Their failure to observe proper etiquette resulted in some argument, a chase, and one was killed, in what came to be known as the Namamugi Incident. Hisamitsu remained at the core of the "kōbu-gattai" movement in Kyoto, until Satsuma's secret alliance with men of Chōshu. He supported the Satsuma domain's military actions in the Boshin War, and retired soon after the Meiji Restoration. In the Meiji era, he was given the rank of duke (), the highest of the newly-created "kazoku" nobility and which was awarded for his clan's participation during the Restoration. Hisamitsu died in 1887, at age 70. He is buried in Kagoshima Prefecture. "From the article in the Japanese Wikipedia"