Chichibu Incident The was a large scale peasant revolt that occurred in November 1884 in Chichibu , Saitama , a short distance from Japan ' s capital , and lasted approximately two weeks . It was one of many similar uprisings in Japan around that time , occurring in reaction to the dramatic and drastic changes to society which came about in the wake of the 1868 Meiji Restoration . What set Chichibu apart was the scope of the uprising , and the severity of the government ’ s response . Background . After the end of the Tokugawa shogunate with the Meiji Restoration of 1868 , Japanese agriculture was dominated by a tenant farming system . The Meiji government based its industrialization program on tax revenues from private land ownership , and the Land Tax Reform of 1873 increased the process of landlordism , with many farmers having their land confiscated due to inability to pay the new taxes . This situation was worsened by the deflation ary Matsukata Fiscal Policy from 1881 , which severely depressed rice prices , leading to further bankruptcies . As tenants were forced to pay over half their crop as rent , they were often forced to send wives and daughters to textile mill s or to sell daughters into prostitution to pay for taxes . The rising discontent of the led to a number of peasant revolt s in various impoverished rural areas around the country . The year 1884 saw roughly sixty riots ; the total debt of the time of Japan ' s farmers is estimated to two hundred million yen , which corresponds to roughly two trillion yen in 1985 currency . A number of these uprisings were organized and led through the , a catch - all term for a number of disconnected meeting groups and societies throughout the country , consisting of citizens who sought more representation in government and basic rights . The national constitutions and other writings on freedom in the West were largely unknown among the Japanese masses at this time , but there were those in the movement who had studied the West , and were able to conceive of democratic political ideology . Some societies within the movement wrote their own draft constitutions , and many saw their work as a form of . Songs and rumors among the rebels often indicated their belief that the would alleviate their problems . Uprising . While many groups and political parties across the country debated political issues peacefully , the self - titled " Revolutionary Army " erupted in revolt on 31 October 1884 , in the Chichibu district of Saitama prefecture . The uprising was triggered by the refusal of creditors to allow a moratorium on repayment of loans . The insurgents sought to attack a government building and loan shark offices and to destroy records of their debts . Accounts of the size of the revolt varied widely , from 5 , 000 to over 10 , 000 men . Most of the rebels were armed with farming implements , bamboo spears , swords , wooden cannon , and hunting musket s . The rebels poured out of their small mountain villages , armed not only with weapons , but with banners and slogans ; declaring " New Rule of Benevolence , " and labeling the seized district office as the " Headquarters of the Revolutionary Army . " Having established a headquarters , the ringleaders adopted a new calendar , and began to issue decrees , labeling all as being issued in " Year One of Freedom and Self - Government . " The revolutionaries also dispatched smaller groups to seek out and oust individual government officials in the neighboring villages before recalling their forces and marching toward Tokyo , where the movement first met with significant resistance . The precise number of revolutionaries killed in the battle against the overwhelming firepower of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police and the new professional Imperial Japanese Army remains unknown . Roughly ten days after the seizure of the district office , the Chichibu uprising was finally fully quashed at the foot of the Yatsugatake Mountains . Many survivors were arrested , and nearly 3 , 000 were found guilty . Three hundred were convicted as felons , and the seven ringleaders were sentenced to death . Five of the seven were hanged less than three months later , in February 1885 . Although this was the largest popular uprising of the Meiji period , or perhaps because of it , the government sought to dismiss it by describing the rebels as little more than hooligans . Legacy . Overall , the Chichibu Incident was caused by a combination of liberal , revolutionary ideologies and economic motivations . Though the traditional view of the event reduces the peasants ' motivations to being purely economic , some scholars see it as part of a suppressed peoples ' rights movement in this period . Irokawa Daikichi of Tokyo Keizai University , describes the incident in detail in his book , " The Culture of the Meiji Period " , and argues that it was not simply part of a " yonaoshi " movement , nor an ordinary uprising by poor peasants looking to absolve themselves of their debts . The leaders of the uprising , if not the majority of their followers , were active thinkers of the Freedom and People ' s Rights movements , and sought no less than to challenge the Meiji government itself . According to Irokawa , they were guided by " the revolutionary ideology of the Liberal Party ; they had a revolutionary faith that they could ' reform the government , make freedom come to life , and join battle for the people . ' " Though a monument to the fallen was erected several decades later , a great number of the ringleaders and others who escaped formal punishment have never had their names formally cleared . A film , " Kusa no Ran " , was also made in 2004 , directed by Seijirō Kōyama , commemorating the incident ' s 120th anniversary .