NHK's program "Heroes' Choices," which focuses on heroes who made decisions that greatly changed history, will broadcast "The Baton Relay to the Bloodless Surrender of Edo: The End of the Tokugawa Shogunate, Sanshu x Saigo Takamori" on NHK BS from 9:00 pm on May 12th. The program will look into the unknown behind-the-scenes of the bloodless surrender of Edo from the valuable notes left by the people involved.
The "bloodless surrender of Edo" is known as a miracle of the end of the Edo period. It was the life-risking struggle of the men known as "Sanshu" and Saigo Takamori that prevented an all-out war between the new government and the former Edo Shogunate by a hair's breadth.
At the end of the Edo period, a surprise meeting between Saigo Takamori and Katsu Kaishu is said to have saved the country from an all-out war between the new government forces, led by Satsuma and Choshu, and the former Edo Shogunate forces. Through talks between the two opposing forces, the plan to attack Edo was called off, and a miraculous peace was achieved.
This episode is known as the "bloodless surrender of Edo." However, it is said that this peace could not have been achieved without the brilliant cooperation of the "Three Shu" of the end of the Edo period: Kaishu, Takahashi Doshu, and Yamaoka Tesshu.
