Imperial Household Department
Law and order broke down as the Tokugawa Shogunate came to an end. The Aomatsuba Incident took place in February 1868 (Keiō 4) in the Ninomaru Palace, and a stone memorial stele was erected in the 1926. After the end of the Shogunate, the Owari branch decided to submit to the emperor. In 1870 (Meiji 3), Tokugawa Yoshikatsu had parts of the castle demolished and donated the golden "shachi" to the Imperial Household Department. They were removed from the main keep in April 1871 (Meiji 4), transported by steamship from Atsuta port to Tokyo, and were taken to numerous locations in Japan as a traveling exhibition. The male "shachi" was displayed at the Yushima Seido Exposition in 1872 and the female at the 1873 Vienna World Exposition.