Takamori Saigo
Saigo Takamori of Japan is known as the Last Samurai. He is remembered to this day - and mythologized - as the essence of bushido, the samurai code. It is difficult to find the actual man in the myth, but recent scholarship provides us some clues to the true nature of the Last Samurai. He became so significant because everyone looked up to him for what he had done for them.
Saigo Takamori was born on January 23, 1828, in Kagoshima, Satsuma's capital. His father, Saigo Kichibei, was a low-ranking samurai tax official. He was named Saigo Kokichi at birth, but changed his name several times throughout his life. He had six younger siblings - three brothers and three sisters. The family lived on a tiny income, despite their samurai
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Pro-emperor daimyo and extremists called for an end to the shogunate and the expulsion of all foreigners. They saw Japan as the abode gods, since the Emperor was descended from the Sun Goddess, and believed that the heavens would protect them from western military and economic. Saigo supported a stronger role for the Emperor, but didn’t trust the others millennial rhetoric. The Tokugawa regime was falling apart, but it had not yet occurred to Saigo that a future Japanese government might not include a shogun. After all, the shoguns had ruled Japan for 800 years. As commander of Satsuma's troops, Saigo led an 1864 punishing trip against the Choshu domain, whose army in Kyoto had opened fire on the Emperor's residence. Along with troops from Aizu, Saigo's enormous army marched on Choshu, where he negotiated a peaceful settlement rather than launching an attack against them. Later this would turn out to be a crucial decision, since Choshu was Satsuma's major ally in the Boshin War. On January 29, 1865, he married a wealthy samurai's daughter, Iwayama Ito. They would have three children. His success also got the formerly impoverished Saigo appointed as an elder of Satsuma in September,
To many Japanese and in particular the samurai and daimyo, the Tokugawa appeared weak in how it had responded to the Western pressure to sign the ‘required’ treaties. “In 1867, Tosa, Mito, Choshu and satsuma daimyo allied with each other against the Tokugawa house.” (Woods, SW. (2004). Japan an Illustrated History (1st Edition). Hippocrene books pg. 111). The citizens of Japan wanted the Emperor to restore power over the Shogun, resulting in the sonno joi (revere the sovereign (Emperor), expel the barbarian.) The influence of Western ideas on some samurai caused some to question Tokugawa’s ideas of how to rule Japan, which is how the sonno joi movement began in 1858. Sonno joi was the movement that satsuma and choshu went through to aim to restore the power of the Emperor and bring down the
Japanese revolts ensue with the opening of Japan to the Western World. The middle and lower classes wanted Japan to be open while the conservative daimyo did not. Both of these groups looked to the emperor for a decision. The shogunate, reliant on the isolation, collapsed under pressures caused by outsid...
Musui’s Story is the exciting tale of a low class samurai’s life towards the end of the Tokugawa era. Although one would normally imagine a samurai to be a noble illustrious figure, Musui’s Story portrays the rather ignominious life of an unemployed samurai. Nonetheless, this primary account demonstrates the tenacity of samurai values and privileges present at the end of the Tokugawa shogunate. The social status of samurai had been elevated to such a state that even someone like Musui was easily able to gain influence in everyday affairs with his privileges. Not only that, but he had retained his values as a warrior and still kept great pride for his arts in weaponry.
Throughout History, there have been many different groups or events that are still widely known today. Groups of people such as the Indians or Vikings are popular groups which are referenced constantly in today’s society. However, none of these groups is more known or referenced than the Japanese Samurai. Originating in 646 AD, these Japanese warriors developed from a loose organization of farmers to the dominant social class in Feudal Japan. Along with their dominant military and political standing, the samurai brought with them a unique code or moral belief that became the core of Samurai culture. Because of this, the Samurai and their principles still affect modern day Japanese society with social customs today deriving directly and indirectly from the beliefs of the Samurai.
In 1877, a series of rebellions occurred in Meiji Japan. These rebellions are often referred to as some of the most famous and ironically aided in the destruction of the samurai class although the reverse is what the rebels wanted to do. Satsuma's faction leader, Saigo Takamori, who was the leader of said rebellion, followed a series of rebellions in other parts of Japan such as Hagi, Akizuki and Kumamoto. He had been morally supporting these rebellions, but he never took part in them. Soon, he received news of a possible assassination against him, and this rumour prompted him to gather his allies and head toward Kumamoto, in attempt to force their surrender. The official purpose of this rebellion was to accompany Saigo to the capital so that
His name is Tajomaru, and he claims to have killed the samurai, named Kanazawa no Takehiro, but not the woman. His recounting of the events are something like this. He spots the woman on the road and decides he must have her. He decides to kill the man then and there. Tajomaru leads them to a trap where he knocks out the samurai and ties him up. He finds the wife, Masago, and leads her to her husband, she notices and pulls out a knife. He disarms her quickly enough and does the deed. Tajomaru starts to leave but the woman grabs him and declares either he or her husband should die today. So Tajomaru unties the samurai and they fight. Takehiro loses and is stabbed in his breast on the twenty-third thrust of Tajomaru sword. Then Tajomaru searches for the woman but she is gone, “I looked for her among the cedars, but the bamboo leaves on the ground showed no sigh she’d ever been there” (308-309). That is Tajomaru’s side of the story and he seems genuine in its
During the relatively peaceful Tokugawa period, the samurai were not as occupied with waging war as they had been in the past, and as such they had begun devoting their time to other things. The samurai spent more time in intellectual and artistic pursuits, and thanks in part to Tsunetomo himself, the culture of Bushido flourished. Bushido became a formal ideology and was pieced together by the samurai at the time (including Tsunetomo) similar to how Chivalry had been formalized in Europe. Ironically, Tsunetomo had done exactly what he had admonished. While he despaired at the fate of the samurai, becoming more involved in scholarly and artistic activities, he himself was spending time philosophizing on the Way of the Samurai.
The Japanese warrior, known as the samurai, has played a significant role in Japan's history and culture throughout the centuries. Their ancestors can be traced back to as far as can be remembered. Some stories have become mysterious legends handed down over the centuries. In this report you will learn who the samurai were, their origins as we know them, how they lived and fought and their evolution to today. It will be clear why the samurai stand out as one of the most famous group of warriors of all times.
The samurai are a type of warrior class in Japan similar to the European knights. They were not only used as soldiers for combat in war but they also replaced the court government in terms of managing the local government. They pledged to keep the peace and stay loyal to their master. This is how they were used for most of history until the end of the Tokugawa period. Their rise all begins in the Kamakura period.
...t only in the code of chivalrous Honor does Loyalty assume paramount importance. The eighth and last virtue is character and self-control. Bushido teaches that men should behave according to an absolute moral standard, one that transcends logic. What’s right is right, and what’s wrong is wrong. The difference between good and bad and between right and wrong are givens, not arguments subject to discussion or justification, and a man should know the difference. Finally, it is a man’s obligation to teach his children moral standards through the model of his own behavior: The first objective of samurai education was to build up Character. The subtler faculties of prudence, intelligence, and dialectics were less important. Intellectual superiority was esteemed, but a samurai was essentially a man of action. These are the eight virtues of the samurai code bushido.
The movie shows Samurai as warriors in the Edo period, during the 1800’s. They used a sword called a Kataran and a wakizashi which is a smaller sword, much like a dagger, that was used as a samurai's "honour blade" and never left the samurai's side, this was to protect them from harm and they were all taught a martial art called koryū, (which the character’s practice and some are being taught the martial art) which is the way of the Samurai people. The harakiri is a form of ritual that involves suicide, which was shown in the final battle and the last samurai had to
The movie, The Last Samurai, filled the theatres in 2003 with its suspenseful plot, exciting battle sequences and historical reference within the script. In the film, The Last Samurai, Americans were portrayed as an influential world power. Thus, a troubled American, Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise) is hired to teach the Japanese, American war tactics in order to fight in combat against the Samurai. Through a brutal journey of battle and strife, Nathan is faced with the life or death situation of fighting for his new home and for the last of the Samurai or battle for the land, he is not proud to call his own. The film makes use of the time period, politics, technology, and violence to illustrate the horrors of the real, America.
In this book, the murders happen when the war complicates the selection of the new heir. Sahei Inugami is the man of a success story; his silk company has expanded, as silk production was the major industry in Japan’s industrialization period before World War II. The story starts after the end of World War II at Sahei’s deathbed. All his family members have gathered, excepted Sukekiyo, the grandson who has not returned from the war and most likely to be an heir. The tragedy begins after Shizuma’s appearance that is a son of Sahei and his mistress and had been lost for a long time. Matsuko, Sukekiyo’s mother kills other grandsons; include Shizuma to make way for her son, whom she believes to be the legitimate
There are many historical aspects of the Japanese, but the most interesting is the history of the Samurai. In Japans history war played a large role in the country. Controlling clans fought for parts of the land and overall control of the country. These clans were powerful families that resided in the country and who all wanted power and control of Japan for themselves. The families that would be in control were known as Shoguns. These shoguns would have warriors that fought for them if any of the other clan families would try to attack him in order to overthrow him and take his power from him. The Samurai followed a code that developed from Chinese beliefs when in battle. The Samurais code was known as the Bushido. This code was also known as “The Way of The Warrior” which was the main belief s...