So after researching the Boshin war and the Satsuma rebellion,

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>>3044057

>>3044057
The men who fought for the imperor by in large did not want to abolish the samurai, they may have wanted to modernize but in the same way European nations still had an a nobility the samurai did not want to abolish that. Even reformers like Ryoma envisioned an upper parliament and a lower one similar to the British system.

In fact most imperialist didn't even want to modernize, they wanted to kick the foreigners out of Japan, not learn from them. Their leaders realized this was a really stupid idea towards the middle of the conflict and basically went around the rank and file.

>>3044057
there's two big facts you ignore:

1. The samurai were a step inbetween european noble class and peasants and was class was big enough to number in the million give or take a couple hundred thousand. Unlike European nobles, the samurai class wasn't supposed to lead the army with an elite unit. They WERE the army, and knew no other crafts.

2. Despite being the army and doing way more than your average noble, the peasants still saw the samurai as basically oppressors and would discriminate them if given the cahcne

By abolishing the Samurai, you condemn nearly a million people to unemployement and discrimination, with little chance of getting another job because they only knew how to make war. This was quite simply a formula for rebellion as it's considerably unjust, steep change on a very integrated system.

To make matters worse, some of laws bordered on humilliation - you didn't need them to cut their hair, let them keep it as a fashion statement

Invading Korea was to many Samurai a good way to end their social class. They would have gladly gone underarmed as cannon fodder if it meant they got to die as their ideals dictated.

The Satsuma rebellion was not intentional but a product of typical japanese fanaticism / personality cults.

The whole concept behind the Ronin - unemployed "masterless" samurai that often turned to crime and thievery was an early symptom inherent to this Japanese social issue.

>>3044619
t. 1000 hours on sengoku musou