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slash Japan to claim your copy. Hello and welcome to the History of Japan podcast.

Episode 130, The Fall of the Samurai, Part 13.

When we last left things off, Choshu had just scored an amazing upset victory over the

Tokugawa Bakufu, a victory compounded by the death of the Shogun Tokugawa Iamochi,

resulting in several months of confusion before power came to rest with his cousin and successor,

Tokugawa Yoshinobu. Now we come to the final desperate bit of the

Tokugawa to hold on to power. However, the Tokugawa position took another hit from an

unexpected quarter early in 1867. A wave of smallpox swept through Kyoto, and to the amazement of all present, for he was normally a very healthy man.

Among those taken ill was the 35-year-old emperor, Komei.

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