The Sakai Incident: A Diplomatic Crisis in Bakumatsu Japan

Sakai incident is also known as the Senshū Sakai Incident (泉州堺事件) or the Myōkoku-ji Incident (妙国寺事件). Along with the Kobe Incident and the attempted assassination of Harry Parkes, it was one of three major attacks on foreigners in Japan in 1868.

Following the Battle of Toba-Fushimi in the Boshin War, the Meiji government deployed Tosa Domain's 6th Division, led by Minoura Motoaki, to garrison the port of Sakai in Izumi Province, previously controlled by the Tokugawa shogunate's Osaka machi-bugyō. Minoura was aware of the recent Kobe Incident, where French sailors clashed with samurai from Bizen Domain, resulting in the local Japanese commander's execution. He also knew of French support for the former Tokugawa shogunate.

The Incident

French Commodore Gustave Ohier, under orders from French Consul General Léon Roches, was surveying Osaka Bay's shallows following the drowning of American Admiral Henry H. Bell in January 1868. After their mission, around 100 sailors from the Dupleix landed at Sakai for shore leave.

Complaints soon arose about the sailors' unruly behavior, including intruding into temples and homes, harassing women, and frightening merchants. The situation escalated when a French sailor stole a regimental banner from a Tosa samurai, considered a grave insult. A confrontation ensued, leading to an all-out melee where the French reportedly opened fire first. Nine sailors and a midshipman named Guillou were killed, and two more sailors succumbed to their injuries the next day.

Osaka bay area

Diplomatic Fallout

The French casualties were buried at the Kobe Foreign Settlement, with French, British, and Dutch officials in attendance. The retired daimyō of Tosa, Yamauchi Toyoshige, sought British minister Algernon Mitford's help to mediate with the French. However, due to strong protests by French captain Abel-Nicolas Bergasse du Petit-Thouars, Roches issued a stern ultimatum with five demands:

1. Decapitation of the Tosa samurai commander and his men involved in the clash at the incident's location.

2. Payment of $150,000 indemnity by Tosa Domain.

3. A formal apology by an imperial prince of Japan aboard a French warship.

4. A personal apology from the daimyō of Tosa to the French consul.

5. A rule forbidding Tosa samurai from bearing weapons in any port open to foreigners.

With numerous Western warships in Osaka Bay and the bulk of the Meiji government's military forces engaged in the Boshin War, the government sought Parkes' mediation, but he was unsympathetic.

Resolution

On March 16, Minoura, his deputy Nishimura Sahei, and 28 men were sentenced to death by seppuku. To avoid further inflaming anti-foreign sentiment, the number of those to be executed was negotiated down to four senior commanders and 16 ordinary troops. The 16 ordinary troops were selected by drawing lots. In front of a French delegation at Myōkoku-ji temple, 11 men performed seppuku, matching the number of French killed. The French captain then announced he was satisfied.

Aftermath

On March 17, Prince Yamashina Akira and Date Munenari formally apologized to Roches aboard the French flagship Venice. The following day, Yamauchi Toyonori also apologized to Roches. The nine Tōsa samurai who escaped execution were sent to Kumamoto Domain or Hiroshima Domain and later pardoned. The eleven men who were executed were buried at the temple of Hōshū-in, with a cenotaph erected in their memory by Yamauchi Toyoshige. In 1938, the site was designated as a National Historic Site by the Japanese government, located a 15-minute walk from Sakai Station on the Nankai Electric Railway Nankai Main Line.