Ryoma: Life of a Renaissance Samurai and the Sakamoto Ryoma Film Project

Meiji Restoration hero Sakamoto Ryoma is a national icon in Japan. My first encounter with Ryoma was through Shiba Ryotaro’s popular biographical novel, Ryoma ga Yuku. So fascinated was I by Ryoma’s life story, particularly his indispensible role in the “samurai revolution at the dawn of modern Japan,” that I thought that people all over the world should know about him. Which was why I wrote Ryoma: Life of a Renaissance Samurai (Ridgeback Press, 1999), the only biographical novel about Ryoma in English. “It is a cultural loss that an historical figure of such magnificent stature has failed to gain the full attention of the Western world,” I wrote in the Preface. Since then, for many years, I have hoped that, through my book, Ryoma would become a household name around the world.

I think that things are moving in that direction. But a film about Ryoma, produced and/or directed by a major Hollywood name, would “seal the deal.” Which is why for these past few years I have reached out to “Ryoma fans” around the world for their ideas to make this dream a reality. Please keep your ideas coming – through my website or my Facebook page.

Think big! Create! Persevere!

Samurai Revolution is a comprehensive history of the Meiji Restoration from the perspective of one of its most important men, Katsu Kaishū, “the shogun’s last samurai.” The only full-length biography of Kaishū in English, it is also, to the best of my knowledge, the only English-language study of the personalities of the other key figures in the “samurai revolution at the dawn of modern Japan.”

“It’s impossible to gauge worldly affairs in advance. You can put up a net and wait for a bird, but what will you do if the bird flies over it? You can make a square box and try to put everything in the world inside of it. But some things are round and others triangular. If you took something that was round or triangular and tried to fit it inside the box, you’d certainly have a hard time of it.” — Katsu Kaishū on the importance of flexibility in conducting affairs of state (from Samurai Revolution, Chapter 9)

In October 1873, less than six years after the Meiji Restoration, Saigō Takamori, the most powerful driving force behind the “samurai revolution” that toppled the Tokugawa Bakufu to bring about the Restoration, quit the Meiji government, in whose creation he had played the central role. The following excerpt from Samurai Revolution (without footnotes) describes that moment in history:

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Ōkubo [Toshimichi] was the most powerful man in the absolute government. As such he was a dictator—and the dictator was not about to lose the political battle against Saigō. The cabinet convened twice, on October 14 and 15, to decide whether or not to send Saigō to Korea. Ōkubo, having arranged for himself to be appointed to the cabinet two days prior, joined Iwakura [Tomomi] in leading the opposition of just four, including Ōkuma [Shigénobu] and Ōki [Takatō], but supported by Prime Minister Sanjō [Sanétomi]. Backing Saigō were four other councilors: Itagaki [Taisuké], Gotō [Shōjirō], Soéjima [Tanéomi], and Etō [Shinpei]. (Kido [Takayoshi] was absent, claiming illness.) On the fifteenth, Sanjō announced his support in favor of Saigō, but that night again changed his mind. Then on October 19, Sanjō suffered a nervous breakdown. On the next day, by Imperial order Iwakura temporarily replaced Sanjō as prime minister. On October 23 Iwakura pressed the Emperor to oppose a Korea invasion on the grounds that Japan was not yet strong enough to fight a foreign war so soon after the Restoration. The Emperor concurred.

On the same day, just two days before Katsu Kaishū’s dual appointments in the government, Saigō Takamori submitted his resignation from the offices of state councilor, commander of the Imperial Household Guard, and army general. On the next day Soéjima, Etō, Itagaki, and Gotō resigned from the cabinet. Also resigning with Saigō were some three hundred officers in the Imperial Household Guard and the army, all from [Saigō’s native] Satsuma. More than forty officers from Tosa resigned as well. Among the resigning Satsuma officers were Kirino Akihata and Shinohara Kunimoto, both major generals. On October 25 the Emperor summoned Shinohara and twelve other officers of the Imperial Household Guard to the palace to command them to continue serving. The officers ignored the Imperial order. Clearly they were with Saigō. On October 28, Saigō returned to Kagoshima accompanied by Kirino.

[Saigō biographer] Inoue Kiyoshi incisively sums up the outcome of Ōkubo’s political battle against Saigō with the statement: “Ōkubo completely achieved his objective” and buried the call for a Korea invasion, which was nothing less than the political death of Saigō. But Saigō still commanded the hearts and minds of tens of thousands of former samurai throughout Japan who were ready to follow him—even into death.