Satsuma, a feudal domain located in the southern part of Kyushu with a castle town at Kagoshima, was ruled during the Edo period by the Shimazu family. Satsuma was one of the four domains which overthrew the Tokugawa shogunate and restored the Emperor to authority. Men from Satsuma and Choshu dominated government in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. During the Edo period, Satsuma was prevented from having a national role because the domain fought against the Tokugawa house at the battle of Sekigahara in 1600.
