, also known as , was a Japanese statesman,

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of History of Japan#Medieval Japan (1185–1573/1600), medieval and Edo period, early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retai ...

and '' shishi'' who is considered one of the three great nobles who led 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 r ...

Early life

Born Wada Kogorō in

Hagi Hagi, Hadži, or Hadzhi (Хаджи) is a name derived from hajji, an honorific title given to a Muslim person who has successfully completed the Hajj to Mecca, which was later adopted by Christian peoples as a word for ''pilgrim''. People Surname ...

Chōshū Domain The , also known as the , was a domain (''han'') of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1600 to 1871.Deal, William E. (2005) ''Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan,'' p. 81 The Chōshū Domain was ba ...

(present-day

Yamaguchi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Yamaguchi Prefecture has a population of 1,377,631 (1 February 2018) and has a geographic area of 6,112 km2 (2,359 sq mi). Yamaguchi Prefecture borders Shimane Prefecture to ...

) as the son of a samurai physician and his second wife . In 1840, due to his brother-in-law already being the head of the Wada family, he was later adopted into the Katsura family at age seven and was known as . The Katsura family's stipend was originally 150 '' koku'', but due to the late nature of his adoption which took place as his adoptive father was already on his deathbed, who died ten days later, it was reduced to 90 ''koku''. Katsura Kogorō thus became the head of the Katsura family. A year later in 1841, his adoptive mother also died, months later he was returned to his old home. In 1848, he lost his mother and elder half-sister Yaeko to illnesses. Katsura was educated at

Meirinkan was a han school located in the Chōshū Domain of Japan. The school was one of the three major educational institutions in Japan, along with the Kōdōkan in Mito Domain and Shizutani School in Okayama Domain. History The school was establis ...

, in which he later became increasingly unhappy with and defied his father in order to be educated at Shōka Sonjuku in 1849, the academy of Yoshida Shōin, from whom he adopted the philosophy of Imperial loyalism. In 1851, his father had died. In 1852, Katsura went to

Edo Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...

(present-day

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

) to study swordsmanship, established ties with radical ''samurai'' from the

Mito Domain was a Japanese domain of the Edo period. It was associated with Hitachi Province in modern-day Ibaraki Prefecture.Mito,

Ibaraki Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Ibaraki Prefecture has a population of 2,871,199 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Ibaraki Prefecture borders Fukushima Prefecture to the north, Tochigi Prefectur ...

), learned artillery techniques with Egawa Tarōzaemon, and (after observing the construction of foreign ships 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 th ...

and Shimoda), returned to Chōshū to supervise the construction of the domain's first western-style warship.

Overthrow of the Tokugawa

After 1858, Katsura Kogorō was based at the domain's Edo residence, where he served as a liaison between the domain bureaucracy and radical elements among the young, lower-echelon Chōshū ''samurai'' who supported the '' Sonnō jōi'' movement. Coming under suspicion by the shogunate for his ties with Mito loyalists after the attempted assassination of Andō Nobumasa, he was transferred to Kyōto. However, while in Kyōto, he was unable to prevent the 30 September 1863 coup d'état by the forces of the

Aizu is the westernmost of the three regions of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, the other two regions being Nakadōri in the central area of the prefecture and Hamadōri in the east. As of October 1, 2010, it had a population of 291,838. The princip ...

and Satsuma domains, who drove the Chōshū forces out of the city.

Ikedaya incident

According to his personal diary regarding the Ikedaya incident, Katsura was at the loyalist meeting with the '' Ishin Shishi'' at the Ikedaya inn in the evening on July 8, 1864, he claimed that they had only met to discuss how to rescue

Furutaka Shuntaro was the lead ship in the two-vessel of heavy cruisers in the Imperial Japanese Navy. The ship was named after Mount Furutaka, located on Etajima, Hiroshima immediately behind the Imperial Japanese Navy Academy. She was commissioned in 1926 an ...

from the

Shinsengumi The was a special police force organized by the (military government) during Japan's Bakumatsu period (late Tokugawa shogunate) in 1863. It was active until 1869. It was founded to protect the shogunate representatives in Kyoto at a time when ...

. Katsura later left the inn earlier, before the attack by the Shinsengumi troops on that night. However, there were rumors varied that Katsura was tipped off by his

geisha {{Culture of Japan, Traditions, Geisha {{nihongo, Geisha, 芸者 ({{IPAc-en, ˈ, ɡ, eɪ, ʃ, ə; {{IPA-ja, ɡeːɕa, lang), also known as {{nihongo, , 芸子, geiko (in Kyoto and Kanazawa) or {{nihongo, , 芸妓, geigi, are a class of female ...

lover , that the Shinsengumi were coming for him and wisely chose not show up for the meeting, or that he climbed out the window of the upper floor of the inn during the attack by the Shinsengumi and escaped over the roofs. He spent the next five days in hiding under Nijō Bridge along the Kamo River, posing as a beggar, his lover would bring him rice balls from the shop of the Chōshū merchant Imai Tarōemon and later aided in his escape.

Kinmon incident

Katsura was involved but not present in the Hamaguri Gate Rebellion on 20 August 1864, with the unsuccessful attempt to capture

Emperor Kōmei was the 121st Emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'')孝明天皇 (121)/ref> Kōmei's reign spanned the years from 1846 through 1867, corresponding to the final years of the ...

by the Chōshū forces at Hamaguri Gate in order to restore the Imperial household to its position of political supremacy, the Chōshū forces clashed with

and Satsuma forces who led the defense of the Imperial palace. During the attempt, the Chōshū rebels put Kyoto on fire, starting with the residence of the Takatsukasa family, and that of a Chōshū official. The rebellion resulted in 28,000 houses being burnt down, with casualties of about 400 from the Chōshū forces, including his adopted son Katsuzaburō, and only 60 from

and Satsuma forces, forcing Katsura into hiding again with his geisha lover. He would later use the name Niibori Matsusuke as an alias in 1865 to continue his work against the Tokugawa bakufu.

Satchō Alliance

After radical elements under Takasugi Shinsaku gained control of Chōshū politics, Katsura, under the new name was instrumental in establishing the

Satchō Alliance The , or was a powerful military alliance between the feudal domains of Satsuma and Chōshū formed in 1866 to combine their efforts to restore Imperial rule and overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan. History The name ''Satchō'' () is ...

with

Saigō Takamori was a Japanese samurai and nobleman. He was one of the most influential samurai in Japanese history and one of the three great nobles who led the Meiji Restoration. Living during the late Edo and early Meiji periods, he later led the Satsum ...

and

Ōkubo Toshimichi was a Japanese statesman and one of the Three Great Nobles regarded as the main founders of modern Japan. Ōkubo was a ''samurai'' of the Satsuma Domain and joined the movement to overthrow the ruling Tokugawa Shogunate during the ''B ...

through the mediation of

Sakamoto Ryōma was a Japanese ''samurai'', a '' shishi'' and influential figure of the '' Bakumatsu'' and establishment of the Empire of Japan in the late Edo period. He was a low-ranking ''samurai'' from the Tosa Domain on Shikoku and became an active op ...

in 1866, which proved to be critical in the Boshin War and the subsequent

. Around the same time, he adopted Shojirō, another nephew who was the second son of his younger sister, Kuruhara Haruko, as his heir.

Meiji statesman

Following the overthrow 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 Encyclopedia ...

in 1868, Kido claimed a large role in the establishment of the new

Meiji government The was the government that was formed by politicians of the Satsuma Domain and Chōshū Domain in the 1860s. The Meiji government was the early government of the Empire of Japan. Politicians of the Meiji government were known as the Meiji ...

. As a ''san'yo'' (Imperial Advisor) he helped draft the

Five Charter Oath The was promulgated on 6 April 1868 in Kyoto Imperial Palace. The Oath outlined the main aims and the course of action to be followed during Emperor Meiji's reign, setting the legal stage for Japan's modernization. This also set up a process of ...

, and initiated policies of centralization and modernization. He helped direct the

Abolition of the han system The in the Empire of Japan and its replacement by a system of prefectures in 1871 was the culmination of the Meiji Restoration begun in 1868, the starting year of the Meiji period. Under the reform, all daimyos (, ''daimyō'', feudal lords) ...

. In August 1868, he had his lover Ikumatsu adopted into a samurai family of Okabe Tomitarō, and later made her his wife. He was later renamed to in 1869. On 23 December 1871, he accompanied the

Iwakura Mission The Iwakura Mission or Iwakura Embassy (, ''Iwakura Shisetsudan'') was a Japanese diplomatic voyage to the United States and Europe conducted between 1871 and 1873 by leading statesmen and scholars of the Meiji period. It was not the only such m ...

on its round-the-world voyage to America and Europe, and was especially interested in Western educational systems and politics. On his return to Japan on 13 September 1873, he would become a strong advocate of the establishment of constitutional government. Realizing that Japan was not in any position to challenge the Western powers in its present state, he also returned to Japan just in time to prevent an invasion of

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republi ...

('' Seikanron''). Kido lost his dominant position in the

Meiji oligarchy The Meiji oligarchy was the new ruling class of Meiji period Japan. In Japanese, the Meiji oligarchy is called the . The members of this class were adherents of '' kokugaku'' and believed they were the creators of a new order as grand as that e ...

, and resigned from government in protest of the

Taiwan Expedition of 1874 The Japanese punitive expedition to Taiwan in 1874, referred to in Japan as the and in Taiwan and Mainland China as the Mudan incident (), was a punitive expedition launched by the Japanese in retaliation for the murder of 54 Ryukyuan sailo ...

, which he had strenuously opposed. Following the Osaka Conference of 1875, Kido agreed to return to the government, and became chairman of the

Assembly of Prefectural Governors Assembly may refer to: Organisations and meetings * Deliberative assembly, a gathering of members who use parliamentary procedure for making decisions * General assembly, an official meeting of the members of an organization or of their represent ...

that the Ōsaka Conference had created. He was also responsible for the education of the young

Emperor Meiji , also called or , was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession. Reigning from 13 February 1867 to his death, he was the first monarch of the Empire of Japan and presided over the Meiji era. He was the figur ...

Death

During the middle of the

Satsuma Rebellion The Satsuma Rebellion, also known as the was a revolt of disaffected samurai against the new imperial government, nine years into the Meiji Era. Its name comes from the Satsuma Domain, which had been influential in the Restoration and be ...

in 1877, he died of illnesses that had been plaguing him for a long time, which consisted of a combination of some form of mental disease and physical exhaustion, years of excessive alcohol consumption as well as an illness assumed to be

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in w ...

beriberi Thiamine deficiency is a medical condition of low levels of thiamine (Vitamin B1). A severe and chronic form is known as beriberi. The two main types in adults are wet beriberi and dry beriberi. Wet beriberi affects the cardiovascular system, r ...

. With his dim consciousness, Kido shook

Okubo , also Okubo, Ohkubo and Ookubo, is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Ōkubo clan ** Ōkubo Tadayo (1532–1594), Japanese daimyō of the Sengoku period ** Ōkubo Tadasuke (1537–1613), Japanese daimyō of the Sengoku ...

's hand and said, "Is Saigo still uncomfortable?" He is enshrined at Kyoto Ryozen Gokoku Shrine, where his tomb is located.

Legacy

His heir Shojirō, who had studied for ten years in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

before returning to Japan in 1882, however died of illness on the ship during the return journey near

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. Kuruhara Hikotarō, another Kido's nephew and Shojirō's eldest brother, succeeded him as the new heir of the Kido family on 18 November 1884 and was known as the

Marquis A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman ...

Kido Takamasa. 20080505 Kido Shrine

Kido Takayoshi was enshrined as the Shinto deity of scholarship and the martial arts at the Kido Shrine in about 1886 at Kido Park, Yamaguchi,

, Japan. His widow Matsuko survived him and died in 1887 at the age of 43. Kido's diary reveals an intense internal conflict between his loyalty to his home domain, Chōshū, and the greater interest of the country. He wrote often of having to fight rumors at home that he had betrayed his old friends; the idea of a nation was still relatively new in Japan and so the majority of samurai cared more for securing privileges for their own domain. Kaimei kizokuhyō by Shinsai

Together with

and

, he was known as the Ishin-no-Sanketsu (維新の三傑), which means, roughly, " Three Great Nobles of the Restoration". His younger sister's grandson was

politician .

In popular culture

Kido, referred to by his initial name Katsura Kogorō, was among the historical personalities present in the

manga Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is use ...

and

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

Rurouni Kenshin is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Nobuhiro Watsuki. The story begins during the 11th year of the Meiji period in Japan (1878) and follows a former assassin from the Bakumatsu, known as Hitokiri Battosai. After his work ...

'' by Nobuhiro Watsuki, as well as its OVA adaptation '' Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal''. While still portrayed as a ruthless radical leader of the Chōshū clan, he serves as a benevolent mentor of sorts to the young Himura Kenshin, who worked under him as the ''Hitokiri Battōsai.'' He nonetheless regrets having Kenshin do the dirty work for him after Kenshin's affair with Yukishiro Tomoe (in ''Tsuiokuhen'', he actively encouraged Tomoe to stand by Kenshin to serve as a calming influence), which ultimately boiled over into her conflicting loyalties to the shogunate agent and her emerging feelings for Kenshin. He is voiced by Tomokazu Seki in the OVA, and portrayed by Issey Takahashi in the 2021 live-action adaptation film '' Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning''. Japanese actor Ken Ishiguro portrayed him in the 2004 jdorama ''

Shinsengumi! is a 2004 Taiga drama historical fiction television series produced by Japanese broadcaster NHK. It was a popular drama about the Shinsengumi, a Japanese special police force from the Bakumatsu period. Actors include Koji Yamamoto, Tatsuya ...

'' as the old time friend of the protagonist Kondo Isami and also the leader of the Chōshū han. Japanese actor

Shōsuke Tanihara is a Japanese actor probably best known outside Japan for his portrayal of Riki Fudoh in '' Fudoh: The New Generation''. Tanihara hosts ''Tokyo Twenty-Four Living Supported by FLET’S Hikari'', a podcast produced by TOKYO FM. The podcast began ...

portrayed him in the 2009 jdorama ''

Ryōmaden is the 49th NHK Taiga drama. It was shown on NHK from January 3 to November 28, 2010, spanning 48 episodes. The story centers on the life of 19th-century Japanese historical figures Iwasaki Yatarō and Sakamoto Ryōma. It has been announced tha ...

'' as the leader of the Chōshū han. He is also the basis for the character of Katsura Kotarou in the

and

'' Gin Tama'' by Hideaki Sorachi. He also appears in the video game '' Ryū ga Gotoku Ishin!'', portrayed by the Yakuza character Shun Akiyama, and voiced by

Kōichi Yamadera is a Japanese actor, voice actor, narrator and singer from Shiogama, Miyagi Prefecture. He graduated from Tohoku Gakuin University's economics school and is currently affiliated with Across Entertainment. Before that, he was affiliated with th ...

Honours

*Grand Cordon of the

Order of the Rising Sun The is a Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese government, created on 10 April 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge features rays of sunlight ...

(May 24, 1877) *

Junior First Rank The court ranks of Japan, also known in Japanese language, Japanese as ''ikai'' (位階), are indications of an individual's court rank in Japan based on the system of the Nation, state. ''Ikai'' as a system was originally used in the Ritsuryō, R ...

(May 22, 1901; posthumous)

Gallery of former residence of Kido Takayoshi at Hagi, Japan

File:Kido Geburtshaus.jpg File:木戶孝允舊宅.jpg File:House of Takayoshi Kido.jpg, House of Takayoshi Kido File:Gate of former residence of Kido Takayoshi.jpg, Gate of former residence of Kido Takayoshi File:Garden of former residence of Kido Takayoshi.jpg, Garden of former residence of Kido Takayoshi File:Garden of former residence of Kido Takayoshi 2.jpg, File:Former residence of Kido Takayoshi.jpg File:Entrance of former residence of Kido Takayoshi.jpg File:少年時期的習字掛軸.jpg, Childhood room of Kido Takayoshi File:Edoya Lane near former residence of Kido Takayoshi.jpg, Edoya Lane near former residence of Kido Takayoshi

Notes

Reference and further reading

* Akamatsu, Paul. ''Meiji 1868: Revolution and Counter-Revolution in Japan.'' Trans. Miriam Kochan. New York: Harper & Row, 1972. * Beasley, William G. (1972). ''The Meiji Restoration.'' Stanford: Stanford University Press.
OCLC 579232
* Beasley, W. G. ''The Rise of Modern Japan: Political, Economic and Social Change Since 1850.'' New York: St. Martin's Press, 1995. * Craig, Albert M. ''Chōshū in the Meiji Restoration.'' Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1961
OCLC 482814571
* Jansen, Marius B. and Gilbert Rozman, eds. (1986). ''Japan in Transition: from Tokugawa to Meiji.'' Princeton:

Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent Academic publishing, publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, ...

.
OCLC 12311985
* Kido, Takayoshi. (1983). ''The Diary of Kido Takayoshi'' (Sidney DeVere Brown and Akiko Hirota, translators), Vol. I (1868–1871), Vol. II (1871–1874), Vol. III (1874–1877). Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press. * Nish, Ian. (1998) ''The Iwakura Mission to America and Europe: A New Assessment''. Richmond, Surrey: Japan Library. ;
OCLC 40410662

External links

Selected Diary Entries of KidoMeiji Dignitaries
is a portrait of Takayoshi and others from 1877 {{DEFAULTSORT:Kido, Takayoshi 1833 births 1877 deaths Politicians from Yamaguchi Prefecture Meiji Restoration People from Chōshū domain Nobles of the Meiji Restoration People of Meiji-period Japan Samurai Mōri retainers Japanese swordfighters Japanese politicians Japanese revolutionaries Deified Japanese people Members of the Iwakura Mission