A Hero of the Meiji Restoration who Saved Edo from the Fires of War

SAIGO Takamori

Ueno Park is known as a prominent cherry blossom viewing spot, and in the park is a statue of a man walking with a dog. The man in Japanese clothing is SAIGO Takamori (1827~1877). Who was he?

In 1868, the Emperor's army marched from Kyoto to Edo (present day Tokyo) to make the final attack to end the Tokugawa Shogunate which had lasted about 260 years. The Emperor's supporters decided to launch an all-out attack on March 15 against Edo where the Shogun resided. The Emperor's followers stood up to build a modern nation with the Emperor as their leader. The military commander was Saigo.

Generation after generation, the Emperor was regarded as the sovereign of Japan and the Shogun was to be the Emperor's commander who was appointed by the Emperor himself. However, after MINAMOTO Yoritomo, a warrior who became a Shogun and started his Shogunate in Kamakura in 1192, the Shogun took real power, not only militarily, but also politically and economically. Then after TOKUGAWA Ieyasu became a Shogun and started the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1603, the Tokugawa family took over the Shogunate generation after generation and governed Japan with a unique political system that included a policy of isolation and a caste system (warriors were the highest rank, followed by farmers, artisans and tradesmen).

However, in the latter half of the 19th century, the Edo Shogunate was forced by the U.S.A and Europe to open Japan's ports and begin trading. At the same time a new power was rising in Japan that aimed to modernize the country. This was a turning point in the nation's history. The main power for modernizing Japan was the allied force of Satsuma (Saigo's home province and at present Kagoshima prefecture) and Choshu (at present Yamaguchi prefecture).

In the war against the Shogunate, Satsuma and Choshu were successful in gaining the support of the Emperor whose influence still remained at the time. Due to this event they could become the Emperor's official army and the Tokugawa family became traitors. One year earlier, Tokugawa Yoshinobu, who was destined to be the last Shogun, sensed the crisis and suddenly returned the sovereignty to the Emperor. Yoshinobu was also yearning for Japan's modernization while maintaining the influence of Tokugawa. Yoshinobu calculated that the Imperial Court that had entrusted the Shogunate with ruling power for a long time must have no ability to govern the country and would entrust the Shogunate with power again. Actually the Imperial Court was greatly perplexed, and as Yoshinobu had calculated, some Imperial Court noblemen suggested entrusting the Shogunate with power again.

Consideration for the leader of the defeated army
However, the leaders of Satsuma and Choshu, including Saigo, claimed that there would be no modernization unless the Tokugawa family was completely vanquished. This led them to prepare their armies to launch an all-out attack on Edo. To prevent a crisis, the Shogunate planned to set fire to the entire city to stop the invasion. If this occurred, great disaster would not be avoided.

KATSU Kaishuu, the actual decision-maker in the Shogunate, felt misgivings about the situation. He ordered his subordinate YAMAOKA Teshu to pass on a letter to Saigo in which the conditions of surrender were explained. In spite of his life, Teshu, a master of sword and Zen, entered the enemy's site and met Saigo, who was deeply moved by his bravery and met Katsu at the Satsuma residence in Shinagawa, Tokyo on March 14, one day before the planned all-out attack. This was the famous Saigo & Katsu meeting, the story of which has been passed down to the present.

Katsu persuaded Saigo saying, "people of Satsuma-Choshu and Tokugawa are all the same Japanese. There is no meaning in killing each other." Saigo accepted Katsu's proposal. Yoshinobu left the Edo castle without fighting and Edo was saved from being burned.

After that Saigo became a council member of the new Meiji cabinet, but as he was defeated in a dispute over the invasion of Korea, he resigned and left for his home town of Kagoshima. There he opened a private school and educated the sons of former samurai. In 1877, the samurai of Kagoshima who were dissatisfied with the Meiji government rebelled against them. Saigo was asked to be the leader and fought with the government forces. His military was defeated and he killed himself. He was 50 years old. Among the leaders of the Meiji Restoration, Saigo, who had a strong sense of humanity, is still popular even now.

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