The Defeat of Saigo

On the banks of the Kitagawa River north of Nobeoka in Miyazaki is the Saigo Takamori Memorila Museum. On this site Saigo nade a temporary headquarters following the disasterous battle of Wadagoe in the mountains nearby.

Now reduced to probably only 3,000 men, and having lost all his artillery, Saigo declared the war over and ordered his army to surrender. With a few hundred of his most loyal followers he somehow managed to escape over the mountains and headed back towards Kagoshima and his suicidal last stand against the government forces.

The small museum has recently been renovated and improved, and the admission fee removed. There are quite a few materials on the battle, artifacts from the war, a replica of the uniform Saigo burned here, and the centrepiece is a tableau featuring Saigo and his men.

Just a few hundred meters away , and also recently renovated, is a small park containing what is claimed to be the burial mound of Ninigi, sent to Japan to rule on behalf of Amaterasu the sun goddess.