigmatic-hanjo-masamune-sword |access-date=2023-05-01 |website=www.swordsofnorthshire.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Schoppert |first=Stephanie |date=2017-03-14 |title=This Japanese Relic Disappeared After WWII and Has Never Been Found |url=https://historycollection.com/one-japans-prized-possessions-went-missing-wwii-never-found/ |access-date=2023-05-01 |website=History Collection |language=en-US}}</ref>