for previous Chōshū attempts to seize control of Kyoto. At first, conservative forces, which favored conciliation with the Bakufu in order to secure the domain, were dominant in Chōshū politics, and Takasugi and some of his compatriots had to leave the domain to avoid renewed imprisonment. Takasugi, with only about a dozen followers, including future political leaders Yamagata Aritomo, Itō Hirobumi and Inoue Kaoru, gathered in Kokura in Kyūshū and prepared an attack on the conservative forces in Chōshū. The subsequent Chōshū civil war began on 13 January 1865. Takasugi played a major role in this civil war and his former Kiheitai militia proved its superiority over old-fashioned samurai forces. With a series of quick strikes and the support of Katsura Kogorō, Takasugi achieved victory by March 1865. He became one of the main arbiters of the Chōshū domain's policy and continued to act as the domain's expert on Western military science, devoting his efforts to importing arms and raising troops. These reforms proved to be successful when Chōshū was victorious on four fronts against the Bakufu's Second Chōshū expedition on 7 June 1866, with the Kiheitai itself securing victory on two fronts. Takasugi's efforts had made a small-scale 'nation in arms' out of Chōshū, giving it a military strength out of proportion to its relatively small size. With its victory over the Tokugawa forces, the military power of the Bakufu was discredited, and traditionally rival domains decided to join forces with Chōshū in the subsequent battles which will eventually led to the end of the Tokugawa bakufu and the start of the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Death Takasugi did not live to see this success as his tuberculosis got worse in October 1866, after which he was moved to a residence of the bar manager Hayashi Sankuro. His mistress O-Uno and the Buddhist nun and poet Nomura Bōtō nursed him there. Around February 1867, his wife Masa and their three year-old son Tōichi (aka Takasugi Umenoshin) (1864–1913) arrived from Hagi to visit him. Due to the presence of his wife and not wishing to sully Takasugi's name, O-Uno left and became a Buddhist nun under the name of Tani Baisho, but was later summoned back by Masa to look after him. However in March 1867, Takasugi's illness worsened yet again, Masa and Tōichi were summoned back to Hagi, while Baisho stayed with him until his death on 17 May