Sympathy for Etō is high, with Sanjo…

Sympathy for Etō is high, with Sanjo Sanetomi writing to Ōkubo to remind him that Etō's motives were not evil, and with Kido Takayoshi likewise writing to suggest that Etō be employed in the upcoming Taiwan Expedition of 1874.

However, Okubo is adamant that an example be set, and Etō and Shima are tried by a military tribunal on April 8 and executed the next day along with eleven other leaders of the revolt.

Etō is beheaded at Ōkubo's orders, and his severed head placed on public display—considered a demeaning punishment for someone of samurai class.

Photographs are taken and sold in Tokyo; however, the Tokyo government later bans their sale and orders people who purchased the photographs to return them.

Ōkubo, however, refuses to comply and hangs a copy of the photograph in the reception room of the Home Ministry.

Although the samurai uprising in Saga had been suppressed by military force, the issues that had led to the uprising remained unresolved.

Kyūshū will continue to be a hotbed of unrest against the central government through the 1870s, culminating with the Satsuma Rebellion.