A strategic base of the Meiji Restoration.

The Choshu Domain was the domain in which the currents of the “Meiji Restoration” started and played a central role in it.
Yamaguchi City became one of the main settings of the Meiji Restoration as a strategic base.

Mori Takachika, feudal load of the Choshu Domain, moved its administrative headquarters from Hagi to Yamaguchi in 1863 and that triggered Yamaguchi City becoming a strategic base of the Meiji Restoration.

Kido Takayoshi, Saigo Takamori and Okubo Toshimichi, three Heroes of the Restoration, many times had secret conferences about the Satsuma-Choshu Alliance at “Chinryutei”, which was a house separated from the main building of the Abe family. Ito Hirobumi and Inoue Kaoru, known as the Choshu Five, Kusaka Genzui and Takasugi Shinsaku got together and talked about matters of national importance at “Jippotei”, which was a house separated from the main building of the Bandai family.

After that, many patriots of the Meiji Restoration visited Yamaguchi such as Sanjo Sanetomi, Sakamoto Ryoma and Omura Masujiro, and Yamaguchi came to play an important role in overthrowing the Shogunate and establishing the Meiji Restoration.