Saigo Takamori

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

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.

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References in periodicals archive ?

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

In other places brevity is taken too far--thus on p.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?--is neither posed nor answered.

A Short History of Japan: from Samurai to Sony

Among them are Saigo Takamori (1827-1877), Katsu Kaishu (1823-1899), Ito Hirobumi (1841-1909), and Okubo Toshimichi (1830-1878), they said.