Satsuma [key], peninsula, Kagoshima prefecture, SW Kyushu, Japan. It gives its name to a famous porcelain, Satsuma ware, which was first manufactured there by Korean artisans in the 16th cent. As a feudal province, Satsuma was controlled by the powerful Shimazu clan, which exacted tribute from the Ryukyu Islands from the 17th to the 19th cent. and developed Satsuma into one of the most advanced areas in 19th-century Japan. Kagoshima, the capital of Satsuma, was a center of Western influence in Japan. In 1877, Takamori Saigo led the Satsuma clansmen in a rebellion against the imperial government. This rebellion, suppressed by the imperial army, was the last serious internal threat to the Meiji restoration.
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