Choshu

Choshu

 

a principality in feudal Japan, in the southwestern part of the island of Honshu. Together with the principalities of Satsuma, Tosa, and Hizen, Choshu formed an antishogun coalition at the close of rule of the feudal house of Tokugawa (1603–1867). The samurai of Choshu had ties with bourgeois circles and played a prominent role in the events of the incomplete bourgeois revolution of 1867–68. In 1871, Choshu’s territory was annexed to Yamaguchi Prefecture. For several decades after the revolution, samurai from Choshu and Satsuma constituted a majority in the Japanese governments. They also occupied leading posts in the state apparatus and many high command posts in the army.