But in other respects this bold reform created a number of serious
difficulties. The _samurai_ class as a whole was plunged into great
distress. A few of them, especially those from the western clans,
immediately won high positions in the new government. But most of them
were left to sink or swim in a strange new world. Their small pension
payments soon dribbled away, and it was hard for them to find means of
support. They had other grievances. A law of 1877 forbade them to wear
their two swords--traditional mark of honor of the _samurai_ class.
1877, too, was the year when the _samurai_ were replaced by the new
conscript army. During this critical year a serious military revolt,
centering in Satsuma but joined by all the forces opposed to the new
order, broke out. It was crushed by the Imperial government’s new army,
made up largely of commoners and partly modernized. Thus the last
challenge to the new order was defeated.