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A thinker and educator of the late Edo period, from the Chōshū domain (present-day Yamaguchi Prefecture). He studied Yamaga-style military science at the domain school Meirinkан and traveled the country at 21. He learned Western learning and military science from Sakuma Shōzan, was shocked by Perry's arrival in 1853, and attempted an unauthorized voyage abroad the following year—failing and being imprisoned. After his release, he inherited the Shōkasonjuku academy of his uncle Tamaki Bunnoshin in Hagi, and educated such future leaders of the Meiji Restoration as Takasugi Shinsaku, Itō Hirobumi, Yamagata Aritomo, and Kido Takayoshi. He influenced the sonnō jōi movement with ideas such as "one sovereign, ten thousand subjects" and "the grass-roots rising up." His plan to assassinate Senior Councilor Manabe Akikatsu was exposed during the Ansei Purge, and he was executed in Edo in 1859, at the age of 29. Shōkasonjuku was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2015.

A man of burning passion and pure conviction. He never fell silent in the face of injustice and did not spare his life for his ideals. His love for his students was deep, and he had a talent as an educator for perceiving and nurturing the individuality of each person.

The talent that emerged from Shōkasonjuku led the Meiji Restoration. The pure patriotism symbolized by his farewell verse—"I now die for my country"—has had a great influence on later generations. Shōkasonjuku (a World Heritage Site) still stands in Hagi City today, visited by many.