Teradaya incident

The first one, in 1862 (also called the Teradaya Disturbance), was the suppression of Sonnō-jōi followers of the Satsuma domain; it was the first armed rebellion against the shogunate.

Around 60 to 70 samurai, led by Arima Shinshichi and including Ryōma as one of the progressives, met at the Teradaya inn to organize the assassinations of imperial counselor Kujō Hisatada and shogun's Kyoto representative Sakai Tadaaki to sever the relationship between the two powers.

As it was improbable that the ishin shishi would come without a fight, the daimyo sent nine Satsuma samurai under the leadership of Narahara Shigeru to attack the inn.

He was saved by the alarm raised by his future wife Narasaki Ryō (Oryō), who rushed naked or in her bathing towel from the bathroom to warn him.

Ryōma defended himself with a Smith & Wesson revolver; he was injured but escaped from the inn together with his bodyguard Miyoshi Shinzo and hid in a storehouse at a nearby canal, where Satsuma samurai rescued him.