At the small Shokasonjuku academy in Hagi, Yoshida Shoin spent barely two years teaching — yet produced Takasugi Shinsaku, Ito Hirobumi, Yamagata Aritomo, and other leaders of the Meiji Restoration. Teaching 'unity of knowledge and action,' he became the driving force behind modern Japan before his execution at 29.

In 1863, Takasugi Shinsaku founded the Kiheitai in Choshu — a revolutionary militia of volunteers regardless of class: farmers, townsmen, monks, and samurai alike. Transcending the feudal class system, it became a driving force of the movement to topple the shogunate.