Before the Meiji Restoration, in Japan, the reformist centers with the middle and lower samurai as the main body were in the economically developed four clans of Samo, Changzhou, Tosa and Feiqian in the southwest. They gradually realized the crisis of the backward ethnic groups in their country and put forward the slogan of "respecting the king and rejecting the foreign countries".

1865, the movement of respecting the king against foreign countries turned into an armed rebellion.

1866, Samak allied with the samurai in Changzhou.

1867, when the young Meiji emperor succeeded to the throne, the clique behind the scenes staged a coup, announcing the "restoration of monarchy", abolishing the Tokugawa era and establishing a new government. Kubo Toshiichi, Saigō Takamori and Edo Koji seized power and ordered Tokugawa Yoshinobu to hand over his territory.

1868, Tokugawa Yoshinobu assembled troops in an attempt to counterattack, but was defeated by the government forces in the Battle of Bird Feather and Fujian, and the troops were destroyed. The victory of the closing movement laid the foundation for the later reform.

The essence is to overthrow the Tokugawa era.