Background
He was born Saigō Kokichi in the Satsuma Domain (modern Kagoshima Prefecture) on January 23, 1828, the son of an impoverished samurai of lower status. His younger brother was Saigo Tsugumichi.
The birthplace at Kajiya-chō, Kagoshima
Saigō Takamori in uniform
The Seikanron debate. Saigō Takamori is sitting in the center. 1877 painting.
Saigō Takamori's statue near the southern entrance of Ueno Park.
The deathplace monument at Shiroyama-chō, Kagoshima
隆盛 西郷
He was born Saigō Kokichi in the Satsuma Domain (modern Kagoshima Prefecture) on January 23, 1828, the son of an impoverished samurai of lower status. His younger brother was Saigo Tsugumichi.
As a boy he attended the Zoshikan, the official school of the domain.
When he came of age, he was made a district official and put in charge of agricultural affairs. In 1854 his talents were recognized by Shimazu Nariakira, the progressive-minded lord of the domain, and he was assigned to a post equivalent in effect to that of private secretary. He spent three years in Edo in this capacity and, after returning to Satsuma, he continued to act on secret orders from his lord, carrying out his wishes in connection with important problems of state such as the succession to the shogunate and imperial approval of the trade treaties concluded with foreign powers.
With the sudden death of Shimazu Nariakira in 1858 and the political persecutions carried out by Ii Naosuke, the leaders of the important feudal domains for a time withdrew from the political scene.
Saigo, who was in Kyoto at the time, determined to commit suicide and follow his lord in death, but he was dissuaded by a Buddhist monk named Gessho. He and Gessho left Kyoto in secret and attempted to return to Satsuma. When they were denied entrance to the domain, they resolved to take their lives and leaped from the boat in which they were riding into the sea near Kagoshima. Gessho drowned, but Saigo was rescued. He changed his name to Kikuchi Gengo and in 1859 was banished to the island of Oshima. In 1862, when the domain of Satsuma joined the movement to restore power to the emperor and Shimazu Hisa- mitsu led his troops to Kyoto, Saigo was pardoned and ordered to proceed to Kyoto. On the way, he aroused Hisamitsu’s displeasure by disobeying the latter’s orders when he was in Osaka, and once more he was banished, first to Tokunoshima and later to Okinoerabushima, where he was kept under house arrest.
Meanwhile, the struggle between the groups that favored court-shogunate cooperation and those that called for the overthrow of the shogunate grew in intensity, and in these tense circumstances there was strong sentiment in the Satsuma domain in favor of Saigo’s recall. In 1864 Hisamitsu pardoned him.
In 1868 the Boshin War broke out, a struggle between the forces supporting the emperor and those remaining loyal to the shogunate, which began with skirmishes at Toba and Fushimi south of Kyoto. Saigo served as one of the leaders in the march to the east to gain control of Edo, leading the imperial forces to victory, and won particular fame for the roles that he and Katsu Kaishu played in negotiating the bloodless surrender of Edo Castle.
In 1869, he returned to Kagoshima in the domain of Satsuma and devoted himself to improving the financial and military status of the domain. At the request of the central government, however, he returned to Tokyo in 1871, where he became a councilor of state.
In 1872 he became a marshal of the army and commander of the imperial guard and in 1873 became a full general of the army, at the same time retaining his position as councilor. While Iwakura Tomomi and other important government leaders were in Europe and America on a tour of inspection, Saigo participated in the caretaker government and was one of those supporting the decision to send troops to Korea. When Iwakura returned to Japan, he demanded that the decision be reversed; Okubo Toshimichi and others spoke out in his support. As a result, Saigo, along with Itagaki Iaisukc and others who favored military action against Korea, resigned and withdrew from public life. Later, he became increasingly angry at the government for its treatment of former samurai of lower rank. In 1874 he set up a private school in Kagoshima, determined to remain aloof from public affairs. The samurai surrounding him, however, were growing increasingly restless in their opposition to the government, and in 1877 Saigo led them in a military uprising that became known as the Seinan War. His forces were no match for the modem conscript army of the government, however, and Saigd, finding himself surrounded, committed suicide on the battlefield in Kagoshima.
In 1889, when the Meiji Constitution was promulgated, he was posthumously pardoned by the government.
He was influenced by Zen Buddhism and the Wang Yang-ming school of Confucianism, but the teachings of Shimazu Nisshin, which reflected both Buddhism and Confucianism and formed the basis of the Satsuma style bushido, or code of ethics of the warrior, played a particularly important role in shaping his character.
Saigo constantly proclaimed his creed to be “Reverence for Heaven and Love for Mankind,” and enjoyed wide popularity because of his undoubted sincerity. In the troubled period that ushered in the Meiji Restoration, he was able to display his talent for military leadership. But he had little feeling for the methods of modern style government and could not sympathize with the views of Okubo Toshimichi and the other more forward-looking members of the new government. Thus, through a series of unfortunate circumstances, he ended his life as the leader of a rebel army.
Takamori Saigo had 3 wives, 3 sons and 1 daughter.