Shinpei fled the battlefield in secret and met Saigo while bathing in the Unagi Onsen Hot Spring in Kagoshima Prefecture where he requested that the Satsuma Domain raise an army but he was refused before he subsequently visited and Hayashi Yuuzou and Kenkichi KATAOKA of Kochi Prefecture who he also attempted to persuade to launch an armed rebellion but neither accepted his proposal.
新平は戦場を密かに脱出し鹿児島・鰻温泉に湯治中の西郷に会い、薩摩の旗揚げを請うが断られ、続いて高知の林有造、片岡健吉のもとを訪ね武装蜂起を説くがいずれも容れられなかった。