Saigo Takamori

This statue of Saigo Takamori and his dog which stands in Tokyo's Ueno Park where the "Black Gate" of Kaneiji Temple, the site of the famous Battle of Ueno once stood, is a very popular backdrop for sightseers' photographs. In the battle, Saigo led his Satsuma troops in a head-on attack of the gate.

When I first saw this statue I had no idea who Saigo Takamori was, but I still remember being very taken with this unusual and impressive monument.

Saigo started life as the eldest son of a samurai of koshogumi rank. "Koshogumi" literally means "small name guard" and was the lowest rank of the "castle-town samurai." These were not the sort of circumstances that would normally portend the stature he eventually gained. His family lived in humble circumstances. Saigo's father struggled to support a wife and seven children on what he earned as a Satsuma domain tax official in Kagoshima, the castle town of Satsuma domain--present day Kagoshima Prefecture.

In 1843, at the age of 16, Saigo Takamori became a minor official in a rural tax office, a post he held for nine years. While there, Saigo submitted courageous petitions to the Satsuma domain government denouncing administrative corruption and proposing measures to alleviate peasant distress. It was perhaps these memos that brought him to the notice of the daimyo of Satsuma domain, Lord Shimazu Nariakira. In 1854, Saigo as one of several promising young men Lord Nariakira selected to do intelligence work, and other duties requiring discretion, in Edo, the capital now known as Tokyo.

Saigo was in the capital during one of the most eventful times in Japanese history. In 1853, Commodore Matthew Perry arrived with his four "Black Ships" and a letter from President Millard Fillmore, demanding that Japan open its ports to foreign trade. At first rebuffed, he returned one year later, this time steaming right into Yokohama harbor with seven ships, which Saigo saw firsthand, as he and the rest of Lord Nariakira's retinue made its way through Yokohama on their way to Edo.

Saigo continued to be given more responsibility by Lord Nariakira. In 1856, he entered the daimyo's inner circle of retainers, those involved in the most important issues of Satsuma domain affairs--a station far above his rank. In 1858, he was in Kyoto, sounding out the Imperial Court on a possible alliance to prevent the Tokugawa Shogunate from making anymore concessions to foreign pressure, using an activist Buddhist priest--an outspoken imperial loyalist named Gessho--as a liasion between himself and the Imperial Court.

Suddenly, back in Satsuma, Lord Nariakira took ill. A few days later, he was dead.

Lord Nariakira's death shocked the country--it was widely suspected that he had been poisoned. A comtemporary, a Dr. Pompe van Meerdervoort who was affiliated with the Dutch navy in Nagasaki, had this to say:

(Lord Nariakira was) "...possibly the most important person in the country; because of his influence on the Emperor and his government, and also because of his own power and erudition, he was regarded as the reformer of Japan...it is not improbable that he was poisoned."

With Lord Nariakira out of the way, the Tokugawa government, led by Regent Ii Naosuke, launched a crackdown on anti-Shogunal activity known as the Ansei purge. Arrest warrants were issued on anyone suspected of anti-shogunal sympathies. This included Saigo Takamori, who had been associating with imperial loylists who were hostile to the Tokugawa Shogunate.

With the death of the daimyo, Saigo was determined to commit Junshi, that is kill himself in order to join his lord in death. He was dissuaded from this by Gessho. The pro-imperial activist Buddhist priest was also wanted by the shogunal authorities. Saigo promised Gessho's contact in the imperial court, Konoe Tadahiro, that he would protect Gessho, and so the two of them traveled to Kagoshima in Satsuma, in the hopes of being granted asylum. But Shimazu Hisamitsu--the brother of Nariakira who had been made regent in light of the former's death--refused to protect Gessho from the shogunal agents who were already in Satsuma, searching for Gessho and Saigo both. Unable to fulfill his promise to protect Gessho, Saigo proposed a suicide pact, and the two of them threw themselves into the icy winter waters of Kinko Bay. They were pulled from the waters by the men manning the skiff they'd been crossing the bay on. Saigo survived his near drowning, but Gessho could not be revived.

Satsuma officials reported to the Tokugawa authorities that Gessho and Saigo had both drowned. They produced Gessho's corpse as evidence and claimed that Saigo's body had not been recovered. Finally, partly for his own protection, Saigo was exiled to the island of Amami Oshima, in southern Satsuma. He lived there under an assumed name from 1859 to 1864.

The timing of Perry's arrival was unfortunate for the Tokugawa government in that the 12th Shogun, Tokugawa Ieyoshi (reign: 1837-1853), was sixty-years-old at the time, and not in good health--in fact he died just days after Perry steamed back out of Tokyo Bay, promising to return with a larger force in one year's time.

His heir, Tokugawa Iesada was only twenty-nine years old at the time he became Shogun, but he was physically infirm (modern analysis of his condition indicates that he suffered from epilepsy). He died childless in 1858, a scant five years after having assumed office. Even so, momentous and contentious change happened during his reign. As he had promised, Perry returned one year later and pressured the Shogunate into signing of the so-called Unequal Treaties. The first of which was the Convention of Kanagawa, (signed on March 31, 1854--two days before Saigo saw Perry's fleet on his way to Edo which stipulated that the Japanese ports of Shimoda and Hakodate peaceably receive and resupply American ships, and the most contentious of which was the Harris Treaty (July 29, 1858) which opened up four more Japanese ports. For Japanese, especially the nationalistic and xenophobic supporters of the sonno joi movement, the most risible articles in the Harris Treaty were article VI, which guaranteed that any American who committed a crime in Japan would be tried in an American Consular court and punished according to American law, and article VIII, which granted Americans the right to freely practice their religion in Japan. The Harris Treaty also granted American citizens the right to reside in specified Japanese cities, including Edo and Osaka. This officially ended the sakoku, or era of seclusion, during which no foreigner could enter the country, and no Japanese could leave it upon penalty of death.

The fact that Tokugawa Iesada had died childless caused a succession crisis. Iesada's cousin, Tokugawa Iemochi, was next in line to assume the office of shogun, but unfortunately, he was only twelve-years-old. Having a minor serve as Shogun was not unprecedented, and in ordinary times would not have been problematic. In such cases a Tairo, or Regent, who would be responsible for the day to day running of the government until the Shogun reached maturity, was appointed. As things played out, the daimyo of Hikone, Ii Naosuke was appointed Tairo, thereby becoming the most powerful man in Japan.

But these, of course, were not ordinary times. A number of daimyo, including Shimazu Nariakira, supported an alternative candidate to succeed Tokugawa Iesada as shogun: Hitotsubashi Keiki, whom they promoted as being a "healthy, mature, intelligent adult. Keiki's supporters felt that in this time of crisis, Japan needed a capable leader and radical reforms to revitalize the military and renegotiate the Unequal Treaties.

But the reformers were adroitly outmaneuvered by Ii Naosuke. He was able to assure the succession of Tokugawa Iemochi as the 14th Shogun, and the continuance of his own hold on power.

Regent Ii, concerned about growing anti-shogunal sentiment in response to the signign of the Harris Treaty, cracked down hard on those daimyo who had pushed for Keiki to become shogun and opposed the signing of the Harris Treaty in what came to be known as the Ansei Purge. During 1858 and 1859 he systematically targeted the leading fifures in the Imperial loyalists movement, having over 100 people in the bakufu, various domains, and imperial court arrested--eight of whom were executed.

Ii Naosuke's heavy-handed tactics backfired, tending to crystallize opposition to the Shogunate rather than quell it, and finally resulting in his assassination on March 3, 1860 at the hands of 18 young samurai loyalists who cut him down infront of the Sakuradamon gate of Edo Castle, in what came to be known as the Sakuradamon Incident.

Ii Naosuke's death resulted in a power vacuum that brought on a decade of escalating violence which ended with Saigo Takamori's victory in the Boshin War of
1868-1869, and the establishment of the Meiji Imperial govenment.

Saigo's exile ended in 1864 when he was pardoned by Shimazu Hisamitsu and sent to Kyoto as Satsuma domain's representative to the Imperial court, which put him in charge of the Satsuma forces based there.

Kyoto was at this time the epicenter of anti-bakufu activism, which demanded a return to the sakoku, or exclusion policy, and the expulsion of all foreigners. The Satsuma men soon saw action when they joined with Aizu domain and Shogunal forces to prevent radical pro-imperial samurai from Choshu domain from capturing the imperial palace. Under the slogan sonno joi (revere the Emperor, expel the barbarians), the radicals sought to capture the imperial palace and ensconce Emperor Komei as both the spiritual and political leader of Japan.

Choshu could muster a force of only 1,300 men, while the combined Satsuma, Aizu and shogunal forces had 40,000 samurai warriors. On August 20, 1864 they clashed at Hamaguri Gate, one of the nine Forbidden Gates of the Imperial palace. Due to their inferior numbers, and Satsuma's cannons, the Choshu radicals were easily defeated in the bloody battle. Kyoto however suffered great damage from the fires that were set during the fighting: two-thirds of Kyoto was reduced to ashes by the conflagration that was blamed on the fleeing rebels.

Choshu domain and Satsuma domain were traditional enemies, but thanks in part to the good offices and persuasive powers of Sakamoto Ryoma, Saigo Takamori concluded a treaty with Choshu domain called the Satcho Alliance. Saigo Takamori had begun to lose confidence in the Shoguanate. As he observed their increasingly desperate and inconsistent attempts to reassert their authority, he predicted that the Tokugawa Shogunate would soon collapse of its own accord.

1866 was an eventful year. Late that year, Shogun Tokugawa Iemochi died, followed shortly there after by Emperor Komei. They were suceeded by Tokugawa Yoshinobu and Emperor Meiji respectively.

Bowing to mounting pressure from pro-imperial forces, Tokugawa Yoshinobu resigned as shogun in November of 1867. On January 3, 1868 Satsuma and Choshu hardliners seized the Imperial palace and had the fifteen-year-old Meiji Emperor declare his own restoration to full power. Although the majority of the imperial consultative assembly was happy with the formal declaration of direct rule by the court and tended to support a continued collaboration with the Tokugawa shogunate, Saigo Takamori adamantly demanded that the assembly abolish the title "shogun" and order the confiscation of Yoshinobu's lands. In reaction to this hard line, Tokugawa Yoshinobu however continued to be vague about just how much of his power and possessions he had given up, and continued maneuvering to keep as much of both as he possibly could.

In late January of 1868, the remaining pro-bakufu forces were defeated by the newly designated "imperial forces," consisting of the allied forces of Satsuma, Choshu and Tosa domains, at Toba and Fushimi outside Kyoto. These battles--which lasted four days and ended with a decisive defeat for the Tokugawa Shogunate--marked the end of 268 years of the Tokugawa Shogunate's control of Japan, and the beginning of the Meiji era. They also represented the beginning of a civil conflict, known as the Boshin War, that raged throughout most of 1868.

Saigo Takamori led the victorious imperial forces north and east through Japan, winning the Battle of Koshu-Katsunuma. He eventually surrounded Edo in May 1868, leading to its unconditional defeat after Katsu Kaishu, the Shogun's Army Minister, negotiated the surrender. Some groups continued to resist after this surrender but were defeated in the Battle of Ueno on 4 July 1868.

On October 26, Edo was renamed Tokyo, and the Meiji period officially started. Aizu was besieged starting that month, leading to the mass suicide of the Byakkotai (White Tiger Corps) young warriors. After a protracted month-long battle, Aizu finally admitted defeat on November 6, 1868.

In 1869, Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo was built in honour of the victims of the Boshin War.

Though Emperor Meiji was the nominal head of the new government which took his name, he was only sixteen-years-old at the time of the Meiji Restoration, and in fact never showed much interest in actually governing even after he reached adulthood. The men who governed the new Japan were the Genro, or oligarchs, who were for the most part former samurai from the Satsuma and Choshu domains. In recognition of his prowess as a military leader, Saigo was given command of the new Imperial Guard, and also appointed to be a sangi, or Imperial councilor.

In 1873, Saigo was unable to gain acceptance from other government officials, including the influential Okubo Toshimichi and Saigo's own younger brother, Saigo Tsugumichi for his plan to start a war with Korea. One reason he wanted to invade Korea was to provide a role for the many disaffected samurai who had already lost most of their traditional privileges; the survival of the samurai as a class was one of his abiding concerns.

When he failed to gain adequate support for his plan, he resigned all of his government posts and returned to what was now known as, not Satsuma domain, but Kagoshima Prefecture.

Six months after returning to Satsuma, Saigo set up a system of shigakko, or private schools. Though called "schools", the shigakko were in fact military academies that taught some academic subjects, but stressed weapon competence, military tactics and bushido philosophy. The teachers and most of the students of the first established schools were former officers and soldiers of the Imperial Guard who had followed Saigo back to Satsuma shorly after his resignation. By 1876, 132 of these academies had been set up across Kagoshima Prefecture.

For several reasons, the central government would not be likely to take the possibility of a rebellion arising in Satsuma lightly. Satsuma samurai were by reputation the most fearsome in Japan. Add to that the fact that not only was Satsuma the domain through which guns were first introduced into Japan--back in 1543, when a Portuguese ship blown off course landed on the domain's Tanegashima island--but even in the early Meiji era, Satsuma still had the largest weapon's stockpile of any of the former han.

Satsuma also had the highest ratio of samurai to overall population: samurai accounted for nearly one quarter of the total population; a quarter of the population whose privileges as an elite class had recently been revoked by the Meiji government. The wearing of swords in public was banned in March of 1876. For many samurai, this was too much to stomach. A samurai's sword was said to be his very soul, and his right to proudly bear two swords was a sacred custom and a reflection of the greatness of their class and of Japan. Disaffected samurai joined the shigakko, and later the rebel army, in droves.

In late 1876, the Meiji government sent spies to to infiltrate the shigakko, to gather intelligence, instigate dissension, and generally undermine the movement. In the first week of Febraury, 1887, 58 of these spies were rounded up by the prefectural government. After their arrest, a rumor that several of them had confessed under torture to having been sent to assassinate Saigo Takamori began to circulate. Obviously this did nothing to lessen the tensions mounting on both sides.

Just a few days earlier, on January 30, 1877, a Meiji imperial warship ship had sailed into Kagoshima Bay and, without explanation, begun removing arms stockpiled at the Somuta Arsenal, with the intention of transporting them to Osaka. Outraged by what they perceived to be high-handed tactics by the central government, 50 students from Saigo's shigakko academy attacked the Somuta Arsenal and attempted to carry off arms. Over the next three days, more than 1000 students carried out raids on the Kagoshima naval yards and the Iso Arsenal, making off with 84,000 rounds of ammunition. When the government ship left Kagoshima, empty-handed, the students siezed the arms factories and began churning out weapons.

The stage was being set for an epic clash. At peak strength, the Satsuma rebels were able to muster a force of 20,000 well-armed samurai. To quell the fledgling rebellion--which had the potential to spread rapidly as disaffection was high among former samurai across the nation--the Meiji government initially sent 33,000 soldiers, plus reinforcements of 30,000 men before the end of the fighting, under the command of Yamagata Aritomo, the war minister and surpreme commander of the military--and a former comrade and peer of Saigo's in the Meiji Restoration and government.

This civil war lasted for seven months of constant fighting of a scale and intensity far greater than had been seen during the bakumatsu, that is, the struggle to defeat the Shogun and restore the Emperor to true political power that Takamori Saigo had been so instrumental in.



Where things finally came to a head was at Kumamoto castle, located in Kumamoto Prefecture, in the center of Kyushu island. (1877-02-19 - 1877-04-12) On February 22, Saigo Takamori and 9,000 samurai surrounded the castle, inside of which were Major General Tani Taketa and 4,400 conscript soldiers. Saigo believed that his well-armed warriors, pitted against a smaller force of commoners, could easily take the castle. With more valor than discretion, Saigo's samurai threw themselves at the nearly impregnable walls of Kumamoto Castle for two bloody days, only to be repulsed again and again. Finally, Saigo ordered 3,000 of his men to dig in and wait out the enemy soldiers ensconced in the castle. The remaining rebels were sent to guard the mountain passes north of Kumamoto. They encountered government troops, with whom they had several undecisive skirmishes before disengaging.

A large number of Kumamoto's former samurai flocked to join Saigo's rebel forces, swelling their total number to 20,000. But the government troops also received reinforcements.

On March 4, the government forces attacked the rebels at Tabaruzuka. This action developed into the eight-day Battle of Tabaruzuka. In the end, both sides had suffered more than 4,000 casualties.



Meanwhile, the Meiji government had sent three ships loaded with soldiers to Kagoshima, which arrived on March 8. The government troops seized Kagoshima's arsenals and arrested the prefectural governor--cutting off Saigo's supply line.

They also landed two infrantry brigades at Yatsushiro Bay, Kumamoto--in the rear of the rebels' position around Kumamoto Castle. Saigo's forces were in danger of being caught in a pincer movement, but managed to escape and retreat 100 miles east. After seven days of trudging through rugged terrain, Saigo and his 8,000 remaining men arrived in Hitoyoshi city.

The Imperial forces spent several weeks regrouping, but then attacked again, eventually cornering the rebels in the coastal city of Nobeoka. The Imperial troops once again surrounded the rebels and inflicted heavy causualties on them, but Saigo and his men were able to break through the ring of imperial soldiers and escape to Mount Enodake. By this time there were only 3,000 of them remaining, and they had lost virtually all their modern armaments.

Once again, they were surrounded. They were outnumbered 7 to 1. A large number of the samurai surrendered, but a small contingent managed to slip away in the fog, carrying Saigo (who was unable to walk due to hydrocele) on an improvised litter.

Saigo Takamori and his 500 remaining men were able to make their way back to Kagoshima, arm themselves with a few pieces of artillery from the shigakko, some food from the local people and hole up on top of Shiroyama, a 107 meter high hill in the center of Kagoshima City, near Kagoshima harbor. It didn't take the government troops long to find Saigo, and they were once more surrounded, and vastly outnumbered. General Yamagata surrounded Shiryama with 30,000 imperial troops, giving him a 60 to 1 advantage. Yamagata was not about to let Saigo escape again. He ordered his troops to build an elaborate system of ditches, walls and other obstacles--elaborate enough that the work took several days to complete. He also had five warships positioned in the harbor, from where they pounded Shiroyama with a total of 7,ooo shells.

Yamagata had a letter delivered to Saigo, in which he asked for the fifty-year-old samurai's surrender. Saigo refused the offer and spent his last night, apparently in good spirits, drinking sake in a fox hole with some of his men.

At 3:00 a.m. on the night of September 24th, 1877, imperial soldiers stormed Shiroyama mountain. Three hours later, only 40 rebels were left alive. Saigo was wounded in the thigh and stomach. To avoid an ignomious death, Saigo had one of his most loyal men, Shinsuke Beppu cut off his head, the traditional coup de grace of the act of seppuku, or ritual suicide. Also following samurai tradition, Saigo's head was hidden, to prevent it from falling into enemy hands. Finally, the remaining samurai warriors drew their swords charged down the hill toward the imperial soldiers until every last one of them had been killed.

So ended the battle of Shiroyama, so ended the Satsuma Rebellion, and so ended an era. The great Saigo Takamori and his samurai warriors had been defeated by a modern conscript army of peasant soldiers. This was the first triumph of a modern Japanese military that 17 years hence would humble China in the Sino-Japanese war, and just 27 years after defeating Saigo, would be the first Asian force to defeat a Western nation on equal terms in the modern era when Japan decisively bested Russia--devastating the Russian navy in the process--in the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-1905.