Takamori Saigo

Takamori Saigo (1827-1877), Japanese statesman, one of the “Three Heroes” of the Meiji Restoration, with Takayoshi Kido and Toshimichi Okubo. Born in Kagoshima on Kyushu, to a poor samurai family, Saigo was raised in the spartan local samurai tradition and studied at the official school of the Shimazu clan, lords of Satsuma fief, with Toshimichi Okubo.

Saigo's remarkable size and strength (he was a keen sumo wrestler) made him energetic and popular. He backed pro-imperial forces within his domain against the Tokugawa dynasty of shoguns, and left Satsuma in 1854 to assist his lord, Shimazu Nariakira, in anti-shogunal manoeuvres in Edo (now Tokyo). After Nariakira's sudden death in 1858, Saigo fled the Ansei Purge initiated by Naosuke Ii: fearing capture by shogunal police, he and a loyalist priest, Gessho, threw themselves into Kagoshima Bay; Saigo was fished out, resuscitated, and banished to a remote island. Here he helped oppressed local sugar workers and raised a family, whom he was forced to leave behind when pardoned in 1861.

After his release, Saigo forestalled his new lord Shimazu Hisamitsu's plan for a pro-imperial rising in Kyoto, and he was banished again by Hisamitsu until 1864. Pardoned and made Satsuma's war secretary and emissary to the imperial court in Kyoto along with Okubo, Saigo led troops against Choshu clan extremists who had attacked the palace gates, then led a shogunal army to “chastise” the clan whilst actually negotiating with Choshu. He ensured Satsuma's neutrality during a second abortive anti-Choshu campaign of 1866. After the shogun's despairing resignation in 1867, Saigo led troops to crush remaining resistance at Toba and Fushimi, then arranged the peaceful seizure of Edo, insisting on an amnesty for all shogunal forces. Having organized the transfer of power to the Emperor Meiji, Saigo refused all honours and retired to his native province.

Responding to the new government's pleas, he returned to Tokyo in 1871 to head a caretaker government while Okubo and other high officials toured Europe as part of the Iwakura Mission, becoming commander in chief in 1872 and field marshal in 1873. When Korea insulted the Meiji regime in 1873, Saigo resigned after Okubo and other ministers vetoed his pro-war policy, and returned to Satsuma. There he organized military academies to keep his samurai followers occupied. Alarmed, the government sent a ship to remove weapons from Kagoshima arsenal: unplanned resistance by Saigo's followers precipitated the Satsuma Rebellion. Resigned to leading the revolt, Saigo accused Okubo and others of despotism and corruption, then abandoned Kagoshima. After several months of fighting against Okubo's conscript army, Saigo's forces were cornered in a cave near Kagoshima. Wounded in the final battle on September 24, 1877, Saigo committed hara-kiri. (Sympathizers assassinated Okubo soon after.) Posthumously pardoned in 1891, Saigo remains a national hero.