The last major armed revolt by former samurai against Japan’s imperial government was the Satsuma Rebellion of 1877.
The rebellion was led by Saigō Takamori, a prominent former samurai from Satsuma Domain who had helped bring down the Tokugawa shogunate. Many of his followers opposed the Meiji government’s rapid centralization, conscription, taxation, and reforms that weakened the hereditary privileges and status of the samurai. The conflict began when rebels attacked the government garrison at Kumamoto Castle.
Imperial troops, including conscript soldiers and former samurai serving the new government, eventually defeated the rebellion. The final major battle took place at Shiroyama in Kagoshima in September 1877, where Saigō died. The revolt is sometimes called the “last stand of the samurai,” but that phrase can oversimplify the conflict: the government army also included many men with samurai backgrounds, and the rebellion reflected political and regional tensions as well as opposition to modernization.