1st Edition

Saigo Takamori - The Man Behind the Myth

By Charles L. Yates Copyright 1995
    250 Pages
    by Routledge

    250 Pages
    by Routledge

    First published in 1995. This volume looks at the samurai character of Saigo Takamori, a central character in the novel and television series called 'Tobu ga gotoku' (as if to fly) based on Shiba Ryotaro's novel, which was aired on Japan's public television network NHK. Shiba's main focus in the novel if on the early development of Japan's domestic politics, and on the emergence in that context of widespread discontent toward the policies of the Meiji government among the samurai class, leading eventually to a series of armed rebellions between 1874 and 1877.

    Introduction; Chapter 1 Saig?’s Childhood in Satsuma, 1827–59; Chapter 2 Exile and Intellectual Growth, 1859–64; Chapter 3 The Rise to Leadership, 1864–65; Chapter 4 The Destruction of the Tokugawa Regime, 1865–8; Chapter 5 Reform and Reaction in Kagoshima, 1868–71; Chapter 6 Hard Times and Trouble in Tokyo, 1871–73; Chapter 7 Collision Course in Kagoshima, 1873–77;

    Biography

    Charles L. Yates