Boshin War The was a civil war in Japan , fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa Shogunate and those seeking to return political power to the imperial court . The war found its origins in dissatisfaction among many nobles and young samurai with the shogunate ' s handling of foreigners following the opening of Japan during the prior decade . Increasing Western influence in the economy led to a decline similar to other Asian colonies of the West at the time . An alliance of western samurai , particularly the domains of Chōshū , Satsuma and Tosa , and court officials , secured control of the imperial court and influenced the young Emperor Meiji . Tokugawa Yoshinobu , the sitting shogun , realizing the futility of his situation , abdicated political power to the emperor . Yoshinobu had hoped that by doing this , the Tokugawa house could be preserved and participate in the future government . However , military movements by imperial forces , partisan violence in Edo , and an imperial decree promoted by Satsuma and Choshu abolishing the house of Tokugawa led Yoshinobu to launch a military campaign to seize the emperor ' s court at Kyoto . The military tide rapidly turned in favor of the smaller but relatively modernized imperial faction , and after a series of battles culminating in the surrender of Edo , Yoshinobu personally surrendered . Those loyal to the Tokugawa retreated to northern Honshū and later to Hokkaidō , where they founded the Ezo republic . Defeat at the Battle of Hakodate broke this last holdout and left the imperial rule supreme throughout the whole of Japan , completing the military phase of the Meiji Restoration . Around 120 , 000 men were mobilized during the conflict , and of these about 3 , 500 were killed . In the end , the victorious imperial faction abandoned its objective to expel foreigners from Japan and instead adopted a policy of continued modernization with an eye to eventual renegotiation of the Unequal Treaties with the Western powers . Due to the persistence of Saigō Takamori , a prominent leader of the imperial faction , the Tokugawa loyalists were shown clemency , and many former shogunate leaders were later given positions of responsibility under the new government . The Boshin War testifies to the advanced state of modernization already achieved by Japan as it utilized and followed a level of development similar to industrialized Western nations , but in turn rejecting Western enforced free trade which would have undermined its economy , the already high involvement of Western nations , especially of Britain and France , in the country ' s internal politics , and the rather turbulent installation of Imperial power . Over time , the war has been romanticized by Japanese and others who view the Meiji Restoration as a " bloodless revolution , " despite the number of casualties . Political background . Early discontent against the Shogunate . For the two centuries prior to 1854 , Japan had severely limited exchange with foreign nations , with the notable exceptions of Korea via Tsushima , Qing China via the Ryūkyūs , and the Dutch through the trading post of Dejima . In 1854 , Commodore Perry opened Japan to global commerce with the implied threat of force , thus initiating a period of rapid development in foreign trade and Westernization . In large part due to the humiliating terms of the Unequal Treaties , as agreements like those conveyed by Perry are called , the Shogunate soon faced internal hostility , which materialized into a radical , xenophobic movement , the " sonnō jōi " ( literally " Revere the Emperor , expel the barbarians " ) . The Emperor Kōmei agreed with such sentiments , and — breaking with centuries of imperial tradition — began to take an active role in matters of state : as opportunities arose , he fulminated against the treaties and attempted to interfere in the shogunal succession . His efforts culminated in March 1863 with his " Order to expel barbarians " . Although the Shogunate had no intention of enforcing the order , it nevertheless inspired attacks against the Shogunate itself and against foreigners in Japan : the most famous incident was that of the English trader Charles Lennox Richardson , for whose death the Tokugawa government had to pay an indemnity of one hundred thousand British pounds . Other attacks included the shelling of foreign shipping in Shimonoseki . During 1864 , these actions were successfully countered by armed retaliations by foreign powers , such as the British Bombardment of Kagoshima and the multinational Bombardment of Shimonoseki . At the same time , the forces of Chōshū , together with xenophobic ronin , raised the Hamaguri rebellion trying to seize the city of Kyoto , where the Emperor ' s court was held , but were repelled by Shogunate forces under the future Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu . The Shogunate further ordered a punitive expedition against Chōshū , the First Chōshū expedition , and obtained Chōshū ' s submission without actual fighting . At this point initial resistance among the leadership in Chōshū and the imperial court subsided , but over the next year the Tokugawa proved unable to reassert full control over the country as most daimyo began to ignore orders and questions from Edo . Foreign military assistance . Despite the bombardment of Kagoshima , the Satsuma domain had become closer to the British and was pursuing the modernization of its army and navy with their support . The Scottish dealer Thomas Blake Glover sold quantities of warships and guns to the southern domains . American and British military experts , usually former officers , may have been directly involved in this military effort . The British ambassador Harry Smith Parkes supported the anti - Shogunate forces in a drive to establish a legitimate , unified Imperial rule in Japan , and to counter French influence with the Shogunate . During that period , southern Japanese leaders such as Saigō Takamori of Satsuma , or Itō Hirobumi and Inoue Kaoru of Chōshū cultivated personal connections with British diplomats , notably Ernest Mason Satow . The Shogunate also was preparing for further conflict by modernizing its forces . In line with Parkes ' designs , the British , theretofore the Shogunate ' s primary partner , proved reluctant to provide assistance . The Tokugawa thus came to rely mainly on French expertise , comforted by the military prestige of Napoleon III at that time , acquired through his successes in the Crimean War and the War of Italy . The Shogunate took major steps towards the construction of a modern and powerful military : a navy with a core of eight steam warships had been built over several years and was already the strongest in Asia . In 1865 , Japan ' s first modern naval arsenal was built in Yokosuka by the French engineer Léonce Verny . In January 1867 , a French military mission arrived to reorganize the shogunal army and create the " Denshūtai " elite force , and an order was placed with the United States to buy the French - built ironclad warship CSS " Stonewall " , a relic of the American Civil War . Due to the Western powers ' declared neutrality , the Americans refused to release the ship , but once neutrality was lifted , the imperial faction obtained the vessel and employed it in engagements in Hakodate under the name " Kōtetsu " ( literally " Ironclad " ) . Coups d ' état . Following a coup within Chōshū which returned to power the extremist factions opposed to the Shogunate , the Shogunate announced its intention to lead a Second Chōshū expedition to punish the renegade domain . This in turn prompted Chōshū to form a secret alliance with Satsuma . In the summer of 1866 , the Shogunate was defeated by Chōshū , leading to a considerable loss of authority . In late 1866 , however , first Shogun Iemochi and then Emperor Kōmei died , respectively succeeded by Yoshinobu and Emperor Meiji . These events " made a truce inevitable . " On November 9 , 1867 , a secret order was created by Satsuma and Chōshū in the name of Emperor Meiji commanding the " slaughtering of the traitorous subject Yoshinobu . " Just prior to this however , and following a proposal from the daimyo of Tosa , Yoshinobu resigned his post and authorities to the emperor , agreeing to " be the instrument for carrying out " imperial orders . The Tokugawa Shogunate had ended . While Yoshinobu ' s resignation had created a nominal void at the highest level of government , his apparatus of state continued to exist . Moreover , the shogunal government , the Tokugawa family in particular , would remain a prominent force in the evolving political order and would retain many executive powers , a prospect hard - liners from Satsuma and Chōshū found intolerable . Events came to a head on January 3 , 1868 when these elements seized the imperial palace in Kyoto , and the following day had the fifteen - year - old Emperor Meiji declare his own restoration to full power . Although the majority of the imperial consultative assembly was happy with the formal declaration of direct rule by the court and tended to support a continued collaboration with the Tokugawa ( under the concept of ) , Saigō Takamori threatened the assembly into abolishing the title " shogun " and order the confiscation of Yoshinobu ' s lands . Although he initially agreed to these demands , on January 17 , 1868 Yoshinobu declared " that he would not be bound by the proclamation of the Restoration and called on the court to rescind it . " On January 24 , Yoshinobu decided to prepare an attack on Kyoto , occupied by Satsuma and Chōshū forces . This decision was prompted by his learning of a series of arsons in Edo , starting with the burning of the outerworks of Edo Castle , the main Tokugawa residence . This was blamed on Satsuma ronin , who on that day attacked a government office . The next day shogunate forces responded by attacking the Edo residence of the daimyo of Satsuma , where many opponents of the shogunate , under Takamori ' s direction , had been hiding and creating trouble . The palace was burned down , and many opponents killed or later executed . Opening conflicts . On 27 January 1868 , Shogunate forces attacked the forces of Chōshū and Satsuma , clashing near Toba and Fushimi , at the southern entrance of Kyoto . Some parts of the 15 , 000 - strong Shogunate forces had been trained by French military advisers , but the majority remained medieval " samurai " forces . Meanwhile , the forces of Chōshū and Satsuma were outnumbered 3 : 1 but fully modernized with Armstrong howitzers , Minié rifle s and a few Gatling guns . After an inconclusive start , on the second day , an Imperial pennant was remitted to the defending troops , and a relative of the Emperor , Ninnajinomiya Yoshiaki , was named nominal commander in chief , making the forces officially an . Moreover , convinced by courtiers , several local " daimyo " , up to this point faithful to the Shogun , started to defect to the side of the imperial court . These included " daimyo " of Yodo on February 5 , and the daimyo of Tsu on February 6 , tilting the military balance in favour of the Imperial side . On February 7 , Tokugawa Yoshinobu , apparently distressed by the imperial approval given to the actions of Satsuma and Chōshū , fled Osaka aboard the " Kaiyō Maru " , withdrawing to Edo . Demoralized by his flight and by the betrayal by Yodo and Tsu , Shogunate forces retreated , making the Toba - Fushimi encounter an Imperial victory , although it is often considered the Shogunate forces should have won the encounter . Osaka Castle was soon invested on February 8 ( on March 1 , Western calendar ) , putting an end to the battle of Toba - Fushimi . At the same time , on 28 January 1868 , the naval Battle of Awa between the Shogunate and elements of the Satsuma Navy took place . This was Japan ' s second engagement between two modern navies . The battle , although small in scale , ended in favour of the Shogunate . On the diplomatic front , the ministers of foreign nations , gathered in the open harbor of Hyōgo ( present day Kobe ) in early February , issued a declaration according to which the Shogunate was still considered the only rightful government in Japan , giving hope to Tokugawa Yoshinobu that foreign nations ( especially France ) might consider an intervention in his favour . A few days later however an Imperial delegation visited the ministers declaring that the Shogunate was abolished , that harbours would be open in accordance with International treaties , and that foreigners would be protected . The ministers finally decided to recognize the new government . The rise of anti - foreign sentiment nonetheless led to several attacks on foreigners in the following months . Eleven French sailors from the corvette " Dupleix " were killed by " samurai " of Tosa in the Sakai incident on March 8 , 1868 . Fifteen days later , Sir Harry Parkes , the British ambassador , was attacked by a group of " samurai " in a street of Kyoto . Surrender of Edo . Beginning in February , with the help of the French ambassador Léon Roches , a plan was formulated to stop the imperial court ' s advance at Odawara , the last strategic entry point to Edo , but Yoshinobu decided against the plan . Shocked , Léon Roches resigned from his position . In early March , under the influence of the British minister Harry Parkes , foreign nations signed a strict neutrality agreement , according to which they could not intervene or provide military supplies to either side until the resolution of the conflict . Saigō Takamori led the victorious imperial forces north and east through Japan , winning the Battle of Kōshū - Katsunuma . He eventually surrounded Edo in May 1868 , leading to its unconditional defeat after Katsu Kaishu , the Shogun ' s Army Minister , negotiated the surrender . Some groups continued to resist after this surrender but were defeated in the Battle of Ueno on 4 July 1868 . Meanwhile , the leader of the Shogun ' s navy , Enomoto Takeaki , refused to surrender all his ships . He remitted just four ships , among them the " Fujisan " , but he then escaped north with the remnants of the Shogun ' s Navy ( eight steam warships : " Kaiten " , " Banryū " , " Chiyodagata " , " Chōgei " , " Kaiyō Maru " , " Kanrin Maru " , " Mikaho " and " Shinsoku " ) , and 2 , 000 members of the navy , in the hope of staging a counter - attack together with the northern daimyo . He was accompanied by a handful of French military advisers , notably Jules Brunet , who had formally resigned from the French Army in order to accompany the rebels . Resistance of the Northern Coalition . After Yoshinobu ' s surrender , most of Japan accepted the emperor ' s rule , but a core of domains in the North , supporting the Aizu clan , continued the resistance . In May several northern daimyo formed an Alliance to fight Imperial troops , the coalition of northern domains composed primarily of forces from the domains of Sendai , Yonezawa , Aizu , Shonai and Nagaoka , with a total of 50 , 000 troops . An Imperial Prince , Kitashirakawa Yoshihisa had fled north with partisans of the Tokugawa shogunate and was made the nominal head of the Northern Coalition , with the intention of naming him " Emperor Tobu " . Enomoto ' s fleet joined Sendai harbour on August 26 . Although the Northern Coalition was numerous , it was poorly equipped , and relied on traditional fighting methods . Modern armament was scarce , and last - minute efforts were made to build cannon s made of wood and reinforced with roping , firing stone projectiles . Such cannons , installed on defensive structures , could only fire four or five projectiles before bursting . On the other hand , the daimyo of Nagaoka managed to procure two of the three Gatling guns in Japan and 2 , 000 modern French rifles from the German weapons dealer Henry Schnell . In May 1868 , the daimyo of Nagaoka inflicted high losses on the Imperial troops in the Battle of Hokuetsu , but his castle ultimately fell on May 19 . Imperial troops continued to progress north , defeating the Shinsengumi at the Battle of Bonari Pass , which opened the way for their attack on the castle of Aizu - Wakamatsu in the Battle of Aizu in October 1868 , thus making the position in Sendai untenable . The coalition crumbled , and on October 12 , 1868 the fleet left Sendai for Hokkaidō , after having acquired two more ships ( " Oe " and " Hōō " , previously borrowed by Sendai from the Shogunate ) , and about 1 , 000 more troops : remaining Shogunate troops under Otori Keisuke , Shinsengumi troops under Hijikata Toshizo , the guerilla corps ( " yugekitai " ) under Hitomi Katsutarō , as well as several more French advisers ( Fortant , Garde , Marlin , Bouffier ) . On October 26 , Edo was renamed Tokyo , and the Meiji period officially started . Aizu was besieged starting that month , leading to the mass suicide of the " Byakkotai " ( White Tiger Corps ) young warriors . After a protracted month - long battle , Aizu finally admitted defeat on November 6 . Hokkaidō campaign . Creation of the Ezo Republic . Following defeat on Honshū , Enomoto Takeaki fled to Hokkaidō with the remnants of the navy and his handful of French advisers . Together they organized a government , with the objective of establishing an independent island nation dedicated to the development of Hokkaidō . They formally established the Republic of Ezo on the American model on December 25 , Japan ' s only republic ever , and Enomoto was elected as President , with a large majority . The republic tried to reach out to foreign legations present in Hakodate , such as the Americans , French , and Russians , but was not able to garner any international recognition or support . Enomoto offered to confer the territory to the Tokugawa Shogun under Imperial rule , but his proposal was declined by the Imperial Governing Council . During the winter , they fortified their defenses around the southern peninsula of Hakodate , with the new fortress of Goryokaku at the center . The troops were organized under a Franco - Japanese command , the commander - in - chief Otori Keisuke being seconded by the French captain Jules Brunet , and divided between four brigade s . Each of these was commanded by a French non - commissioned officer ( Fortant , Marlin , Cazeneuve , Bouffier ) , and were themselves divided into eight half - brigades , each under Japanese command . Final losses and surrender . The Imperial navy reached the harbour of Miyako on March 20 , but anticipating the arrival of the imperial ships , the Ezo rebels organized a daring plan to seize the " Kotetsu " . Led by Shinsengumi commander Hijikata Toshizo , three warships were dispatched for a surprise attack , in what is known as the Naval Battle of Miyako . The battle ended in failure for the Tokugawa side , owing to bad weather , engine trouble and the decisive use of a Gatling gun by Imperial troops against samurai boarding parties . Imperial forces soon consolidated their hold on mainland Japan , and , in April 1869 , dispatched a fleet and an infantry force of 7 , 000 to Ezo , starting the Battle of Hakodate . The Imperial forces progressed swiftly and won the naval engagement at Hakodate Bay , Japan ' s first large - scale naval battle between modern navies , as the fortress of Goryokaku was surrounded with 800 remaining men . Seeing the situation had become desperate , the French advisers escaped to a French ship stationed in Hakodate Bay — " Coëtlogon " , under the command of Dupetit - Thouars — from where they were shipped back to Yokohama and then France . The Japanese requested that the French advisers be given judgement in France ; however , due to popular support in France for their actions , the former French advisers in Japan were not punished for their actions . Enomoto had resolved to fight to the end , and had sent his valuables to his adversary for safekeeping . These included the Naval Codes he had brought back from Holland , which he entrusted to the general of the Imperial troops , Kuroda Kiyotaka , but Otori convinced him to surrender , telling him that deciding to live through defeat is the truly courageous way : " If it ' s dying you want you can do it anytime . " Enomoto surrendered on May 18 , 1869 , and accepted the Meiji Emperor ' s rule . The Ezo Republic ceased to exist on June 27 , 1869 . Aftermath . Following victory , the new government proceeded with unifying the country under a single , legitimate and powerful rule by the imperial court . The emperor ' s residence was effectively transferred from Kyoto to Tokyo at the end of 1868 . The military and political power of the domains was progressively eliminated , and the domains themselves were soon transformed into prefecture s , whose governors were appointed by the emperor . A major reform was the effective expropriation and abolition of the samurai class , allowing many samurai to change into administrative or entrepreneurial positions , but forcing many others into poverty . The southern domains of Satsuma , Chōshū and Tosa , having played a decisive role in the victory , occupied most of the key posts in government for several decades following the conflict , a situation sometimes called the " Meiji oligarchy " and formalized with the institution of the genrō . In 1869 , the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo was built in honour of the victims of the Boshin War . Some leading partisans of the former Shogun were imprisoned , but narrowly escaped execution . This clemency derives from the insistence of Saigō Takamori and Iwakura Tomomi , although much weight was placed on the advice of Parkes , the British envoy . He had urged Saigō , in the words of Ernest Satow , " that severity towards Keiki [ Yoshinobu ] or his supporters , especially in the way of personal punishment , would injure the reputation of the new government in the opinion of European Powers . " After two or three years of imprisonment , most of them were called to serve the new government , and several pursued brilliant careers . Enomoto Takeaki , for instance , would later serve as an envoy to Russia and China and as the education minister . The Imperial side did not pursue its objective to expel foreign interests from Japan , but instead shifted to a more progressive policy aiming at the continued modernization of the country and the renegotiation of unequal treaties with foreign powers , later under the motto . The shift in stance towards the foreigners came during the early days of the civil war : on April 8 , 1868 , new signboards were erected in Kyoto ( and later throughout the country ) that specifically repudiated violence against foreigners . During the course of the conflict , Emperor Meiji personally received European envoys , first in Kyoto , then later in Osaka and Tokyo . Also unprecedented was Emperor Meiji ' s reception of Alfred , Duke of Edinburgh , in Tokyo , " ' as his " equal " in point of blood . ' " Although the early Meiji era witnessed a warming between the imperial court and foreign powers , relations with France temporarily soured due to the initial support by France for the Shogun . Soon however a second military mission was invited to Japan in 1874 , and a third one in 1884 . A high level of interaction resumed around 1886 , when France helped build the Imperial Japanese Navy ' s first large - scale modern fleet , under the direction of naval engineer Louis - Émile Bertin . The modernization of the country had in fact already started extensively during the last years of the Shogunate , and the Meiji government ultimately adopted the same orientation , although it was better able to mobilize the whole country towards modernization in a more efficient way due to having a more streamlined and centralized bureaucracy . Upon his coronation , Meiji issued his Charter Oath , calling for deliberative assemblies , promising increased opportunities for the common people , abolishing the " evil customs of the past , " and seeking knowledge throughout the world " to strengthen the foundations of imperial rule . " Prominent reforms of the Meiji government included the 1871 abolition of the domain system , by which the feudal domains and their hereditary rulers were replaced by prefectures with governors appointed by the emperor . Others included the introduction of compulsory schooling and the abolition of Confucian class distinctions . The reforms culminated in the 1889 issuance of the Meiji Constitution . However , despite the support given to the imperial court by samurai , many of the early Meiji reforms were seen as detrimental to their interests : the creation of a conscript army made of commoners , as well as the loss of hereditary prestige and stipends antagonized many former samurai . Tensions ran particularly high in the south , leading to the 1874 Saga Rebellion , and a rebellion in Chōshū in 1876 . Former samurai in Satsuma , led by Saigō Takamori , who had left government over foreign policy differences , started the Satsuma Rebellion in 1877 . Fighting for the maintenance of the samurai class and a more virtuous government , their slogan was . It ended with a heroic but total defeat at the Battle of Shiroyama . Later depictions . In modern summaries , the Meiji restoration is often described as a " bloodless revolution " leading to the sudden modernization of Japan . The facts of the Boshin War , however , clearly show that the conflict was quite violent : about 120 , 000 troops were mobilized altogether with roughly 3 , 500 known casualties during open hostilities but much more during terrorist attacks . Later Japanese depictions of the war tended to be highly romanticized , showing the Shogunal side fighting with traditional methods , against an already modernized Imperial side . Although traditional weapons and techniques were used , both sides employed some of the most modern armaments and fighting techniques of the period : including the ironclad warship , Gatling guns , and fighting techniques learned from Western military advisers . Such Japanese depictions include numerous dramatizations , spanning many genres . Notably , Jirō Asada wrote a four - volume novel of the account , " Mibu Gishi - den " . A film adaptation of Asada ' s work , directed by Yojiro Takita , is known as " When the Last Sword Is Drawn " . A ten - hour television " jidaigeki " based on the same novel starred Ken Watanabe . The 2001 " Goryokaku " film is another " jidaigeki " highlighting the resistance in Hokkaidō . Among Japanese anime , " Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto " in part dramatizes the Boshin War , while " Rurouni Kenshin " is set 10 years after . Rurouni Kenshin ' s first OVA is set in the time of the Boshin War and depicts several events of the Boshin war ( for example the attacking of the Edo residence of the daimyo of Satsuma and the failed boarding of the Kōtetsu at the Battle of Miyako Bay ) . Western interpretations include the 2003 Hollywood movie " The Last Samurai " directed by Edward Zwick , which combines into a single narrative historical situations belonging both to the Boshin War , the 1877 Satsuma Rebellion , and other similar uprisings of ex - samurai during the early Meiji period . The elements of the movie pertaining to the early modernization of Japan ' s military forces as well as the direct involvement of foreign ( mostly French ) forces relate to the Boshin War and the few years leading to it . However , the suicidal stand of traditionalist samurai forces led by Saigō Takamori against the modernized Imperial army relate to the much later Satsuma Rebellion . Weaponry of the Boshin War . The forces of Chōshū and Satsuma were fully modernized with Armstrong guns , Minié rifle s and one Gatling gun . The Shogunate forces had been slightly lagging in term of equipment , although a core elite force had been recently trained by the French military mission to Japan ( 1867 – 1868 ) . The Shogun also relied on troops supplied by allied domains which were not necessarily as advanced in terms of military equipment and methods , composing an army that had both modern and outdated elements . Individual guns . Numerous types of more or less modern smoothbore guns and rifle s were imported , from countries as varied as France , Germany , the Netherlands , Britain or the United States , and coexisted with traditional types such as the Tanegashima ( Japanese matchlock ) . Most Shogunate troops used " Büchse " ( Gewehr ) smoothbore guns , which had been imported in Japan since around 1840 , initially from the Netherlands by Takashima Akiho ( 高島秋帆 ) . These guns were rather ancient and had limited capabilities , with an effective lethal range of about 50 meters , and a firing rate of about 2 rounds per minute . The Daimyo of Nagaoka however , an ally of the Shogun , possessed two Gatling guns and several thousand modern rifles . The Shogunate is known to have placed an order for 30 , 000 modern Dreyse needle guns in 1866 . Napoleon III provided Tokugawa Yoshinobu with 2 , 000 state - of - the - art Chassepot rifles , which he used to equip his personal guard . Antiquated Tanegashima matchlock guns are also known to have been used by the Bakufu however . Imperial troops mainly used Minié rifle s , which were much more accurate , lethal , and had a much longer range than the smoothbore Gewehr guns , although , being also muzzle - loading , they were similarly limited to two shots per minute . Improved breech - loading mechanisms , such as the Snider , developing a rate of about ten shots a minute , are known to have been used by troops of the Tosa Domain against the Shogunate ' s Shōgitai , at the Battle of Ueno in July 1868 . In the second half of the conflict , in the northeast theater , Tosa Province troops are known to have used American - made Spencer repeating rifle s . American - made handguns were also popular , such as the 1863 Smith & Wesson Army No 2 , which was imported to Japan by the Scottish trader Thomas Blake Glover and used by the Satsuma forces . Artillery . For artillery , wooden cannon s , only able to fire 3 or 4 shots before bursting , coexisted with state - of - the - art Armstrong gun s using explosive shells . Armstrong guns were efficiently used by the troops of Satsuma and Saga throughout the war . Warships . In the area of warships also , some of the most recent ironclads such as the " Kotetsu " coexisted with older types of steamboats and even traditional sailboats . The Shogunate initially had a rather strong edge in warships , and it had the vision to order the state - of - the - art French - made " Kotetsu " , although the ships was blocked from delivery by foreign powers on ground of neutrality once the conflict had started , and was ultimately remitted to the Imperial faction shortly after the Battle of Toba - Fushimi . Uniforms . Uniforms were Western - style for modernized troops ( usually dark , with variations in the shape of the helmet : tall conical for Satsuma , flat conical for Chōshū , rounded for the Shogunate ) . Officers of the Shogunate often wore French uniforms . Traditional troops however retained their samurai clothes . Some of the headgear for some of the Imperial troops was quite peculiar , involving the used of long , colored , " bear " hair . The " Red bear " ( 赤熊 , " Shaguma " ) wigs indicate officers from Tosa , the " White bear " ( 白熊 , " Haguma " ) wigs officers from Chōshū , and the " Black bear " ( 黒熊 , " Koguma " ) wigs officers from Satsuma .