Japanese Home Minister Ōkubo Toshimichi, alarmed by…

Japanese Home Minister Ōkubo Toshimichi, alarmed by growing rumors of unrest, dispatches his henchman Iwamura Takatoshi to Saga to restore order, but Iwamura only makes the situation worse with his overbearing attitude.

On the ship to Saga, he had made an enemy of Shima Yoshitake, the former governor of Akita Prefecture, who was traveling to Saga at the request of Sanjō Sanetomi.

Iwamura had so outraged Shima that Shima had decided to throw his lot in with Etō and his rebels.

Etō decides to take action on February 16 by raiding a bank and occupying government offices with the grounds of old Saga castle.

Etō had expected that similarly disaffected samurai in Satsuma and Tosa would stage insurrections when they received word of his actions, but he has miscalculated badly, and both domains remain calm.