 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (March 2023) |
| Date | February 4, 1868 |
|---|---|
| Location | Between Tamondori and the Ikuta Shrine in Kobe |
| Also known as | Bizen incident |
| Cause | Tension between marching Japanese Imperial-allied forces of Bizen province and foreign soldiers along the route. |
| Participants |
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| Outcome | Temporary occupation of central Kobe by foreign forces, lifted after execution by seppuku of Japanese squad leader; official transition of international relations from Shogunal to Imperial hands. |
| Convicted | Taki Zenzaburo (jp) |
The Kobe incident (Japanese: 神戸事件, Hepburn: kōbe jiken), also known in Japanese as the Bizen incident (備前事件, bizen jiken) and in English as the Bizen affray or Bizen affair, was a diplomatic incident between Imperial Japan and several Western powers, caused by a skirmish on February 4, 1868, between Bizen soldiers and foreign sailors. It developed into a crisis in Franco–Japanese relations, becoming the first major international affairs challenge for the fledgling Imperial faction.
The incident occurred during a period of time very shortly after Hyōgo Port was opened to trade, and a day after the outbreak of fighting in Kyoto, leading to the Boshin war. A column of soldiers from Bizen marched through the city to the proposed location of the foreign settlement (then an empty plain) on their way to garrison Nishinomiya. While en route through the city, two French sailors walked in front of the column of the Bizen troops, a severe slight in Japanese martial culture, prompting one of the officers leading the march to shoot one of the sailors. Great alarm was stirred among the foreigners, some sailors and marines were debarked from the British flotilla, thereupon pursued the Bizen soldiers to the hills where a skirmish ensued, in which one Japanese old woman was wounded in both heels by a bullet and a porter who was hiding near a road was nearly killed by the foreign soldiers. The community of foreign merchants and soldiers were living and working in the Kobe foreign settlement. In response, the foreign militaries seized nearby Japanese warships and occupied the center of the city under the pretense of protecting their settlement. The Imperial court sent a representative to negotiate and inform the Westerners that power had shifted from the Tokugawa Shogunate to the newly-formed Imperial government. The Western representatives demanded Taki Zenzaburo, who was involved, be executed; Taki committed ceremonial seppuku on March 3.