Saigo Takamori - The Man Behind The Myth

Description

This is the first real biography, in English or Japanese, of Saigo Takamori - 'the Last Samurai' - the great hero of Meiji Japan. It is impossible to over-estimate Saigo's importance, both during the pivotal Meiji period and today. A samurai from Kagoshima, Saigo played a major role during the Meiji Restoration, then died in 1877 while involved in a samurai rebellion against the government he had done so much to create. He remains today among Japan's most beloved national heroes, and is universally believed to embody the very essence of what it means to be Japanese. As the Japanese say to foreigners - 'Understand Saigo and you will understand Japan.'. As this fascinating and highly important study shows, the controversy surrounding Saigo arose and continues today because Dai Saigo - 'The Great Saigo' - and the historical Saigo Takamori who lived in Japan between 1827 and 1877 are two very different characters. One is the myth, the other the man behind it, who has until now remained largely unknown, not just in the popular mind but even in the minds of Japan's professional historians. Returning to primary sources, the author reconstructs the historical Saigo from the clues he has left behind in his own words and deeds, disentangling him from the mythic Dai Saigo in order to provide the first accurate account of the career of one of the most widely known and admired figures in Japanese history. Front Cover Saigō Takamori: The Man Behind the Myth Copyright Page Contents Acknowledgements Conventions Employed in the Text Introduction: Saigō Takamori: Image and Reality 1. Saigō's Childhood in Satsuma, 1827-59 The setting: Satsuma, 1185-1851 The life of a young samurai: Kagoshima, 1827-44 The emergence of the public man: Satsuma, 1844-54 The making of a national reputation: Edo, Kyoto and Kagoshima, 1854-59 2. Exile and Intellectual Growth, 1858-64 The Ōshima years: 1959-62 A small debacle in Kyoto: 1862/2-6 The end of the earth: Tokunoshima and Okinoerabujima, 1862-64 The theory of Heaven 3. The Rise to Leadership: 1864-5 National politics: 1862-64 The struggle for control of Kyoto: 1864/4-7 The awakening of a nationalist vision: 1964/7-9 The Chōshū settlement: 1864/9-12 Saigō abandons the bakufu: 1865/1-5 4. The Destruction of the Tokugawa Regime: 1865-8 The Satsuma-Chōshū alliance: 1865-6 The second Chōshū campaign: 1865-6 The failure of deliberation: 1867/4-9 The destruction of the early modern order 5. Reform and Reaction in Kagoshima: 1868-71 Unfinished business: 1868-9 Reform in Kagoshima: 1868-70 The final shape of Saigo's world view 6. Hard Times and Trouble in Tokyo: 1871-3 Napping on a powder keg: 1871-3 As if I were flying: 1871-3 Unravelling the seikanron dispute 7. Collision Course in Kagoshima: 1873-7 Toward the final drama: 1873-76 To play out this farce in combat: 1876-7 Aftermath Epilogue - Reality and Image: Saigō Takamori in Japanese History Glossary Notes Bibliography Index