Sakamoto Ryoma – A Great Japanese Reformer

Sakamoto Ryoma was a man who played an active role in  the Meiji Restoration (a general term for political and social changes at the end of the 19th century) at the end of the Edo period. He took action toward the establishment of a new nation and made great achievements, such as mediating the Satcho Alliance and proposing the “Taiseihokan” (the transfer of power by the Shogun back to the Emperor).

Ryoma’s ideas and actions resonated with many people, and many people name him as a person they respect. Movies depicting his life have also been produced.

Here we will introduce the life of Sakamoto Ryoma; his activities at the end of the Edo period, and his achievements.

Who Is Sakamoto Ryoma?

Sakamoto Ryoma was active in the late Edo period (the last years of the Edo Shogunate) and was the catalyst for the overthrow of the Edo Shogunate. In 1836, he was born into a Samurai family in the Tosa-han.  The Tosa-han was the domain ruled by feudal lords who held territory during the Edo period in what is now the Kochi Prefecture.

Ryoma studied under the late Bakumatsu politician, Katsu Kaishu, and worked hard to conclude the Satcho Alliance (an alliance between the Satsuma and Choshu clans) to defeat the Shogunate. Ryoma was involved in the Meiji Restoration in which the 15th shogun (general), Tokugawa Yoshinobu, had to resign from his power, and Ryoma was assassinated at the young age of 33.

In his short life, Sakamoto Ryoma contributed greatly to the establishment and reform of Japan into a new nation during the Meiji period.  Having ideas free differing from the status system, his ability to travel around Japan at the end of the Edo period, ability to expand his network of contacts, broad vision to look overseas, and his crisis management skills made him an ideal candidate for politicians and business managers.

Life of Sakamoto Ryoma

In his short life of 33 years, Sakamoto Ryoma played a major role in the Meiji Restoration. Let us take a look at his life from his childhood to his assassination.

Childhood

Sakamoto Ryoma was born in 1835 in Kochi City, Kochi Prefecture, Japan. He was the youngest of five siblings. He was 21 years younger than his eldest brother, so Ryoma’s greatest role model was instead his older sister, Otome, who was three years his senior. The Sakamoto family was a branch of the Saidaniya, a large merchant family that ran agriculture plants and engaged in commerce despite being in the Samurai class, and was relatively wealthy for a Samurai family at the time. As a result, Ryoma is said to have acquired a business sense and economic sense from an early age.

When he was 12 years old, his mother, Ko, died, and Ryoma received his education from his second mother, Iyo. Ryoma and Otome often went to visit the Kawashima family, where Iyo was married before, and heard about the world from Kawashima Inosaburo, who was so well informed about foreign countries that he was nicknamed “Europe”.

Ryoma began studying swordsmanship at the age of 14 at a dojo (a place for martial arts training), and at the age of 19, he went to Edo (currently Tokyo) to  train in sword fighting.

Studying in Edo

At 19, Sakamoto Ryoma headed to Edo and entered the Chiba Sadakichi Dojo of Hokushin Itto Ryu, one of the three major dojos in Edo.

In the same year, Perry’s black ships arrived in Uraga, and Ryoma was mobilized to guard the coast of Shinagawa. When Ryoma saw the foreign ships, he was amazed at their humongous size and began to learn Western-style gunnery, and also began to take an interest in international affairs and politics.

Returning to Kochi a year later, Ryoma met Kawada Koryu, a painter who was well versed in foreign affairs, who taught Ryoma about the world, which further sparked his interest in foreign countries.

Becoming Independent From a Clan

Sakamoto Ryoma wanted to be independent and free so as to act according to his own beliefs, so at the age of 28, he left the Tosa-han without permission. Leaving the clan without permission is almost the same as leaving Japan without a passport in modern times.

He was chased by the Tosa-han, but with the help of others, his crime of desertion was forgiven.

Later, the Tosa-han ordered Ryoma to return, but he wanted to continue working at the Kobe Naval Training Center, so he applied for a postponement of his return to Tosa-han. However, since his application was denied, Ryoma left on his own accord again.

Encountering Katsu Kaishuu

Sakamoto Ryoma went to Edo and became a disciple of the Edo Shogunate official Katsu Kaishuu. Some believed that Ryoma tried to assassinate Katsu because Katsu’s story “Hikawa Seibetsu”, a record of his conversations states that “Ryoma came to kill him”.

However, in the memoirs of Matsudaira Shungaku, lord of the Fukui-han, there is an account of Shungaku giving a letter of invitation to Katsu.  Therefore, it is also speculated that Katsu just exaggerated the facts and that Ryoma did not intend to kill him.

At that time, Katsu had just visited the U.S. aboard the Kanrin Maru, and Ryoma was fascinated by Katsu’s way of thinking, as he learned about the advanced technology and military power of the West and looked to the world. Later, he would learn a great deal under Katsu. He entered the naval training camp that Katsu had built in Kobe and worked as Katsu’s right-hand man while training in the navy.

Activities at the End of the Edo Period

While working under Katsu Kaishu, Sakamoto Ryoma also interacted with Saigo Takamori of Satsuma (currently Kagoshima Prefecture) and Katsura Kogoro of Choshu (currently Yamaguchi Prefecture).

At the age of 31, he established “Kameyama Shachu” in Nagasaki, which is considered the first trading company in Japan. This company later became “Kaientai”. While Kameyama Shachu earned money through shipping and other businesses, it also had a face as an institution for training naval and nautical arts and was led by Ronins who had escaped from the clans of various domains.

Through this organization, Ryoma succeeded in forming the Satcho Alliance, in which the Satsuma and Choshu clans joined hands.

Ryoma believed that it would be advantageous to bring the Tosa-han into the fold to overthrow the Shogunate, so he rejoined the Tosa-han. As a result, Kameyama Shachu changed its name to Kaientai and became an organization belonging to the Tosa-han.

In order to avoid overthrowing the Shogunate by force, Ryoma proposed the “Senchu Hassaku”, a policy that included the return of the Grand Council of State to the Shogunate, which was eventually accepted by the 15th Shogun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu, and power was returned to the Imperial Court.

Assassination

Sakamoto Ryoma was assassinated on his 33rd birthday at Omiya in Kyoto. Ryoma was attacked while he was visiting with a Samurai from Tosa-han; Nakaoka Shintaro. Several Samurai visited Ryoma and slashed him and Nakaoka, who were sitting across a brazier.

The most convincing theory is that the assassination was carried out by the Kyoto Mimawarigumi, an organization that maintains security in Kyoto, but this is not proven conclusive. There are various theories, including that there were other culprits behind the assassination, and the truth remains a mystery.

The assassination took place five years after he had left Tosa, and Ryoma, a leading figure in the Meiji Restoration, left this world without seeing the birth of a new nation.

Achievements of Sakamoto Ryoma

In his short life, Sakamoto Ryoma’s achievements at the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate were very significant. The Satcho Alliance, which served as an intermediary between the Satsuma and Choshu-han, the proposal of the Grand Council of State, and the proposal of the eight measures of the “Senchu-hassaku” are representative of his accomplishments.

Let’s take a closer look at each of these.

Satcho Alliance

The “Satcho Alliance” was an alliance between the Satsuma and Choshu-han, which had previously been enemies, joining hands with the aim to overthrow the Tokugawa Shogunate. Sakamoto Ryoma mediated the Satcho Alliance, which is considered one of the greatest achievements of his lifetime. The Satsuma and Choshu-han had great influence in the political world towards the end of the Edo period. The Satsuma clan, which sought to unify the country, was at odds with the Choshu clan, which took a radical stance against the Shogunate and was opposed to the Emperor’s exclusion of foreigners.

However, Saigo Takamori and others in the Satsuma-han rebelled against the Shogunate’s strengthening of dictatorship, and the Satsuma-han was inclined to overthrow the Shogunate. When the Shogunate ordered the conquest of Choshu, the Satsuma Han was determined not to comply, and Ryoma conveyed this to the Choshu leaders, which led to the formation of the alliance.

Restoration of Imperial Rule

The Taisei Hokan refers to the return of power held by the Tokugawa Shogunate’s 15th shogun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu, to the Imperial Court. Originally, the Imperial Court (Emperor) ruled Japan, but since the Kamakura Shogunate, Japan has been effectively ruled by Samurai. The Samurai government, the Shogunate, had been in power instead of the Imperial Court for about 700 years. The return of power to the Imperial Court was the Grand Restoration of Government.

It is believed that Sakamoto Ryoma was the one who proposed this restoration. While the Satsuma and Choshu-han were trying to overthrow the Shogunate using military force, Ryoma wanted to avoid violence and proposed eight solutions, or the “Senchu Hassaku” (lit. Eight Point Program Composed Abroad Ship), that included the return of the Grand Council of State to the Shogunate. Tokugawa Yoshinobu accepted the proposal, and power was returned to the Imperial Court in 1867.

Senchu Hassaku

The Senchu Hassaku is a proposal for a new national system that Sakamoto Ryoma came up with on board the Tosa-han’s ship, the “Yuugao Maru”. There were still many clans that supported the Shogunate, and it was anticipated that violent use of force would lead to civil war and interference by foreign powers such as England and France. The eight measures of the Senchu Hassaku were conceived to avoid such a situation and to resolve it peacefully.

Not all of them were Ryoma’s ideas, but it is believed that they reflected the ideas of Katsu Kaishu, the military governor of the Edo Shogunate and Ryoma’s mentor.

It is said that the Senchu Hassaku was communicated verbally, with no original written record of it remaining today. Therefore, there is a theory that the Senchu Hassaku were adapted from an anecdote in which Sakamoto Ryoma advised Goto Shojiro from Tosa-han on the idea of the Restoration of Imperial Rule.

Sakamoto Ryoma’s Ideas and Beliefs

Sakamoto Ryoma’s thoughts and beliefs throughout his life can be divided into two main categories: his vision toward foreign countries and his political philosophy.

We will discuss both of these in the following paragraphs.

Ryoma’s International Perspective

Sakamoto Ryoma encountered Perry’s arrival in Japan and became interested in overseas movements. He became an apprentice to Katsu Kaishu, who had traveled to the U.S. as the captain of the first trans-Pacific crossing, the Kanrin Maru, and learned about world affairs and other issues. Katsu’s idea that Japan needed to learn from other countries instead of taking a hostile and hard-line stance toward them influenced Ryoma.

Ryoma had a clear vision for the new era. After Kameyama Shachu changed its name to Kaientai, he set his sights on working with the world and working toward his dream.

Kōbu Gattai

The idea of Kōbu Gatta (lit. Union of the Imperial Court and the Shogunate)i is that the Imperial Court and the Shogunate would cooperate in the conduct of government. When Ryoma was in his twenties, he was inclined toward the idea of Sonno Joi, which means to defeat foreign enemies, and furthermore, he was exposed to the idea of Kōbu Gattai.

However, instead of the goal of “reverence for the emperor and exclusion of foreigners” or “public and military union”, he sought to establish a new state that avoided the use of violence. As a result, he played a major role in bringing the Satcho Alliance together.

People Who Influenced Sakamoto Ryoma

Sakamoto Ryoma built up a large network of contacts during his short life, but two particularly influential figures were his mentor Katsu Kaishuu and his ally Nakaoka Shintaro.

We will now discuss what kind of people they were.

Katsu Kaishuu

Katsu Kaishu was born in Honjo, Edo (currently Sumida-ku, Tokyo), as a son of a Hatamoto, a low-ranking Samurai. At the age of 27 years old, he opened a school for Dutch studies, and at the age of 31, he was appointed to a position in the Edo Shogunate after submitting his “Opinion on Sea Defense” to the Shogunate.

At the age of 37, he went to San Francisco, U.S.A. as the captain of the “Kanrin Maru”. After returning to Japan, he served as an officer of warships and built the Kobe Naval Training Centerwith Sakamoto Ryoma and others as his students. After the Meiji Restoration, he continued to hold important positions in the Meiji government, serving as Senator and Privy Counselor.

Nakaoka Shintaro

Nakaoka Shintaro, who was assassinated along with Ryoma at Omiya, was a Tosa-han Samurai who was active as a member of the noble expulsionist movement. He was also a key figure in the formation of the Satcho Alliance, which was hidden behind Ryoma’s achievements.

While Ryoma aimed for the bloodless opening of Edo Castle by the Restoration, Nakaoka Shintaro formed an army called Rikuentai to  overthrow the Shogunate by force of arms. Although their actions differed, the two men shared the same goal of establishing a better new nation.

Summary

Sakamoto Ryoma overthrew the Edo Shogunate, triggering the creation of a new nation, which fell before the Meiji Restoration. In order to create a force that could compete with the Shogunate, he successfully formed the Satcho Alliance, and proposed the Taisei Hokan, which led to the extinction of the Shogunate. He also presented his vision for a new nation.

With a clear vision for a new era and a flexible way of thinking, he has earned the respect of many people throughout his life, even in our time.