page_title: History of Kumamoto Prefecture
section_title: Meiji Restoration
hierarchical_section_title: History of Kumamoto Prefecture / 19th Century / Meiji Restoration
caption_attribution_description: a Japanese man 谷干城 (Tateki Tani)
context_page_description: The history of Kumamoto Prefecture has been documented from paleolithic times to the present. Kumamoto Prefecture is the eastern half of Hinokuni, and corresponds to what was once called Higo Province. Exceptions are the part of Kuma District, which had once been part of Sagara Domain, and Nagashima which was included in Kagoshima Prefecture.
  Kumamoto Prefecture is roughly divided into three areas, namely, the northern area with Kikuchi River, Shirakawa River and Mount Aso Area; the Kumagawa Area including the Hitoyoshi Basin and the Amakusa Island Area. The first one is the Kumamoto han, and the second the Hitoyoshi han and the third one is the Amakusa Area, once controlled by the Tokugawa shogunate.
  The history of Kumamoto is characterized by kofuns in natural beauties or volcanic activities, the ritsuryō and the following rise of samurais, the arrival of Katō Kiyomasa from Nagoya, wars around the Bakumatsu including the Satsuma Rebellion, and public problems concerning Minamata disease. After the establishment of the Yamato Government or Yamato Ouken, the history of Kumamoto has been constantly under the influence of the Central Government.
context_section_description: There was a chain of events from the Bakumatsu, Meiji Restoration (1868), Abolition of the han system (1871) and Satsuma Rebellion (1877). The name of the Prefecture was finally made Kumamoto Prefecture in 1876.
  The Sword Abolition Edict and the abolition of the caste system were issued in 1876, and samurai were angered and became furious. Saigō Takamori, the hero and leader of Meiji Restoration, left the central Meiji Government and returned to Kagoshima, with disaffected samurai followers.
caption: General Tani Tateki
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