Saigo, Kido, Okubo, etc.
The three greatest heroes of the Meiji Restoration (of the Imperial authority) of Japan, carried out from 1868, are Takamori Saigo, Takayoshi Kido, and Toshimichi Okubo.
Any learnt Japanese know these names as the greatest heroes in the Japanese history. These samurais survived the civil war of 1868 in Japan through which the last samurai regime led by the Tokugawa shogun fell and disintegrated.
They all became top leaders of the Meiji Government of Japan. However their fates varied so much.
Takamori Saigo (1828-1877) was a samurai of Satsuma-han (clan). Satsuma, situated in the most south-western region of the mainland Japan, had been a strong clan governed by the Shimazu family who had not been in good relationships with the Tokugawa clan who governed the whole samurai class of Japan. Saigo and most of other leaders of Satsuma, including Okubo, were resolute in their determination to launch a civil war against the shogun government and defeat the Tokugawa family. Saigo, as the virtual supreme commander, eventually led the anti-Tokugawa troops joined by various clans.
When leading nobleman Iwakura made a great inspection journey to the US and Europe, being accompanied by many leading ex-samurai leaders, after the Meiji Restoration between 1871 and 1873, Saigo staying in Tokyo virtually acted as the top politician and became the most popular dignitary in Japan at the time. He was loved by many ordinary people. Saigo was ranked as the first full general of Army of Japan in the modern history.
Takayoshi Kido (1833-1877) was a samurai of Chosyu-han (clan). Chosyu, situated in the most south-western region of Honsyu Island which is the main island of the mainland Japan, had not been a friendly clan to Tokugawa for centuries. They found that a chance to take over power from the Tokugawa regime came when the US sent its naval fleet to Tokyo Bay in order to force Japan to open the nation, though past shoguns had adopted a national isolation policy for 250 years. Actually Shimazu-han entered war with the shogunate twice in this turmoil period leading to the Meiji Restoration, in which the Tokugawa clan and their vassal samurais could not win clear victory.
Kido was a leading samurai of Chosyu governed officially by a samurai lord named Mo-ri. Kido took a decisive part in forming military coalition between the two anti-Tokugawa major clans: Shimazu and Satusma. With help from Sakamoto Ryuma, a progressive activist samurai of Tosa, Kido could establish a strong tie with Saigo and Okubo. This movement decided the fate of Japan around 1868. Kido took a leading position in the Meiji Government after the civil war of 1868. Kido joined the Iwakura mission to visit and inspect the US and Europe after the Meiji Restoration.
Toshimichi Okubo (1830-1878) was also a samurai of Satsuma-han (clan). He was a friend of great Saigo from childhood. With help from Saigo, Okubo was mostly in charge of politics in Kyoto where the emperor resided. In years before the civil war for the Meiji Restoration, even the Tokugawa shogun came to Kyoto from Edo, presently Tokyo, and stayed there to keep influence on the emperor and other noble-class people. As the situation was so difficult with the strong request to open the nation from the US, the shogun needed to consent from the emperor to open the nation while there were so many samurais and samurai clans all over Japan who were against establishing diplomatic ties with the US and other European countries. Those samurai thought that Japan must be proudly independent of other countries. "Samurai Japan or imperial Japan must not accept disadvantageous treaties now requested by Western powers," they proudly thought.
However these anti-Tokugawa samurais led by Chosyu and Satsuma soon came to change their policy toward the US, the UK, France, etc. after seizing power to open the nation. But till the civil war of 1868 put an end to this diplomatic argument, political movement around the emperor in Kyoto was so tense and dangerous. Okubo was the one who most actively contributed to political success of the anti-Tokugawa camp. Okubo also joined the Iwakura mission to visit and inspect the US and Europe after the Meiji Restoration.
Then the civil war ended with fall of the Tokugawa shogunate. Edo, the capital of samurai Japan, was renamed Tokyo. The Meiji Government was established in Tokyo. The emperor moved from Kyoto to Tokyo. Modernization and Westernization of Japan started. Saigo, Kido, and Okubo occupied top positions of the new government.
But, nine years later Saigo resigned from some key Cabinet position to go back to Shimazu, now called Kagoshima Prefecture, to join samurais who were complaint about the new government in Tokyo. Many samurais were left behind from this change of the era, since not all the samurais in Japan could find reasonable posts in Tokyo. They decided to launch a war against the central government. Saigo with full compassion to them became the head of these insurgents. They launched a war but were decisively defeated in Kyusyu Island where Kagoshima is situated. And Saigo committed a suicide (harakiri or seppuku) taking responsibility at the end of the war.
Troops dispatched by Tokyo to suppress the Shimazu insurgents were led by Okubo. So, Okuba fought against his old friend Saigo. And during this civil war, Kido became sick and finally died. He could not stop this war by interfering in the complicated relationships between Saigo and Okubo.
After this civil war, called the Satsuma Rebellion, only Okubo remained among the Three Great Heroes of the Meiji Restoration. Okubo became a kind of dictator. However soon after the victory in the Satsuma Rebellion, he was assassinated in Tokyo by unsatisfactory ex-samurais.
But Okubo had a smart follower; Hirobumi Ito (1841-1909). Ex-samurai of Chosyu Ito was first an honest follower of Kido but he gained strong trust from dictator Okubo. (Ito also joined the Iwakura mission to visit and inspect the US and Europe after the Meiji Restoration.) So, Ito succeeded in filling the void left in the Meiji Goverment by the deaths of Saigo, Kido, and Okubo. Ito was especially entrusted greatly by the emperor. Ito became one of the main authors of the Constitution of the Empire of Japan and assumed the highest public office as the first prime minister of Japan. In the Meiji era (1869-1912) Ito was always at the power center of the Japanese politics.
However Ito was assassinated while traveling in Manchuria, presently the Northeast Part of China, in 1909 after the Russo-Japanese War (of 1904-05). A Korean who protested against military occupation of Korea by the Empire of Japan shot at Ito in a station where Ito met with a Russian minister. This incident decisively led to the annexation of Korea to the Empire of Japan in 1910, though Ito did not necessarily support the idea of this annexation.
And after the death of Ito, something changed in the Empire of Japan, though most of the Japanese people felt that an era clearly ended with death of the emperor in 1912.
Finally the next great change of Japan occurred in 1945 when the Empire of Japan lost the war against the US as part of WWII.
Nonetheless, the Japanese people today still like to discuss matters related to Saigo, Kido, Okubo, and the Meiji Restoration about which many foreigners in Asia like to learn as reference for their development and success.
The civil war of precisely 1868-1869 was called Boshin War after the classical name of the year 1868.
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