Hagi Rebellion

On 24 October 1876, Maebara was contacted by the leaders of the Shinpūren Rebellion in Kumamoto to join forces in a widespread uprising against the Meiji government in Kyushu and southwestern Honshu. The Shinpūren Rebellion was defeated the following morning, but managed to inflict surprisingly large casualties on the Imperial Japanese Army and officials of Kumamoto Prefecture. Sympathizers of the rebellion were inspired to instigate their own rebellions against the Meiji government despite the little chance of success.

On 26 October 1876, Maebara gathered a group of like-minded samurai in Hagi, the former capital of Chōshū Domain, and proposed a lightning strike against the Meiji government offices located in Yamaguchi, the capital of Yamaguchi Prefecture. As his forces numbered only around 100 warriors, it was decided to make a night attack, with the date set at 28 October. However, the Governor of Yamaguchi Prefecture was informed of Maebara's preparation and sent word to him with news of the crushed Shinpūren Rebellion, and urged that he stand down. Maebara realized that his plans for a surprise attack were doomed to fail, and that the government offices in Yamaguchi had been reinforced with Imperial troops, so he changed his strategy. Instead, Maebara decided to march along the coast of the Sea of Japan to the national capital Tokyo, winning over the ex-samurai from the various former domains along the way, and to commit mass seppuku (ritual suicide) at the feet of Emperor Meiji. Maebara's rebels marched from Hagi to Susa, looting along the way. They recruited more warriors in Susa and began to call themselves the Juntoku Army. Maebara's plans to travel by sea to Hamada in Iwami Province were defeated by strong winds, and he returned to Hagi rather than proceed further. Maebara discovered upon his return to Hagi that someone had dumped his secret store of ammunition into the ocean, rendering his army largely weaponless.

On 5 November, Maebara attempted to escape from Hagi with a handful of men in an attempt to reach Tokyo, but he was captured and the remainder of the Juntoku Army was crushed by army troops at Hagi. Maebara and six of his associates were tried before a military tribunal in Fukuoka Prefecture, and were executed on December 3 alongside leaders of the Akizuki Rebellion, another Shinpuren-inspired rebellion that began in Akizuki on 27 October. Forty of the surviving rebels received prison sentences.

• Akizuki rebellion
• Shinpūren rebellion
• Saga Rebellion
• Satsuma Rebellion

• Keane, Donald (2005). Emperor Of Japan: Meiji And His World, 1852–1912. Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-12341-8.