Tosa, a feudal domain located in the southern part of Shikoku island with a castle town at Kochi in the Edo period, was one of the four domains which overthrew the Tokugawa shogunate and restored the Emperor to authority. The Tosa men soon found that they were effectively excluded from real power by men from Satsuma and Choshu and they withdrew into a position of opposition. They originated the earliest demands for elected assemblies which would govern the nation. During the Edo period, Tosa was prevented from having a national role because the domain was not allied with the Tokugawa house at the battle of Sekigahara in 1600.
