The fourteenth shogun Yoshikatsu TOKUGAWA returned from Kyoto after political treatments of the Taisei Hokan (transfer of power back to the Emperor) and on the day the order of crackdown was issued, which suggests that a sort of secret order was issued from the Imperial Court but the truth is not clear even now.
それまで京都で大政奉還後の政治的処理を行っていた14代藩主徳川慶勝が帰国し、その日のうちに弾圧の命令が出ていることから、何らかの密命を朝廷より下されたと思われるが、真相はいまだにはっきりしていない。