was one of the

Satsuma Satsuma may refer to: * Satsuma (fruit), a citrus fruit * ''Satsuma'' (gastropod), a genus of land snails Places Japan * Satsuma, Kagoshima, a Japanese town * Satsuma District, Kagoshima, a district in Kagoshima Prefecture * Satsuma Domain, a sou ...

students of 1865 who were smuggled out of

Bakumatsu period was the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate ended. Between 1853 and 1867, Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as and changed from a feudal Tokugawa shogunate to the modern empire of the Meiji govern ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

to study in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

. He returned to become Japan's leading entrepreneur of the early

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

Early life

Godai was born in

Satsuma domain The , briefly known as the , was a domain (''han'') of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1602 to 1871. The Satsuma Domain was based at Kagoshima Castle in Satsuma Province, the core of the modern city of Kagoshima, ...

(in what is now part of

Kagoshima city , abbreviated to , is the capital city of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. Located at the southwestern tip of the island of Kyushu, Kagoshima is the largest city in the prefecture by some margin. It has been nicknamed the "Naples of the Eastern wo ...

Kagoshima Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands. Kagoshima Prefecture has a population of 1,599,779 (1 January 2020) and has a geographic area of 9,187 km2 (3,547 sq mi). Kagoshima Prefecture borders Kumamoto P ...

), and was sent by the domain to study naval science and technology at the ''Kaigun Denshujo'' in

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...

. At the outbreak of the

Anglo-Satsuma War The Bombardment of Kagoshima, also known as the , was a military engagement fought between Britain and the Satsuma Domain in Kagoshima from 15 to 17 August 1863. The British were attempting to extract compensation and legal justice from ''daimyo ...

of 1864, he was appointed captain of the '' Tenu Maru''. Along with Matsuki Koan, he was taken prisoner by the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

when his ship was captured. He was chosen as one of 15 students to be sent to

to study at the

University College, London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = � ...

in defiance of the

Tokugawa bakufu The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedi ...

's official national seclusion policy.

Bakumatsu period

In 1865 Godai made contact with Thomas Glover who steered negotiations with the Platt textile machinery giant in

Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, wh ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, England. This visit led to the establishment of the Kagoshima Mill in Satsuma in 1867 - reputed to be Japan's first modern factory. Manchester engineers spent a year in Kagoshima to supervise building, factory production and the training of local workers. The ''Manchester Seven'' - as they became known had a special ''White Mansion'' constructed for their comfort and is today a museum. Godai's UK visit also included the Manchester Chamber of Commerce - reputed to have inspired the foundation of the pioneering Osaka Chamber and Industry. Godai later returned to Europe to negotiate with the Comte des Cantons Charles Montblanc (1832–1893) to establish a joint venture commercial enterprise for the development of Satsuma's natural resources in exchange for European weapons and manufactured goods. This French–Satsuma trading company attracted French investment into the Satsuma domain to establish a steamship shipyard and textile (

silk Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the coc ...

) spinning factories and to send promising students from Satsuma overseas. Its existence also allowed Satsuma to participate as if it were an independent country in the Paris Exhibition of 1867, much to the consternation of the Tokugawa-government representatives. At the same time, Godai used his contacts to purchase the latest warships to equip the Satsuma in preparation with the growing conflict to overthrow the Tokugawa regime.

Meiji statesman

After the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

, Godai became a ''San'yo'' (junior councilor), and used his foreign experience to defuse a number of incidents created against foreigners by xenophobic ex-''samurai''. He resigned from government service in 1869, and turned his full attention to business. Basing himself in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

, he created several major

joint stock A joint-stock company is a business entity in which shares of the company's stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their shares (certificates of ownership). Shareholders a ...

companies involved in international trade, commerce and shipping, which he operated simultaneously. Godai went on to found the Osaka

Chamber of Commerce A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to ad ...

and the

Osaka Stock Exchange , renamed from , is the largest derivatives exchange in Japan, in terms of amount of business handled. , the Osaka Securities Exchange had 477 listed companies with a combined market capitalization of $212 billion. The Nikkei 225 Futures, intro ...

. He also participated in the

Osaka Conference of 1875 The was a meeting held by the major leaders of the Meiji Restoration in Osaka, Japan from January to February 1875 to address the issue of forming a representative assembly. The leaders present included Okubo Toshimichi, Kido Takayoshi, Itagaki Ta ...

, which attempted to hold together the fragile coalition of feudal domains which dominated the early Meiji government. Godai was later implicated in the

Hokkaido Colonization Office is Japan, Japan's Japanese archipelago, second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost Prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own List of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; th ...

Scandal of 1881, which brought down the administration of

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Kuroda Kiyotaka Count , also known as , was a Japanese politician of the Meiji era. He was Prime Minister of Japan from 1888 to 1889. He was also vice chairman of the Hokkaido Development Commission ( Kaitaku-shi). Biography As a Satsuma ''samurai'' Ku ...

Commemoration

A biographical drama film titled ''Godai - The Wunderkind'' by Japanese film director

Mitsutoshi Tanaka is a Japanese film and commercial director. He is President and CEO of Osaka-based film production firm Creators' Union and widely known for award-winning feature films such as ''Godai - The Wunderkind'' (2020), ''125 Years Memory'' (2015), ''Bl ...

was released in 2020, starring

Haruma Miura was a Japanese actor and singer. He made his acting debut in the television drama ''Agri'' (1997) and rose to popularity after starring in the film '' Koizora'' (2007), winning Newcomer of the Year at the 31st Japan Academy Prize. In the foll ...

as Godai."125 Years Memory"
''125yearsmemory.com''. Retrieved on 15 Mai 2021.

References

Bibliography

*Broad, Geoffrey. "Japan and the North West of England" Greater Manchester Centre for Japanese Studies, 1997, * * * Sagers, John. ''Origins of Japanese Wealth and Power Reconciling Confucianism and Capitalism, 1830-1885.'' Macmillan, New York 1995. {{DEFAULTSORT:Godai, Tomoatsu 1836 births 1885 deaths People from Satsuma Domain Japanese expatriates in the United Kingdom Meiji Restoration People of Meiji-period Japan Shimazu retainers Japanese businesspeople People from Kagoshima