Saigo Takamori


Also found in: Dictionary, Wikipedia.

Saigo Takamori

 

Born Dec. 7, 1827, in Kagoshima; died Sept. 14, 1877. Japanese political figure.

A samurai from Satsuma principality, Saigo commanded the forces of the antishogun coalition during the incomplete bourgeois revolution of 1867–68. In the 1870’s he defended the interests of many of the samurai dissatisfied with their diminished role after the revolution. Saigo demanded restoration of the feudal privileges of the samurai. In order to enhance the importance of the military clique, he pressed for a campaign against Korea; however, his proposal of a military expedition into Korea was rejected by the government, which considered such a step premature. In 1873, as a gesture of protest, Saigo resigned from his post as minister of war.

In 1877, Saigo led a rebellion of reactionary samurai in Satsuma, in which more than 40,000 took part. The government suppressed the rebellion; Saigo, who was wounded in the fighting, committed suicide.

Mentioned in ?
References in periodicals archive ?
A la izquierda tenemos a Saigo Takamori con algunos miembros de su Estado Mayor.
Aproximacion al radicalismo islamico
This new biography of Saigo Takamori [1827-1877] will do much to help Americans understand not only Saigo's historical significance but also why he continues to enthrall a great many Japanese.
The Last Samurai: The Life and Battles of Saigo Takamori
Like I'm some young Samurai in trainin and you're Saigo Takamori and you're wearin this totally ancient-looking kimono with like dragons and tigers all over it?
Stone Cold Dead Serious
86 we are told that the 1877 Satsuma rebellion was led by Saigo Takamori, one of the leaders in the overthrow of the Shogunate ten years earlier, yet the question this begs--how had he fallen out with the new order which he had helped bring about?
A Short History of Japan: from Samurai to Sony
A group of determined young leaders, such as Okubo Toshimichi, Saigo Takamori, Kido Koin, and Iwakura Tomomi, shared the view that Japan would have to modernize or go under.
A comparative study of accounting adaptation: China and Japan during the Nineteenth Century

Encyclopedia browser ?
Full browser ?