was a

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They ...

Bakumatsu period was the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate ended. Between 1853 and 1867, Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as and changed from a feudal Tokugawa shogunate to the modern empire of the Meiji governm ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

, and a close associate of

Sakamoto Ryōma was a Japanese ''samurai'', a '' shishi'' and influential figure of the ''Bakumatsu'' and establishment of the Empire of Japan in the late Edo period. He was a low-ranking ''samurai'' from the Tosa Domain on Shikoku and became an active oppo ...

in the movement to overthrow the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

.National Diet Library (NDL), Portraits of Modern Japanese Historical Figures
Nakaoka, Shintaro
/ref>

Biography

Nakaoka was born in

Tosa Domain The was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, controlling all of Tosa Province in what is now Kōchi Prefecture on the island of Shikoku. It was centered around Kōchi Castle, and was ruled throughout its history by ...

, in what is now the village of Kitagawa, Kōchi Prefecture, as the son of a village headman. In 1861, he enrolled in the academy run by

Takechi Hanpeita , (October 24, 1829 – July 3, 1865), also known as , was a samurai of Tosa Domain during the Bakumatsu period in Japan. Influenced by the effects of the Perry Expedition, Takechi formed the Tosa Kinnō-tō (土佐勤王党, Tosa Im ...

where he studied

swordsmanship Swordsmanship or sword fighting refers to the skills and techniques used in combat and training with any type of sword. The term is modern, and as such was mainly used to refer to smallsword fencing, but by extension it can also be applied to a ...

. He was one of the founding members of the ''Tosa Kinno-tō'', a paramilitary shishi organization created by Takeichi to support the ''

sonnō jōi was a '' yojijukugo'' (four-character compound) phrase used as the rallying cry and slogan of a political movement in Japan in the 1850s and 1860s during the Bakumatsu period. Based on Neo-Confucianism and Japanese nativism, the movement s ...

'' movement. After the coup d’etat of September 30, 1863, led to the suppression of the ''sonnō Jōi'' faction, he fled to

Chōshū Domain The , also known as the , was a domain (''han'') of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1600 to 1871.Deal, William E. (2005) ''Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan,'' p. 81 The Chōshū Domain was based ...

together with pro-''Sonnō Jōi''

nobles Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The character ...

, including

Sanjō Sanetomi Prince was a Japanese Imperial court noble and statesman at the time of the Meiji Restoration. He held many high-ranking offices in the Meiji government. Biography Born in Kyoto, Sanjō was the son of ''Naidaijin'' Sanjō Sanetsumu. He he ...

. In 1864, he participated in a failed plot to assassinate Shimazu Hisamitsu, and fought alongside Chōshū forces during the

Kinmon Incident The , also known as the , was a rebellion against the Tokugawa shogunate in Japan that took place on August 20 unar calendar: 19th day, 7th month 1864, near the Imperial Palace in Kyoto. History Starting with the Convention of Kanagawa in 1 ...

and the

Bombardment of Shimonoseki The refers to a series of military engagements in 1863 and 1864, fought to control the Shimonoseki Straits of Japan by joint naval forces from Great Britain, France, the Netherlands and the United States, against the Japanese feudal domain of ...

. Later that year, as a member of the ''

Kaientai The was a trading and shipping company and private navy, considered to be the first corporation in modern Japan. Kaientai, originally named Kameyama Shachū (亀山社中, "Kameyama Troupe"), was founded by Sakamoto Ryōma in Nagasaki in 1 ...

'' formed by Sakamoto Ryōma, he worked to bring about the Satsuma-Chōshū Alliance and to obtain the backing and support of Sanjō Sanetomi for the project. In March, 1867, he travelled with Sakamoto Ryōma to their native Tosa Domain to negotiate a similar alliance between Tosa and Satsuma. In June, he began negotiations to further expand the new alliance to include Chōshū as well as

Hiroshima Domain The was a domain of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1601 to 1871. The Hiroshima Domain was based at Hiroshima Castle in Aki Province, in the modern city of Hiroshima, located in the Chūgoku region of the island of H ...

, but the issue was rendered moot when ''

shōgun , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamaku ...

Tokugawa Yoshinobu Prince was the 15th and last ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan. He was part of a movement which aimed to reform the aging shogunate, but was ultimately unsuccessful. He resigned of his position as shogun in late 1867, while aiming ...

formally returned governing power to the Emperor. Realizing that civil war was now increasingly probable, Nakaoka returned to Tosa and established the '' Rikuentai'' militia. Rikuentai was modeled after the ''

Kiheitai The was a volunteer militia raised by Takasugi Shinsaku of the Chōshū domain during the Bakumatsu period of Japan. Background Formed in 1863 by Takasugi Shinsaku in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, the Kiheitai militia consisted of 300 men ...

'' in Chōshū in July. On December 10, 1867, Nakaoka traveled to

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the c ...

for discussions with Sakamoto Ryōma, but was mortally wounded together with Sakamoto when unknown assailants attacked their lodgings (i.e. the "Ōmiya Incident"). Sakamoto died soon afterwards, but the critically injured Nakaoka lingered for two days, although never regaining enough consciousness to identify the attackers. His grave is located at the Ryosen Gokoku Jinja in Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto. He was posthumously awarded with the court rank of 4th grade in 1891 by

Emperor Meiji , also called or , was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession. Reigning from 13 February 1867 to his death, he was the first monarch of the Empire of Japan and presided over the Meiji era. He was the figur ...

. There is a large bronze statue of Nakaoka Shintarō at Murotomisaki lighthouse in Cape Muroto in his native Kochi Prefecture, and another (together with Sakamoto Ryōma) at Maruyama Park in Kyoto.

Notes

References

* Jansen, Marius B. (1961). ''Sakamoto Ryoma and the Meiji Restoration''. Princeton:

Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial ...

OCLC 413111
* Miyaji, Saijiro. (1993). ''Nakaoka Shintaro: Ishin no shusenka''. Tokyo: Chuo-Koronsha, (Japanese)

External links

Nakaoka Shintaro Museum
(Japanese)
Shotentai.com -About Nakaoka Shintaro
(Japanese) {{DEFAULTSORT:Nakaoka, Shintaro 1838 births 1867 deaths Japanese revolutionaries Male murder victims Meiji Restoration People from Tosa Domain People murdered in Japan Samurai Unsolved murders in Japan

Biography

See also

Notes

References

External links