was a Japanese samurai of the late

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional ''daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was character ...

, and an

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor ...

general A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". O ...

of the early

Meiji era 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 ...

Biography

Kirino, also known as , was renowned as one of the Four Hitokiri of the Bakumatsu. His sword style was ''Ko-jigen-ryū'', a branch of the high-speed '' Jigen-ryū'' . Kirino's activities during the early to mid-1860s largely centered on

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ...

. During the Boshin War, as a senior commander of Satsuma forces, he was a high-ranking officer of the new Imperial Army. It was Kirino who was the representative of the imperial army at the surrender of Wakamatsu Castle, where he received the petition for surrender from Matsudaira Katamori, the lord of

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 ...

Kirino became a brigadier general in the early years of the

. However, he joined the forces of

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 ...

during 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 ...

, taking part in the march northward to Kumamoto. A lover of French

Eau de Cologne Eau de Cologne (; German: ''Kölnisch Wasser'' ; meaning "Water from Cologne"), or simply cologne, is a perfume originating from Cologne, Germany. Originally mixed by Johann Maria Farina (Giovanni Maria Farina) in 1709, it has since come to be a ...

, Kirino wore it even during his last battle at Shiroyama. Kirino remained with Saigō until the end, and was killed at the end of the rebellion. He was buried alongside Saigō Takamori, Beppu Shinsuke, Katsura Hisatake, Murata Shinpachi, Shinohara Kunimoto, and Oyama Tsunayoshi among others at the Nanshu Cemetery, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. Kirino's wife, , the second daughter of , was a skilled martial artist. As seen in several contemporary

ukiyo-e Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art which flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes from history and folk ...

woodblock prints depicting the uprising, she also joined in its march to lead the women auxiliary troops. Unlike her husband, she survived, and lived until 1920. Grave of Toshiaki Kirino DSCN4028 20070830

Grave of Toshiaki Kirino DSCN4028 20070830

Cultural references

Kirino appears as a character in the history-themed ''Getsumei Seiki'', by Kenji Morita. Kirino also appears as the Army Commander 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 ...

''RED: Livin' on The Edge'', by Kenichi Muraeda.

References

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External links

Photos of the graves of the Satsuma Rebellion leaders, including Kirino
(3 October 2007)

Biography

Cultural references

References

External links

Further reading