Assassinated Doji Yoshie, the Imperial Minister for Gaijin Affairs just outside of the Imperial Palace. The following note was found on the bodies of the dead conspirators.
“It is entirely against the interest of the country and a stain on the national honor to open up commercial relations with foreigners, to admit foreigners into the Imperial Palace, and to allow their ambassadors to reside in the land.
Therefore, we have consecrated ourselves to be the instruments of Heaven to punish this wicked woman, and we have taken on ourselves the duty of ending a serious evil, by killing this atrocious autocrat.”