Bombardment of Kagoshima
The Satsuma Domain was one of the most powerful and prominent of Japan's domains during the Edo period, conquering the Ryukyu Kingdom as a vassal state after the Invasion of Ryukyu in 1608, and conflicting with the British at the Bombardment of Kagoshima in 1863 after the Namamugi Incident. The Satsuma Domain formed the Satchō Alliance with the rival Chōshū Domain during the Meiji Restoration and became instrumental in the establishment of the Empire of Japan. The Kagoshima-han was dissolved in the abolition of "han" and establishment of "ken" in 1871 by the Meiji government when Kagoshima-han became Kagoshima-ken, with some parts of the domain separated as part of Miyakonojō Prefecture (, Miyakonojō-ken). The first prefectural governor of Kagoshima was Ōyama Tsunayoshi until 1877 when he was executed in the Satsuma Rebellion. Since the 1880s, the former territory of Kagoshima Domain is now part of Kagoshima and Miyazaki Prefecture which was ultimately split from Kagoshima in 1883.