was a

samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...

in Bakumatsu period

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, and a close associate of Sakamoto Ryōma in the movement to overthrow the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

.National Diet Library (NDL), Portraits of Modern Japanese Historical Figures
Nakaoka, Shintaro
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Biography

Nakaoka was born in

Tosa Domain The was a Han (Japan), feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, controlling all of Tosa Province in what is now Kōchi Prefecture on the island of Shikoku. It was centered around Kōchi Castle, and was ruled throughout its ...

, in what is now the village of Kitagawa, Kōchi Prefecture, as the son of a village headman. In 1861, he enrolled in the academy run by Takechi Hanpeita where he studied

swordsmanship Swordsmanship or sword fighting refers to the skills and techniques used in combat and training with any type of sword. The term is modern, and as such was mainly used to refer to smallsword fencing, but by extension it can also be applied to an ...

. He was one of the founding members of the ''Tosa Kinno-tō'', a paramilitary shishi organization created by Takeichi to support the '' sonnō jōi'' movement. After the coup d’etat of September 30, 1863, led to the suppression of the ''sonnō Jōi'' faction, he fled to Chōshū Domain together with pro-''Sonnō Jōi''

nobles Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. T ...

, including Sanjō Sanetomi. In 1864, he participated in a failed plot to assassinate Shimazu Hisamitsu, and fought alongside Chōshū forces during the Kinmon Incident and the Bombardment of Shimonoseki. Later that year, as a member of the '' Kaientai'' formed by Sakamoto Ryōma, he worked to bring about the Satsuma-Chōshū Alliance and obtain the backing and support of Sanjō Sanetomi for the project. In March, 1867, he travelled with Sakamoto Ryōma to their native Tosa Domain to negotiate a similar alliance between Tosa and Satsuma. In June, he began negotiations to further expand the new alliance to include Chōshū as well as

Hiroshima Domain The was a large domain that owned all of Aki Province and half of Bingo Province. It occupies most of current Hiroshima Prefecture. The domain office was located at Hiroshima Castle in Sato District, Aki Province (renamed Numata District in 1 ...

, but the issue was rendered moot when ''

shōgun , officially , was the title of the military rulers of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, except during parts of the Kamak ...

Tokugawa Yoshinobu Kazoku, Prince was the 15th and last ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan. He was part of a movement which aimed to reform the aging shogunate, but was ultimately unsuccessful. He resigned his position as shogun in late 1867, while ai ...

formally returned governing power to the Emperor. Realizing that civil war was now increasingly probable, Nakaoka returned to Tosa and established the '' Rikuentai'' militia. Rikuentai was modeled after the '' Kiheitai'' in Chōshū in July. On December 10, 1867, Nakaoka traveled to

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

for discussions with Sakamoto Ryōma, but was mortally wounded together with Sakamoto when unknown assailants attacked their lodgings (i.e. the "Ōmiya Incident"). Sakamoto died soon afterwards, but the critically injured Nakaoka lingered for two days, although never regaining enough consciousness to identify the attackers, though he did mention hearing Iyo dialect among the killers. His grave is located at the Ryosen Gokoku Jinja in

Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto is one of the eleven Wards of Kyoto, wards in the Municipalities of Japan, city of Kyoto, Kyoto, Kyoto, in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. History It was created in 1929 when it was split off from Shimogyō-ku, Kyoto, Shimogyō-ku. During the years ...

. He was posthumously awarded with the court rank of 4th grade in 1891 by

Emperor Meiji , posthumously honored as , was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the List of emperors of Japan, traditional order of succession, reigning from 1867 until his death in 1912. His reign is associated with the Meiji Restoration of 1868, which ...

. There is a large bronze statue of Nakaoka Shintarō at Murotomisaki lighthouse in Cape Muroto in his native Kochi Prefecture, and another (together with Sakamoto Ryōma) at Maruyama Park in Kyoto.

Notes

References

* Jansen, Marius B. (1961). ''Sakamoto Ryoma and the Meiji Restoration''. Princeton:

Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent 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, with the financial ...

OCLC 413111
* Miyaji, Saijiro. (1993). ''Nakaoka Shintaro: Ishin no shusenka''. Tokyo: Chuo-Koronsha, (Japanese)

External links

Nakaoka Shintaro Museum
(Japanese)
Shotentai.com -About Nakaoka Shintaro
(Japanese) {{DEFAULTSORT:Nakaoka, Shintaro 1838 births 1867 deaths Assassinated revolutionaries Japanese revolutionaries Meiji Restoration People from Tosa Domain People murdered in Kyoto Samurai Unsolved murders in Japan

Biography

See also

Notes

References

External links