Background
Tatewaki Komatsu was born as the third son to Kimotsuki Kaneyoshi of Kiire (5500 koku) who were high-ranking Satsuma retainers.
Tatewaki Komatsu was born as the third son to Kimotsuki Kaneyoshi of Kiire (5500 koku) who were high-ranking Satsuma retainers.
In 1861, Tatewaki Komatsu studied rangaku ("Western sciences") in Nagasaki and soon became a confidant of Shimazu Hisamitsu, the younger brother of daimyo Shimazu Nariakira, who acknowledged Komatsu’s talent, assigning him to Okubo Toshimichi to work on a political reform of the Satsuma domain.
Tatewaki Komatsu was a loyalist from early days, he accompanied Lord Hisamitsu Shimazu to Kyoto and tried to bring about a reconciliation between the Emperor and the Shogzm (1862). In the same year, Tatewaki was appointed karo ("house elder" or chief retainer), a title bestowed on top-ranking samurai officials and advisors in service to a daimyo. Komatsu held the title until his death in 1870, just one year before the han system and all its titles were abolished. Komatsu is said to have helped shelter Sakamoto Ryōma of the Tosa Domain, who played a crucial role in mediating between the two rival domains of Satsuma and Chōshū.
Tatewaki Komatsu was instrumental in forging the Satsuma-Choshu Alliance (Satsuma-Choshu domei), concluded between the Satsuma retainers Saigō Takamori and Okubo Toshimichi and the Chōshū representative Kido Takayoshi. Just like his fellow clansmen, he was convinced that the imperial rule had to be restored (taisei hōkan). In November 1867, the fifteenth and last shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu finally resigned, resulting in the Meiji Restoration in January 1868.
Komatsu participated in the Boshin War of 1868, and assumed a government position in the sōsaikyoku (general supervisory department). After the Meiji Restoration (1868) was appointed councilor to Imperial Court and his services were often used as a diplomat. In 1869 however, he had to resign due to his bad health. After his death his grandson Tatewaki was created a Count for meritorious services rendered during the Meiji Restoration.
Tatewaki Komatsu died in Osaka in 1870 at the age of 36, reportedly in the arms of a concubine, and was buried in the city of Hiyoki, modern-day Kagoshima Prefecture.