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 Emper ...

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 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

. His sword style was ''Ko-jigen-ryū'', a branch of the high-speed ''

Jigen-ryū Jigen-ryū (示現流 lit: ''revealed reality style'') is a traditional school ('' koryū'') of Japanese martial arts founded in the late 16th century by Tōgō Chūi (1560–1643), a.k.a. Tōgō Shigekata, in Satsuma Province, now Kagoshima pr ...

'' . 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 ci ...

. During the

Boshin War The , sometimes known as the Japanese Revolution or Japanese Civil War, was a civil war in Japan fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and a clique seeking to seize political power in the name of the Imperi ...

, 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 , also known as Tsuruga Castle (鶴ヶ城 ''Tsuru-ga-jō'') is a concrete replica of a traditional Japanese castle in northern Japan, at the center of the city of Aizuwakamatsu, in Fukushima Prefecture. Background Aizu Wakamatsu Castle is loca ...

, where he received the petition for surrender from

Matsudaira Katamori Matsudaira Katamori after the Meiji restoration was a samurai who lived in Bakumatsu period and the early to mid Meiji period Japan. He was the 9th ''daimyō'' of the Aizu Domain and the Kyoto Shugoshoku (Military Commissioner of Kyoto). He in ...

, 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 beca ...

, 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 ge ...

, 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 was a Japanese samurai of the late Edo period who became an officer in the Imperial Japanese Army. Background He was a samurai of the Satsuma Domain, and an associate of Saigō Takamori. Beppu joined Saigō's forces during the Satsuma Rebell ...

Katsura Hisatake Katsura or Katsuura may refer to: Architecture *The Katsura imperial villa, one of Japan's most important architectural treasures, and a World Heritage Site Botany *Katsura, the common name for Cercidiphyllum, a genus of two species of trees nati ...

Murata Shinpachi Murata (written: 村田 lit. "village rice paddy") may refer to: *Murata (surname) People * Ryōta Murata, Japanese professional boxer Technology *Murata Manufacturing, a manufacturer of electronic components and technology *Murata Machinery, ...

, Shinohara Kunimoto, and

Oyama Tsunayoshi Oyama, Ōyama or Ohyama may refer to: * Oyama, Tochigi ( ja, 小山市, link=no), a city in Japan * Ōyama, Ōita ( ja, 大山町, link=no), a town in Japan * Oyama, Shizuoka ( ja, 小山町, link=no), a town in Japan * Mount Ōyama (Kanagawa) ( ja ...

among others at the Nanshu Cemetery,

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 ...

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 ...

. 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 Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surfac ...

woodblock print Woodblock printing or block printing is a technique for printing text, images or patterns used widely throughout East Asia and originating in China in antiquity as a method of printing on textiles and later paper. Each page or image is create ...

s 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 u ...

''RED: Livin' on The Edge'', by

Kenichi Muraeda is a Japanese manga artist who is known for creating the manga series ''Kamen Rider Spirits''. He is married to fellow manga artist . History After working as an assistant to manga artist Satoshi Yoshida, Muraeda made his debut in 1987 with ''Ar ...

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