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SAKAMOTO RYōMA/ 2009
(  Satoshi Kinoshita )
| Series: | Prints on paper: Portraits 2 | | Medium: | Giclée on Japanese matte paper | | Size (inches): | 16.5 x 11.7 (paper size) | | Size (mm): | 420 x 297 (paper size) | | Edition size: | 25 | | Catalog #: | PP_0144 | | Description: | From an edition of 25. Signed, titled, date, copyright, edition in pencil on the reverse / Aside from the numbered edition of 5 artist's proofs and 2 printer's proofs.
"Anything can be accomplished if you take responsibility for doing at least 80 percent to 90 percent of it yourself. Pass the remaining 10-20 percent of responsibility on to others and give them all the credit." - Sakamoto Ryoma
-www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Sakamoto_Ryoma
Sakamoto Ryōma - In this Japanese name, the family name is Sakamoto.
Sakamoto Ryōma (坂本 龍馬, Sakamoto Ryōma, January 3, 1836–10 December 1867) was a leader of the movement to overthrow the Tokugawa bakufu during the Bakumatsu period in Japan. Ryōma used the alias Saitani Umetarō (才谷梅太郎, Saitani Umetarō) as a cover name during his work as a loyalist in the creation of a modern government.
-en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakamoto_Ry%C5%8Dma
Introduction
Sakamoto Ryoma, born in Kochi in 1835, made a great contribution to Japan's rapid modernization which marked the end of 700 years of feudal government. The modernized nation he pictured had laws, a parliamentary system and a diplomatic office. The impact he had on the country was such that the people fondly refer to him only by his first name, Ryoma. Henceforth, we will refer to him as such in this brochure.
In his time, it was not permitted to leave one's home clan without official permission. Japan's central government, called the bakufu, was losing its power in ruling all the clans. Instead, some clans were getting stronger than others and trying to overthrow the shogunate. Ryoma fled Tosa, the old name for Kochi, without official Tosa travel permission at the age of 28. Ryoma, as a man outside the control of his home fief authorities, worked energetically all over Japan to reform the national political and economic system.
Real national unity, Ryoma thought, would require the cooperation of the two strongest anti-bakufu clans at the time, the Satsuma and Choshu clans, which are now parts of Kagoshima and Yamaguchi prefectures. In 1866, he succeeded in forming an alliance between these two traditional enemies. In 1867, he formulated an "Eight-Point Program" for the modernization of Japan, a political guideline for the new government and cabinet. In October* of this year, with the help of other Tosa youths like Goto Shojiro, Fukuoka Takachika and Nagaoka Kenkichi, he finally realized "Taiseihokan" (returning power to the throne). The bakufu turned over its power to the emperor. It was a bloodless revolution.
Only one month later, in November 15*, 1867, Ryoma was assassinated in Kyoto at the age of 33. He had lived long enough to see only one month of Japan's drastic change. "The Meiji Restoration" was near at hand, but he never saw the modern Japan he had struggled to build.
This museum was built in order to pass on Ryoma's life and ideas to the following generations.
*All historical dates in this brochure have been calculated using the lunar calendar system. The lunar calendar was used in those days.
-www.kochi-bunkazaidan.or.jp/~ryoma/english1.htm
The Story of Ryoma Sakamoto (1835 - 1867) by Kazuo Yamada in Osaka
History in every country has many turning points from which come many heroes and heroines. In Japanese history one of the most respectable heroes was a samurai by the name of Ryoma Sakamoto.
Ryoma Sakamoto was a son of a merchant and a master of the sword. With the help of his friends he changed Japanese history by "Saccho Domei", (a kind of a pact against the government). The most important lesson learned from Ryoma Sakamoto is that one who has dreams should cherish their friends. Ryoma's grave is found near Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto. His grave is clean and well-kept though a lot of people visit there. There are many colorful strands of paper cranes, as well as business cards and offerings of flowers and bottles of Sake, which Ryoma liked to drink with his friends. Today, some people even write to Ryoma to ask advice, as if he were alive. For many years he has been a hero to many Japanese, especially the young and those in the universities.
Ryoma was born in Kochi, in the feudal domain known as "Tosa," on the island of Shikoku. He was the youngest son in the rich family, whose father ran a big shop. In those days, there was a class distinctions called, "shi-nou-kou-sho" (samurai, farmer, artisan and merchant in descending order of rank). In Tosa, the samurai divided into two class, joshi and goshi(Upper and lower). The Sakamoto family belonged to the merchant class, lowest in the class distinctions. Ryoma's father bought the right to be a goshi, a lower class samurai. The difference between joshi and goshi were strict rules. For example, joshi can have an umbrella when it rains, but goshi can't. Joshi can wear "tabi" a kind of socks, but goshi can't. Ryoma was born under this circumstance.
At the age of 14 as other children did, he began to practice kendo, the way of sword. By daily practice, he acquired both skills and confidence in himself. His father, finding his talent, thought his son could one day become a sword master and have his own school. In 1853, this young son of a low-ranking samurai was sent to Edo (present day Tokyo) to develop his sword technique in Chiba Sadakichi's school. A letter written by his father when Ryoma was about to go to Edo to practice kendo said: "Ryoma, you must keep these three in mind. First, you must practice harder, Secondly, do not waste money thirdly, in Edo, there are a lot of beautiful girls, do not fall in love with them easily. All you have to do is practice kendo."
In the school, Ryoma made friends with Jutaro and Sanako, the son and a daughter of Chiba Sadakichi, who was the nephew of Chiba Shusaku, then the most famous sword master in Japan. Ryoma improved his skills and became the strongest among the students in the school. He later received the second ranking (shihan dai)in his school at the age of 19. He was very popular as one of the strongest sword masters among young students. In those days, a lot of young people came from all over Japan to Tokyo in order to study kendo at the request of their clans. The strong clans of the time were Satsuma, (present day Kagoshima prefecture in Kyushu), Choshu (Yamaguchi prefecture on Honshu) and Tosa (Kochi prefecture on Shikoku).
The year 1853 also marked the arrival of Commodore Perry's ship into Edo Bay. Japan had been shut off from the rest of the world for more than 200 years in self-imposed isolation. The shogun ordered all lords of the clans to guard the Edo Bay. Of course students from Tosa, including Ryoma were gathered to carry out the order. The experience of seeing the "Black Ships" from America made a great impression on Ryoma, arousing feelings of envy for the power and technology of the west and concern, perhaps even fear, about Japan's future. He knew Shin (the old name of China) was conquered by the western world, so Ryoma became a xenophobic, one who hated the foreigners and wanted them expelled by force. At this time he wrote to his father, "I think there will be a war soon. If it breaks out, I will cut off foreign heads before coming home" He became one of the youngest patriots, yet the other hand he wanted Japan to have their own ships like the Black Ships.
One day in Edo, Ryoma met Takechi Hanpeita, also from Tosa, who had been his good friend since childhood. Young Ryoma was not good at serious discussions and Takechi tried to teach him about the problems Japan was facing, the more serious the discussions became, the less patient and interested Ryoma was. Going back home in 1854, he was in Tosa for 2 years when he talked with Kawade Shoryo, who was famous for his knowledge of Western culture. Kawade's knowledge came from having written a book about Nakahama Manjiro, a Japanese who had been shipwrecked in 1841. Nakahama had been rescued and taken to Hawaii and then America, where he became the first Japanese student in 1843. Since Japanese were not allowed to leave the country at this time, he was first interrogated by the government on his return. Thanks to Kawade Shoryo, Ryoma became familiar with policy, the economy and social systems in the western countries, especially America.
The most interesting thing for Ryoma was that there was no class distinctions in America and this made him think that Shogun should gradually become unnecessary. Returning to Edo in 1856, Ryoma found that the sword schools became the centers of anti-foreign feeling. Ryoma continued to practice kendo and finally, received the highest ranking in his school. When he finished his studies in 1858, he returned to Tosa. In 1862, in Tosa, Takechi, his friend, organized an anti-foreign group consisting of mostly of about 200 lower samurai who insisted on the reform of the Tosa government. Since the Tosa lord refused to recognize the group, they hatched a plot to assassinate lord Yoshida Toyo. Ryoma participated in name only, because Takechi insisted on a revolution for only the Tosa clan. Ryoma thought they should to do something for all of Japan. Since Ryoma had a lot of knowledge about Western countries from Kawada Shoryu. He decided to part from his friend, Takechi and not able to stay Tosa. In those days, nobody was permitted leaving their clan without permission which Ryoma did. The penalty was death, in fact, one of his sisters committed suicide because he left without permission.
In December of 1862, Ryoma decided to assassinate Katsu Kaishu. Katsu was a high ranking officer in the government. He was the commander of the ship "Kanrin-maru" on it's first mission to the U.S., sent by the shogun for the purpose of signing the Japan-U.S. commercial treaty. He was, perhaps, the most progressive person in Shoguns government. His ideas on communicating with foreigners and his apparent support of the shogun aroused the anger of the young patriots who thought he was caving in to all the demands of the.
Ryoma went with Jutaro, the son of his Chiba sword school master to meet with Katsu. Katsu apparently knew of Ryoma's true intentions and persuaded him to listen his views before taking any action. As Katsu later wrote, Ryoma did listen, admitted his true purpose, and said, "I am ashamed of my narrow-minded bigotry and beg you to let me became your disciple." After that, Ryoma introduced his friends to Katsu. It was an abrupt change in Ryoma's course of action and way of thinking that led him to become a trusted mentor of Katsu. At that time Katsu wanted the shogun to ride on the western vessel, he was convinced that Japan should have a navy for protection from other countries.
In April, 1863, Katsu persuaded the shogun to establish a naval school in Kobe. Katsu soon appointed Ryoma as a head of the new school. At the age of 29. Ryoma gathered over 300 samurai and friends from all over Japan without class distinction. They consisted of Ronin, who were masterless samurai or young samurai who leave their clans, like Ryoma. Ryoma intended to gather a lot of samurai and young people because he wanted them to avoid killing each other in battle. After their learning how to handle the ships, Ryoma planned to send them to explore Hokkaido, the northern island of Japan.
By 1864, things in Japan had become quite unstable. The Choshu clan had bombed Dutch ships, the Satsuma clan had fought with the British at Kagoshima, and more assassinations had taken place. Later the two clans were attacked by a western allied force. The clans received heavy damage which forced them to realize the power of the west.
In summer that year, some of the Choshu clan were meeting at the Ikedaya Inn, planning a coup. This plot included the idea of abducting the emperor and taking him to Mt. Hiei. Kondo Isami, leader of the Shinsen gumi, an unofficial police force under the government's command, learned of their plot. He and his men attacked the inn, killed seven of the Choshu, wounded four, and captured twenty-three. A month later, other soldiers of the Choshu clan attacked the Imperial Palace at the Hamaguri Gate in another attempted coup in Kyoto. The Choshu were now regarded as enemies, even by the emperor.
All other clans including the Satsuma were ordered to attack the Choshu.
One day Katsu met with Takamori Saigo who was one of head officials of the Satsuma clan. Saigo was born in Satsuma as a lower samurai but he was promoted to a high rank by officials who saw his talent. Katsu told Saigo honestly, "Opening Japan to western countries was inevitable, The government has no capability to handle it. So I think a major clan alliance should take power." Listening to Katsu's advice, Saigo decided to refuse to attack the Choshu.
With all of the rebellion in the western part of Japan, the government closed its Kobe naval school. It found that some students who were born in the Choshu and at the naval school, had joined in the attacks on the Imperial Palace. Katsu was ordered to be back to Edo but before leaving the naval school, he entrusted Saigo who was a head official of the Satsuma, with the care of the students. In 1864, Ryoma with about 20 friends went to Nagasaki and started the "Kameyama Shachu" (the company) which would later become known as the "kaientai" (Naval Auxiliary Force). The kaientai is sometimes called Japan's first corporation. (In 1867, Iwasaki Yataro took over Tosa's business dealings, which by then included the kaientai. Iwasaki was the founder of Mitsubishi, at that time a maritime trading company. Ryoma didn't have any ships, so he rented a ship from another clan to carry products. Saigo then asked Ryoma to handle their ships because employees of Ryoma's company had the skills that the Satsuma did not have.
At this time, Kogoro Katsura visited Ryoma as one of the head officials of the Choshu clan and told Ryoma, "As you know, we Choshu are prohibited from buying arms as a punishment for the attack in Kyoto. But we need a lot of them for next battle." In those days, Ryoma thought that it might be difficult to unite Japan without the combination of the Choshu and the Satsuma. He had been thinking how to combine two clans. A fresh idea came into Ryoma's mind, "The Choshu have a large crop of rice, and are not able to buy arms. The Satsuma are short of rice, and can buy arms. So, first, the Satsuma buys the arms in name only and we ship them to the Choshu. In return, we ship rice to the Satsuma. This is the only way to unite the two clans. If this works well, they will change Japan." Ryoma worked with the Satsuma and the Choshu, finally succeeding in getting them to make a pact, which was secretly signed in Kyoto on January 22nd in 1866.
The following day, Ryoma stayed at the Teradaya in Kyoto with official of Choshu, Miyoshi Shinzo. The Teradaya inn was Ryoma's favorite inn. and Ryoma's girlfriend Oryo worked there. It seems that the government learned of his negotiations with the two clans and sent soldiers to attack him. The story was recorded by Ryoma and others, and perhaps some of it has been embellished over the years . On January 23, Oryo was taking a bath in a wooden tub late at night when she noticed soldiers through the window. She ran upstairs naked to warn of the attack. Over 20 soldiers broke into the house and ran up the stairs. Ryoma used his gun, but his fingers were so badly wounded in the sword fight that he could no longer shoot. In the struggle, Miyoshi, who was skilled with the long sword, wanted to continue when more soldiers joined the fight, but Ryoma decided to escape. There were more soldiers at the front of the inn, but none in the back. Although there was no road at the rear of the inn, the two men crashed through the wall of a house in the dark. After running and hiding for a while, Ryoma could go no further and Misoshi went to the Satsuma mansion and sent soldiers to bring Ryoma back. Ryoma nursed his wounds at the Satsuma mansion in Kyoto, and Saigo suggested Ryoma visit Satsuma for medical treatment with Oryo. It is said to be the first honeymoon in Japan.
In April of 1867, one of Ryoma's commercial ships was sunk accidentally by the Kishu clan, who were relatives of the Shogun. Ryoma began negotiations to try to secure funds for its replacement. The kaientai had become somewhat familiar with international sea law and Ryoma wanted this to be the first accident resolved by using sea law in Japan. He wanted Westerners in Nagasaki to observe the negotiations and eventually he succeeded in obtaining a rather large sum of money. During this process, he was in contact with a high ranked official of the Tosa clan, Goto Shojiro. Goto was born in Kochi, like Ryoma and had become the counselor of his lord, Yamanouchi Yodo. Goto was concerned about the future of the Tosa and thought the Tosa should be part of a new government with the Satsuma and the Choshu.
The anti-government clans were preparing for war against the government. Ryoma was very influential then and came to believe that the best plan to avoid war would be to relinquish power to the emperor. Ryoma told Goto his idea and he in turn relayed it to lord, Yamanouchi, who thus became the first to formally ask the Shogun to resign.
Ryoma's ideas for the new government were outlined in his "senchu Hassaku" or Eight Point Plan. He suggested that power should be returned to the emperor and that the value of gold and silver be equalized with that of other countries. Ryoma concentrated on this plan and In July there was an alliance between the Tosa and the Satsuma. Ryoma made the list of the new government officials which was read by Saigo who wondered why Ryoma did not put himself on the list. Ryoma then told him, "I don't like the red tape and I have a dream that I will have business with western countries using my ships." The shogun had accepted the plan to return his authority to the emperor in October of 1867.
In November of 1867, Ryoma was in Kyoto with his friend Nakaoka Shintaro. On the 15th they were both assassinated at a soy sauce shop called Omiya. Ryoma was 33 and Nakaoka, who died two days later, was 30.
During this time in Japanese history, there were many heroes all over Japan. The difference between Ryoma and the others is that they choose the majority way. Ryoma thought of equality and freedom and as a leader, hated the class distinctions. He never worked for only his own benefit. He did things his way but he never forced others to. He was not a mentor for other samurai but a big brother and although he was a sword master, it is said that he never killed anyone. He was one of few samurai who had a clear vision of the future and kept an open mind which is one reason he is so popular with the youth of Japan. Although not a smart child, his hard training at kendo gave him the self confidence he needed to make friends with many people. We find not only similarity but hope in Ryoma's life.
Note: Kazuo Yamada is a teacher at a juku or cram school in Osaka. This is the first time he has written in English. June 1993
Eternity Eight Website Content and Design Copyright © 2002-2007 Chris Hall
-eternity8.sempai.org/about/ryoma.php
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