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were, as previously mentioned, Saigō and Ōkubo. Between them, there were also mediators including Sakamoto Ryōma and others who took on the burden of coordination. Gradually, they began to communicate with Prince Sanjō, who was in exile in Chikuzen, and others in conspiracy. Not only Chōshū domain but also Aki domain and other domains including Tosa maintained contact with each other, and the fervor for overthrowing the shogunate gradually rose—this can be said to be the beginning of the imperial restoration. Of course, the changes and upheavals leading to this point were extremely severe, and it would be quite difficult to explain them simply and directly in a few words.
**Alliance of Satsuma, Chōshū, and Aki Domains**
In any case, once the three domains of Satsuma, Chōshū, and Aki formed their grand alliance, the shogunate's fate began to shrink day by day. However, among those who joined these domains' conspiracy at the time, Tosa lord Yamauchi Yōdō's house had originally received a large fief from the Tokugawa and ranked among the great domains, so there were naturally differences from Satsuma and Chōshū. He could not agree with the anti-shogunate theory under any circumstances, so despite once coming to Kyoto and joining this conspiracy, he claimed illness midway and returned to his domain. At this time, among his fellow domain retainers, Itagaki Taisuke and others believed that overthrowing the shogunate, which had held supreme power for three hundred years, could not possibly be accomplished through words alone, so they sided with Saigō's faction. However, Gotō Shōjirō thoroughly supported his lord's position, wanting to settle matters peacefully, and made great efforts at mediation. However, his position was ultimately not accepted, and the three domains of Satsuma, Chōshū, and Aki decided to unite completely and proceed with preparations for an anti-shogunate army. Yōdō was greatly troubled by this,
**Tosa Domain's Memorial**
and finally on October 4 of that year (Keiō 3), he sent Gotō Shōjirō and others to Osaka to submit a memorial to the shogunate, advising the return of political power to the emperor. Thereupon, Shogun Yoshinobu sought opinions from Matsudaira Yoshinaga and other lords in Kyoto, but having made a deep decision himself, on the 14th he sent Kuwana lord Matsudaira Sadayoshi to memorialize about returning political power to the emperor. At this time, the arguments of various domains were truly diverse with no resolution. Domains like Kishū sent their retainers to Regent Nijō to inquire about the court's intentions, and the regent answered that Yoshinobu's memorial for returning political power would not receive imperial approval. On the other hand, Komatsu Tatewaki and Gotō Shōjirō visited the Nijō house and earnestly worked for the shogun's memorial to receive imperial approval.
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They worked for such approval. While various opinions were thus divided, Iwakura and others held deep consultations and determined the proper sequence for approving Yoshinobu's memorial, submitting this to Regent Nijō and requesting that court deliberations be decided quickly.
**Return of Political Power**
Here, Regent Nijō finally made his decision, and as a result of the memorial, on the following 15th, Yoshinobu was summoned and presented with an imperial edict approving his request to return political power.
Thus the shogun's request was quickly granted imperial permission, and political power returned to the court for the first time. However, in reality, such results could not be achieved overnight. From the lords' perspective, they had all been vassals of the Tokugawa house and occupied the position of sub-vassals relative to the court. Moreover, the inertia of three hundred years could not easily be completely swept away, so real power still appeared to remain with the Tokugawa. In this situation, to achieve the reality of national renewal, it became inevitable that some kind of actual blow must be dealt to the Tokugawa house. Therefore, regarding the anti-shogunate movement advocated by those three domains of Satsuma, Chōshū, and Aki,
**Secret Imperial Edict for Overthrowing the Shogunate**
a secret imperial edict was once issued on October 14th to Komatsu, Saigō, Ōkubo, Hirosawa and others. However, as previously mentioned, on the very same day the shogun memorialized about returning political power, so this secret edict for overthrowing the shogunate was temporarily suspended. At court, various policies were finally determined at the meeting of December 8th. Prince Arisugawa was appointed as president, Prince Ninnaji and Prince Yamashina along with court nobles—totaling ten people—were appointed as councillors, and as consultants, nobles Ōhara, Madenokōji, Hase, Iwakura, and Hashimoto were appointed along with three from Owari, three from Echizen, three from Satsuma domain, and three from Aki domain. At the same time, Aizu domain was relieved of guarding the Hamaguri Gate and Kuwana domain was relieved of guarding the Court Noble Gate. Now, what to do about punishment for the Tokugawa house became the immediate problem.
**Treatment of the Tokugawa House**
However, this was truly a difficult problem, and at the meeting held before the emperor for the first time on the following 9th, this was the most hotly debated issue.
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