Samurai Revolution by Romulus Hillsborough

Author:Romulus Hillsborough
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-4-8053-1235-3
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
Published: 2017-04-30T04:00:00+00:00

Saigō Takamori (courtesy of National Diet Library (Japan))

The meeting between Ryōma and Saigō, it seems, was a success—even if Ryōma left with a quirky view of the man. Saigō “is vague and hard to understand,” he later told Kaishū. “If you hit him hard, he responds in a big way. If you hit him softly, his response is small.” Kaishū “was deeply impressed” with Ryōma’s discernment of Saigō’s character. “He really knew what he was talking about,” he wrote years later.1

Conditions for Chōshū

After his meeting with Kaishū, Saigō determined that it would benefit Satsuma “to win without fighting” Chōshū. Chōshū was embroiled in inner turmoil, with its rebels pitted against its conservatives. “Why not let Chōshū solve its own problems?” Saigō reasoned. That Chōshū had split in two was a “gift from heaven,” he wrote to Ōkubo—because in its weakened state it must choose peace over war. Instead of destroying Chōshū, why not let it survive?1 Chōshū’s mere presence was, after all, a constant menace to the Bakufu.

Utilizing Chōshū’s inner turmoil and taking Kaishū’s advice to heart, Saigō reconsidered Satsuma’s policy. He devised a set of conditions to avoid war: the three Chōshū ministers and four staff officers responsible for the attack on Kyōto must atone with their lives; the Chōshū daimyo and his heir must send a letter of apology to the Bakufu for initiating the attack; Yamaguchi Castle, to which the Chōshū government had been recently relocated, must be demolished; the five remaining Banished Nobles (originally seven), led by Sanjō Sanétomi, taking refuge in Chōshū since the Coup of 8/18, must be removed to another han.2 Before a decision was made regarding these conditions, Katsu Kaishū’s plans for a national navy were suddenly put on hold.3

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