Matsumoto Castle
Early on the morning of October 14, Tada Kasuke and Oana Zembei, along with their followers, went to the magistrate’s office outside Matsumoto Castle, and handed in the letter of appeal. What they had not expected was that a huge crowd of farmers would gather and intimidate the officials. Kasuke and his followers had started this out as a peaceful mission. (There is a scholar who refutes this generally accepted notion. He claims that the leaders had intended to mobilize people from the outset. But in the process of dramatizing the story of the executed farmers who would later be revered as "Gimin", their initial intention was changed into a more peaceful one.) But when word spread that they were appealing, thousands of peasants flocked to the castle, some of whom stormed shops and the castle gate. The domain lord, Mizuno Tadanao, was away in Edo for "sankin-kōtai" (alternate-year attendance) at the time, so the executives had to deal with the situation themselves. Their biggest concern was how much this incident would negatively affect the position of the Matsumoto Domain. Thousands of farmers were camping out in the cold outside the castle. On the night of October 16, the domain government issued a response paper signed by two magistrates. When the news of the response paper spread, the majority of peasants who had gathered around Matsumoto Castle went home. But Kasuke and his followers were not satisfied with the response. They lingered behind. They were so determined to get a satisfactory answer that they stayed two more nights outside the castle. At last five executives signed the second response paper responding favorably to the farmers' appeal. The documents granted the farmers’ wishes to decrease the tax. Kasuke went home along with his followers. On October 18, the incident was settled peacefully.