西郷隆盛

Saigō Takamori is one of the most celebrated figures in Japanese history — a giant both physically and in historical importance. Born in Satsuma in 1828, he was instrumental in the Meiji Restoration, helping forge the Satsuma-Chōshū alliance and negotiating the peaceful surrender of Edo Castle. Yet he became deeply disillusioned with the new Meiji government and resigned all his posts in 1873 after the Seikanron controversy. Returning to Kagoshima, he established private schools training young Satsuma samurai in martial arts and learning. In February 1877, when the government moved to suppress these schools, his followers rose in revolt and Saigō became their reluctant leader. The Seinan War (Southwest War) that followed was the largest samurai rebellion of the Meiji era — and the last major conflict in which Japanese swords were used in actual battle. At the Battle of Tabaru-zaka, fighting at close quarters became so intense that sword met bayonet in desperate struggle. Despite extraordinary courage, the sword-wielding samurai could not prevail against a modern conscript army equipped with rifles. On September 24, 1877, Saigō received a bullet wound at his last stand on Mt. Shiroyama and died by his own hand — marking the end of the age of the fighting samurai. The government's Haitōrei edict of 1876, forbidding civilians from wearing swords, had already foreshadowed the transformation of the Japanese sword from weapon to art object and spiritual symbol.