The Bloodless Surrender of Edo: The Day Saigō and Katsu Saved a City of a Million

On March 14, 1868 (the fourteenth of the third month of Keiō 4), Katsu Kaishū and Saigō Takamori met at the Satsuma estate in Tamachi, Edo. The new government army was scheduled to launch its total assault on Edo Castle the following day, the fifteenth, and there was no other route open for direct negotiation from Katsu's side. The single day's meeting saved the lives and property of a million Edo residents from war.

How the Meeting Came About

Following the defeat of the former shogunal army at the Battle of Toba-Fushimi in January 1868, Yoshinobu had withdrawn to Edo in February. The new government army was advancing along the Tōkaidō, Tōsandō, and Hokurikudō routes, and had set the total assault on Edo Castle for March 15. Katsu Kaishū, acting on Yoshinobu's intent, became the lead negotiator for the shogunate, and sent the magistrate of finance Yamaoka Tesshū ahead to Sunpu to open advance talks with Saigō. At the Sunpu meeting of March 9 the framework of the bloodless surrender was set, and five days later at Tamachi the final agreement was concluded.

The Conditions Katsu Presented

The conditions Katsu Kaishū presented to Saigō were in five points. First, clemency for Tokugawa Yoshinobu and his confinement at Mito. Second, preservation of the Tokugawa house name (later realized through Tokugawa Iesato's succession to the Shizuoka domain). Third, the surrender of Edo Castle. Fourth, the handover of the shogunate army's weapons. Fifth, the transfer of the shogunate navy. The conditions were a compromise that took into account both the intent of the new government's court side and the conditions for the shogunate's survival. Katsu also conveyed — as he records in the Hikawa Seiwa — that if the new government carried through the assault, he was prepared to burn Edo to the ground. This had aspects of both a negotiating card and Katsu's actual intent.

Saigō's Decision

Saigō Takamori, to put Katsu's conditions to the court, decided on the same day to call off the assault on Edo Castle. In the background was also the negotiation with the British minister Parkes from early March. Parkes had strongly expressed his concern about the total assault that would draw in innocent residents and warned Saigō of international censure. With the intent of the court and the international situation both in view, Saigō made the decision that led to the formal surrender of Edo Castle on April 11.

Historical Significance

The bloodless surrender of Edo is regarded as the largest peaceful negotiation in modern Japanese history. The Edo of the time was one of the world's largest cities, with a population exceeding a million, and had the assault been carried out the loss of life and property would have been incalculable. That Katsu and Saigō succeeded in concluding a calm negotiation in a short time has been deeply inscribed in Japan's national memory since Meiji. The two were later politically at odds at times, but the fact of their cooperation in the bloodless surrender remains at the core of both their reputations to the present day.

"I take upon myself the lives and property of a million in Edo. To save them is my responsibility."