Satsuma’s acquisitions were seen to have included a steam lathe, and there likewise was a glass works in full operation. Saigo Takamori being temporarily in exile, he was not there personally to attend to the training of the Satsuma rank and file, but it was carried on by his lieutenants with ardour, in view of possible eventualities, and the general impression created was that the Satsuma clan had resolved to make the best use of the knowledge that it had gained of the power of modern weapons, and of Western inventions and appliances, and would thenceforward seek by every means at command to maintain its position in the van of Japan’s progress. In 1865 Saigo was again prominent at Kagoshima, having been restored to favour by his feudal lord, and he seems to have had a great share in the direction of affairs in his native province, more particularly in respect of the preparations that the clan was then making for taking a leading part in the conflict which it was becoming more and more evident would occur in the near future between the followers of the Tokugawa house and the supporters of O-Sei—_i.e._ Imperial Government. Saigo’s personal efforts were directed to the drilling of a competent force, capable of making the best use of modern weapons, and when, in the first month of 1867, the Emperor Komei died at Kioto, and was succeeded on the throne by the present sovereign, Satsuma was able to place at the service of the new administration a fairly well-equipped contingent of riflemen, under the leadership of Saigo Takamori himself. For a considerable portion of the first year of the Meiji era there was warfare between the troops of the Shogun and the Choshiu clan, and in January 1868 came the _coup d’état_ at Kioto by which the Aidzu clansmen were relieved of the guardianship of the Nine Gates of the capital and the duty was undertaken by the drilled forces of Satsuma and Choshiu combined. In the memorable battle at Fushimi, seven miles from Kioto on the Osaka road, Saigo was leader of the imperial troops opposed to those of the Tokugawa Shogunate, and exhibited on that occasion marked military genius as well as great personal bravery. His coolness under fire was ever a subject of intense admiration to his comrades, and it was conspicuous in this fiercest of engagements, lasting for three days, at the very outset of the Meiji era.