the samurai of Fukui Domain, which would march on Kyoto and would be led by Matsudaira Mochiaki. Although Satsuma Domain, Kumamoto Domain and Kaga Domain amenable to the idea and there was no immediate opposition from Emperor Kōmei, his appeals to other domains went unanswered and the shogunate was not supportive, so the proposed coup never took place. Instead, there were increasing acts of assassination against members of the Tokugawa clan by pro-Sonnō jōi rōnin. After purge of Chōshū Domain by Aizu Domain and Satsuma Domain (The coup of 18 August) and Kinmon Incident, Matsudaira Shungaku returned to Kyoto in 1867 as a member of the Sanyo Kagi (参預会議), a short-lived consultative assembly consisting of Tokugawa Yoshinobu, Shimazu Hisamitsu, Date Munenari, Matsudaira Katamori and Yamauchi Yōdō. This congress was aimed at diminishing the power of the Shogunate and establishing a council system of government by the Imperial Court with select major domains. Meetings were held eight times at Shungaku's residence, and discussions were held on opening of Hyogo (Kobe) Port to other nations and on how to respond to the threat posed by Chōshū Domain. The system didn't function well because of conflicts between then members, especially the personal enmity between Shimazu Hisamitsu and Tokugawa Yoshinobu. On 22 March 1864 Shungaku replaced Matsudaira Katamori as Military Commissioner of Kyoto, but he resigned on 7 April. On October 1867, Yoshinobu resigned as shōgun, returning political power to the Imperial Court, but tried to maintain Tokugawa hegemony as the most powerful of the feudal lords. In the subsequent Boshin War, Shungaku acted as an intermediary until the final surrender of the pro-Tokugawa forces in 1869. In 1868, his court rank was elevated to Junior Second Rank, and his courtesy title to Gon-Chūnagon. His court rank became Senior Second Rank in 1869. After Meiji restoration In new Meiji government he served in a number of cabinet-equivalent posts, including Chief Executive of Internal Affairs, but soon resigned all posts in protest of the domination of the Meiji government by members of the former Chōshū and Satsuma domains. In 1870, Shungaku invited William Elliot Griffis to Japan as an oyatoi gaikokujin to teach in Fukui. Together with Ikeda Mochimasa and Date Munenari, he helped write the Tokugawa reiten roku, a compilation of records of Tokugawa shogunate ritual protocol, in 1881. He was also awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, second class in 1881 and