Mitsuaki TANAKA, who joined the war as a retainer of the Tosa clan and later became Minister of the Imperial Households and Secretary of the Cabinet, witnessed the white-faced soldiers of the Edo shogunate retreating at the sight of the Imperial standards in the battle fields, saying, 'We'd better stop fighting, otherwise we will become the enemy of the Emperor.'
当時土佐藩士として戦いに参加し、のちに宮内大臣や内閣書記官長などを歴任した田中光顕は、錦の御旗を知らしめただけで前線の幕府兵達が「このままでは朝敵になってしまう」と青ざめて退却する場面を目撃している。