More than 100 people, including daimyos (Japanese feudal lords), Kugyo (high court nobles), patriots supporting Sonno Joi (slogan advocating reverence for the Emperor and the expulsion of foreigners) and the Hitotsubashi group (group supporting Yoshinobu from the Hitotsubashi-Tokugawa family), were implicated in Ansei no Taigoku.
弾圧されたのは尊皇攘夷や一橋派の大名・公卿・志士（活動家）らで、連座した者は100人以上にのぼった。