Saigō Takamori

“ Under the improved military system which Saigo Takamori had had so great a share in establishing these northern men had developed into fine soldiers, but their efficiency was sorely tested by the fierce onslaughts of the Satsuma swordsmen, whose habit it was to fling away the rifles they bore and rush to close quarters on every occasion. Eventually the Tokio police, who are all of samurai birth, were drafted into Kiushiu to take part in the contest with the swordsmen of the south, and there was from that time onward a vast amount of hand-to-hand fighting in the fashion of a bygone era. ”

“ It was certainly a striking instance of the fortitude and resignation which the creed of the samurai required him to display in the presence of adversity. As yet, however, the government’s measures with regard to the samurai were not compulsory. Men laid aside their swords and commuted their pensions at their own option.
Meanwhile differences of opinion began to occur among the leaders of progress themselves. Coalitions formed for destructive purposes are often found unable to endure the strain of constructive efforts. Such lack of cohesion Saigō Takamori. ”

“ And the photographer, whose camera was worth a fortune to him as a means of gratifying all sorts and conditions of men, took an excellent group of that smiling host and his cheery household.
The voyage to Kōbe was no less agreeable. We had for fellow-passenger a distinguished middle-aged officer, who had fought on the losing sides in the revolution and the Satsuma-rebellion headed by Saigō Takamori, whose grave we had seen at Miyajima. ”

“ Yamagata himself occupied the post of Minister of War, and to the army he appointed as Commander-in-chief General Saigo Takamori. General Yamada ranked next, and other appointments to high command were those of Kirino, the close friend of Saigo in the events of 1877, General Tani, who in that year defended Kumamoto, and Generals Toriwo, Miura, Nodzu, Asa, Miyoshi, Nishi, Osawa, etc.: all capable men who in after years greatly distinguished themselves, some having taken part prominently in the war, now happily at an end, with Russia. ”

“ At Kochi, the chief town of Tosa, he devoted himself to military studies, and devoured such works on strategy as were then available, with the result that when the stupendous struggle of 1868 took place between North and South he was given the command of a division, in the army of the Imperialists, and displayed invincible talent in the leadership of his men throughout the campaign under Prince Arisugawa Taruhito and Marshal Saigo Takamori. ”

“ Ultimately he rose to high rank in the newly organized imperial government, but in 1873 he retired from the cabinet by way of protest against its decision not to take armed action against Korea. Thenceforth he became the rallying point of a large number of men dissatisfied with the new administration, and in 1877 he headed a rebellion which taxed all the resources of the central government. After several months of desperate fighting, Saigo and a small remnant of his followers made a swift retreat to Kagoshima, and fell fighting (September 14) within sight of their homes. ”

“ Although the idol of the samurai, and constantly mixed up in political affairs, as was indeed almost unavoidable in that stage of the national progress, when every prominent man was intimately concerned with one party or another, it was nevertheless contrary to Saigo’s personal tastes to figure as a Government official, and he would infinitely have preferred to roam the hills of Satsuma or Osumi, gun in hand, than to take part in State functions. ”

“ In the memorable battle at Fushimi, seven miles from Kioto on the Osaka road, Saigo was leader of the imperial [210] troops opposed to those of the Tokugawa Shogunate, and exhibited on that occasion marked military genius as well as great personal bravery. His coolness under fire was ever a subject of intense admiration to his comrades, and it was conspicuous in this fiercest of engagements, lasting for three days, at the very outset of the Meiji era. ”

“ Saigo was a prominent retainer in the Satsuma clan, and in the development of his career it became evident that it was against the Tokugawa control rather than for "enlightened government" that he had battled. He commanded the Imperial forces in the war with the shogunate in 1868, and advocated war with Korea in 1873. Disappointed in this and finding himself unable to follow in the paths of the more radical reformers, he resigned from the government and retired to Satsuma, where he began to plan the rebellion that broke out in 1877, and ended with his overthrow and death. ”

“ The government easily crushed the insurrection. Another seceder was Itagaki Taisuke. The third and most prominent was Saigō, who seems to have concluded from that moment that he must abandon his aims or achieve them by force. He retired to his native province of Satsuma, and applied his whole resources, his great reputation and the devoted loyalty of a number of able followers to organizing and equipping a strong body of samurai. ”

“ Well-informed followers of Saigō could never have been sincere believers in representative institutions. These men belonged to a province far removed from the scene of Saigō’s desperate struggle. But the broad fact that they had sealed with their life-blood an appeal for a political change indicated the existence of a strong public conviction which would derive further strength from their act. The Japanese are essentially a brave people. ”

“ Thus in the interval between 1873 and 1877 there were two centres of disturbance in Japan: one in Satsuma, where Saigō figured as leader; the other in Tosa, under Itagaki’s guidance. When the Satsuma men appealed to arms in 1877, a widespread apprehension prevailed lest the Tosa politicians should throw in their lot with the insurgents. Such a fear had its origin in failure to understand the object of the one side or to appreciate the sincerity of the other. Saigō and his adherents fought to substitute a Satsuma clique for the oligarchy already in power. ”

“ When rallied on his excessive caution Saigo explained that he went in fear lest under the influence of wine he might be guilty of acting imprudently, but Fujita would not accept the plea. “A man who aims at distinction as a samurai must never refuse his master’s invitation to take wine with him,” declared Fujita,—meaning, apparently, that a soldier must place himself unreservedly in the hands of his chief,—and Saigo thereupon took the risk, as he deemed it, on that occasion, and drank several cupfuls of Sake. ”

“ One of these, led by the elder Saigō, Soyéshima, Itō Shimpei, Itagaki and Gotō, urged the immediate despatch of a strong remonstrance. Of this Saigō was anxious to be the bearer, a course which, as everyone who knew the then temper of the nation, and the character of the suggested envoy, was aware, must, if followed, lead to war. ”

“ Well, the agony of revolt was short enough to please even Kito. Saigo and his gallant, fatuous band went to death at Shiroyama with the blood of their first conflict still upon their swords. And there they lie today, in the little graveyard of Jokoji, in a huge trench—all of them but Kito. For when they drew their swords for Saigo they swore never to sheathe them until he should command it—all but Kito. And when he did command it they refused, preferring to die with him—all but Kito. They sheathed them deeply in their own bodies and died. ”

“ A commercial treaty was concluded, and Japanese influences once more begun to gain ground in the Hermit Kingdom.
Mention has already been made of the Satsuma clan, whose anti-foreign sentiments had brought them into conflict with the British ten years before. A large portion of this clan were still violently conservative, and Saigo, the then head, having retired from Tokio, set up military schools, which something like 20,000 young Samaurai entered. ”

“ Saigō saw in a foreign war the sole remaining chance of achieving his ambition by lawful means. The government’s conscription scheme, yet in its infancy, had not produced even the skeleton of an army. If Korea had to be conquered, the samurai must be employed; and their employment would mean, if not their rehabilitation, at least their organization into a force which, under Saigō’s leadership, might dictate a new policy. Other members of the cabinet believed that the nation would be disgraced if it tamely endured Korea’s insults. Thus several influential voices swelled the clamour for war. ”

“ A few days later Saigō took the field, and, marching north rapidly, besieged the castle of Kumamoto, the chief town of the province of Higo. This step is generally held to have been fatal to his success. His proper course, it is thought, would have been to have crossed over at once to the main island and move straight on Tōkiō, trusting to the magic of his name to secure fresh adherents on his way. ”

“ While Saigo was at Shinagawa, in the yashiki of the Satsuma clan, which the recent combat and subsequent fire had left in a deplorably ruinous condition, an old friend came to him in the person of Katsu, the lord of Awa,—a province facing Yokohama across the Bay of Tokio,—who pleaded that the capital should be spared the horrors of an assault, and representing the willingness of the Shogun’s supporters to submit. ”

“ Saigo was extremely anxious to get the tacit if not active support of Kanazawa, and in consequence had at an early day cautioned Kido to lose no chance to cultivate a friendly relation with the lord daimyo. Kido, too, appreciated the benefits necessarily to result from such a policy, could they [pg 191] but secure his friendship, though they failed of an alliance. Being not only a very wise statesman, but an adroit politician, Kido recognised Takara’s relation to Maido’s family and counted the power of woman in matters of state, had she the aptitude and could she be induced to venture. ”

“ And Saigo, the rebel, had nothing but those long, ancient swords and bamboo armor.
Kito knew nothing about the quarrel. No rumors of war had reached him in his secluded home. It is doubtful if he knew that he was in rebellion against his sovereign; for all about him, from his august chieftain to the abjectest ronin, wore the imperial brocade. He made no inquiries. What he wished was to kill the men he supposed it was his duty to kill, whoever they were, and go home. He could not understand why all his comrades had left their homes to fight. ”

“ It was doubtless to be ascribed to a survival of this feeling that in the Satsuma Rebellion of 1877 the followers of Marshal Saigo were ever anxious to come to close quarters with their foes, and often threw away their rifles in order the better to wield their treasured swords. The warrior trained in the old school had nothing but contempt for the method of fighting which enabled a man to hurl missiles at an enemy from a comparatively safe distance. ”

“ Shortly after this, possibly for the purpose of encouraging a breach between the two courts, several of the southern daimyos, together with Saigo, Iwakura, and some other kuge attempted to carry off to the southward the person of the mikado, and were prevented in their daring scheme only by the timely interference of Shibusawa. He had been urged into taking the step by Takara through the auspices of Kido, and for the heroism displayed gained high esteem at Kyoto; the schemers themselves coming gradually to respect him and Saigo to believe in him. ”

“ Ōkubo Toshimichi, a statesman and patriot of the purest type, had from the beginning resisted the reactionary movements of his clan. At the time of the rebellion he was minister of Home Affairs and put forth all his exertions to suppress it. A baseless slander that he had sent to Satsuma hired assassins to take Saigō's life, had been used by the reckless conspirators to force the rebel leader to an outbreak. ”

“ More than one foreign man-of-war has touched at Saigo, and English and Russian officers of the navy have been seen in the streets. They were tall, fair-haired, stalwart men; and the people of Oki still imagine that all foreigners from the West have the same stature and complexion. I was the first foreigner who ever remained even a night in the town, and I stayed there two weeks; but being small and dark, and dressed like a Japanese, I excited little attention among the common people: it seemed to them that I was only a curious-looking Japanese from some remote part of the empire. ”

“ Ii-kamon-no-kami came into power in 1859 at Yedo, during the minority of the Shogun Iyemochi, that Saigo, dissatisfied with the course things were taking, and possessing definite views of his own, formed a party opposed to the Bakufu. In the same year, 1859, when he was about to return to Satsuma, his friend Gessho was selected by the Imperial Court to be the bearer of a despatch to the prince of Mito. Gessho, however, pleaded that the honour of being the imperial messenger should be bestowed on Saigo, as being far better qualified for the office, and his prayer was granted. ”

“ Katsu, who was now commander-in-chief of the Tokugawa forces, told me that he and Okubo Ichiô had charge of the negotiations. On the other side Saigô represented Arisugawa no Miya, the imperialist commander-in-chief who was still at Sumpu. The demands made on Keiki were that he should surrender all arms and munitions of war, all vessels of war and other steamers, evacuate the castle of Yedo, and execute those of his officers who had been foremost in prompting and conducting the attack on Fushimi; when these demands were complied with the Mikado would show clemency towards the ex-Shôgun. ”