ABSTRACT
In 1868 the ex-Shogun, Prince Tokugawa, retired to Osaka, after an interview with the Emperor at Kyoto; and it was from that he marched to the fatal battle of Fushimi. When that day was lost, he fled back to Osaka, and went on board a ship, first warning the foreigners—who had only entered the Concession a few months previously—that he could no longer guarantee their safety. When the Daimyo got into difficulties, the Osaka guild endorsed their paper, and refunded themselves when the next rice crop was sold at the Exchange. Under the Tokugawa, Osaka paid no tax to the central government except an annual "gift" of ten thousand rio; it had its own local administration, its own assembly of elders. Osaka is not actually on the sea, but near the mouth of the Yodogawa, which drains lake Biwa, and oceangoing steamers cannot come to it.
