Episode 434 – The Wrong Kind of Hero, Part 2

April 15, 2022

This week: Sakamoto Ryoma commits fully to the loyalist cause, but ends up on a turbulent journey that will take him from Kyoto to Edo–and transform him into a very different man.

Sources

Jansen, Marius. Sakamoto Ryoma and the Meiji Restoration

Beasley, WG. The Meiji Restoration

Beasley, WG. “The Foreign Threat and the Opening of the Ports” and Marius Jansen, “The Meiji Restoration” in The Cambridge History of Japan, Vol 5: The Nineteenth Century.

Images

Yoshida Toyo, the karo of Tosa domain. His clashes with the Tosa loyalists would paralyze the domain and lead Sakamoto to leave it behind.
Takechi Zuisan. This self-portrait would be completed while Takechi was held under arrest after Sakamoto left (for reasons we’re not going to get into).
Katsu Kaishu, the man who inspired Sakamoto’s change of heart.
The March 26th, 1860 assassination of Ii Naosuke, also sometimes called the Sakuradamon Jiken (Cherry Blossom Field Gate Incident) after its location.