Hisamitsu continued to keep power in the Satsuma domain (Kagoshima Prefecture), however, it is said that when Haihan-chiken (abolition of domains and establishment of prefectures) was declared by the Grand Council of State under the leadership of Takamori SAIGO and Toshimichi OKUBO participating in the central government on August 29, 1871, he got very angry and ordered to set off fireworks the whole day in Kagoshima as a message protest.
久光は明治維新後も薩摩藩（鹿児島藩）における権力を握り続けたが、政府に出仕していた西郷隆盛や大久保利通らの主導で、明治4年（1871年）7月14日に太政官より廃藩置県が布告されると、鹿児島の久光はこれに激怒、抗議の意を込めて一日中花火を打ち上げさせたという。