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The Restoration Hero Who Fought the Meiji Government — Saigo and the Seinan War

In 1877 Saigo Takamori raised rebellion against the very government he had helped create. His samurai school students fought the modern army — and lost. Saigo met his end at Shiroyama. Yet Japan still loved him.

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In 1877, Saigo Takamori was swept into rebellion by Satsuma samurai who refused to accept the abolition of samurai privileges. His forces fought the modern army for six months before being crushed at Shiroyama. Saigo was wounded by gunfire and had his head taken by a retainer. He was 49. Japan mourned the enemy general.

Portrait of Saigo Takamori — a Restoration hero who ended as a rebel general at Shiroyama; a life of contradiction and tragedy

Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain

Saigo Takamori statue in Ueno Park — rehabilitated in 1891, this statue erected in 1898 marks the paradox of a rebel general becoming a national hero

Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

Amami Oshima — where Saigo was once exiled. His life of repeated banishment and comeback culminated in the tragic end of the Seinan War

Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

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Key Figures

Saigō Takamori