ceeded by the last of the shoguns, Keiki, appointed head of
the Tokugawa family in October, 1866, and shogun in January, 1867. This
position he had frequently declined. He was far too weak and fickle a
man to hold it at such a time. He was popular at court because of his
opposition to the admission of the foreigners, but he was by no means
the man to hold the reins of government at that perilous juncture of
affairs.

In fact, he had hardly accepted the office when a vigorous pressure was
brought upon him to resign, in which a number of princes and powerful
noblemen took part. It was their purpose to restore the ancient
government of the realm. Keiki yielded, and in November, 1867, resigned
his high office of Sei-i Tai Shogun. During this critical interval the
mikado had died, and a new youthful emperor had been raised to the
throne.

But the imperial power was not so easily to be restored, after its many
centuries of abrogation. The Aidzu, the most loyal of all the clans to
the shogun, and the leaders in the war against the Choshiu, guarded the
palace gates, and for the time being were masters of the situation.
Meanwhile the party of the mikado was not idle. Gradually small parties
of soldiers were sent by them to the capital, and a quiet influence was
brought to bear to induce the court to take advantage of the opportunity
and by a bold movement abolish the office of shogun and declare the
young emperor the sole sovereign of the realm.

This _coup-d'etat_ was effected January 3, 1868. On that day the
introduced troops suddenly took possession of the palace gates, the
nobles who surrounded the emperor were dismissed and replaced by others
favorable to the movement, and an edict was issued in the name of the
mikado declaring the office of shogun abolished, and that the sole
government of the empire lay in the hands of the mikado and his court.
New offices were established and new officials chosen to fill them, the
clan of Choshiu was relieved from the ban of rebellion and honored as
the supporter of the imperial power, and a completely new government was
organized.

This decisive action led to civil war. The adherents of the Tokugawa
clan, in high indignation at this revolutionary act, left the capital,
Keiki, who now sought to seize his power again, at their head. On the
27th of February he marched upon Kioto with an army of ten thousand, or,
as some say, thirty thousand, men. The two roads leading to the capital
h