However, the riots were brutally suppressed by the Meiji government, which adopted a "shoot-to-kill" policy and brought in hired samurai mercenaries when police proved ineffective.
Conscription deprived impoverished farming villages of strong young men at the peak of their physical prowess whose strength was desperately needed to perform manual labor.
[2][3] Similarly, mandatory public schooling deprived peasant families of their children's labor, which was needed to help with the planting and harvesting of crops.
"[8] Seizing on the injudicious use of this phrase, wild rumors spread throughout the countryside that government agents were coming to literally extract blood from peasants and sell it to foreigners who would use it to make medicines, helping further fuel popular outrage.
[11] Affected prefectures included Kyoto, Okayama, Fukui, Mie, Tottori, Hiroshima, Shimane, Kagawa, Ehime, and Kōchi.
[22] When local police forces proved unable to contain the violence, the government hired bands of samurai mercenaries to restore order.