The Shi-gakkō or Shigakkō (; literally "Private school") was a system of military academies in

Kagoshima Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands. Kagoshima Prefecture has a population of 1,527,019 (1 February 2025) and has a geographic area of 9,187 Square kilometre, km2 (3,547 Square m ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

during the early

Meiji era The was an Japanese era name, era of History of Japan, Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feu ...

(late 19th century). Created by

Saigō Takamori Saigō Takamori (; 23 January 1828 – 24 September 1877) was a Japanese samurai and politician who was one of the most influential figures in Japanese history. He played a key role in the Meiji Restoration, which overthrew the Tokugawa shogunate ...

, the building of these schools and the organization of a political clique inside its walls was a cause of the

Satsuma Rebellion The Satsuma Rebellion, also known as the , was a revolt of disaffected samurai against the new imperial government of the Empire of Japan, nine years into the Meiji era. Its name comes from the Satsuma Domain, which had been influential in ...

. Many officers involved in the rebellion on the side of the

Satsuma Domain The , briefly known as the , was a Han system, domain (''han'') of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1600 to 1871. The Satsuma Domain was based at Kagoshima Castle in Satsuma Province, the core of the modern city of ...

were graduates of the Shi-gakkō. The main site was located in Shiroyama-chō,

Kagoshima , is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 583,966 in 285,992 households, and a population density of 1100 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Etymology While the ...

, on the site of the current National Hospital Organization Kagoshima Medical Center.

History

After

's resignation from government in 1873, he returned to his hometown of

. In June 1874, Saigō organized the Shi-gakkō, private military schools for young samurai. There were three schools comprising the Shi-gakkō - the "Childhood School", the "Gunner School" (referring to infantry), and the "Artillery School". In order to pay for the establishment of the "Childhood School", Saigo contributed 2,000

koku The is a Chinese-based Japanese unit of volume. One koku is equivalent to 10 or approximately , or about of rice. It converts, in turn, to 100 shō and 1,000 gō. One ''gō'' is the traditional volume of a single serving of rice (before co ...

of rice, Ōyama Tsunayoshi contributed 800 koku, Kirino Toshiaki contributed 200 koku, and Ōkubo Toshimichi contributed 1,000 koku. The other two schools were paid for with money from the prefectural budget. Besides the main three schools, branch schools were established elsewhere in Kagoshima Prefecture.Kagoshima City.
Shi-gakkō Ruins
'. Accessed 8-5-2013

From these schools, Saigō started his own political society by lecturing his students on not only military tactics but his own reactionary political views, his ideas of a samurai elite guiding the masses, and his desire for Japanese expansion. His lieutenant, Kirino Toshiaki, published a study from the Shi-gakkō calling for a Japanese invasion of Korea. In Otsu Junichiro's ''Dai Nihon Kensei-shi'', the Shi-gakkō "anticipated the use of military force in its attempts to change the government". It was also a "political organization opposing the government", though a school by name. According to those who theorize that the Shi-gakkō was one of the foundations for a private samurai army, by 1876, most administrative positions of some note in Kagoshima were occupied by members of the Shi-gakkō clique. To some, the Shi-gakkō was seen as Saigō's Kingdom (''Saigō ōkoku''). According to Charles L. Yates, although Saigō and his Shi-gakkō were important in the Satsuma Rebellion itself, there is no indication that the role of the Shi-gakkō was anything but symbolic. The militarization of Kagoshima was something that happened from 1869 to 1870, and Saigō's return and the establishment of the Shi-gakkō was purely the donning of a new name for anti-government samurai in Kagoshima. During the Satsuma Rebellion, members of the Shi-gakkō played a large part in the Satsuma Domain's army. The Shi-gakkō system's troops carried Snider-Enfield rifles, carbines, pistols and swords. They had two artillery units, using up most of the field guns available in Satsuma, including 28 5.28-pounder mountain guns, 2 15.84-pounder field guns, and 30 mortars. The troops numbered 12,000 men, split into 7 battalions. It is noted that these troops did not have logistical support, other than an allowance of 100 rounds of ammunition per soldier. Citing the alleged assassination plot on Saigō, his expansionist ideas and some confused coercion and misunderstandings of Saigō's political ideas, Shi-gakkō system battalions of the Satsuma Army attempted to help Saigō in launching the Satsuma Rebellion on February 15, 1877. By February 21, hostilities started, and by February 23 and 24, the Satsuma rebels began to lay siege to Kumamoto Castle, and some of the first major battles of the Satsuma Rebellion began. With Saigō's defeat and death at the Battle of Shiroyama on 24 September 1877, the Shi-gakkō system was disbanded. The site of the Shi-gakkō has, since 1945, been the site of the National Hospital Organization Kagoshima Medical Center.

References

{{reflist 1874 establishments in Japan Educational institutions established in 1874 1877 disestablishments in Japan Educational institutions disestablished in 1877 Kagoshima Prefecture Satsuma Rebellion Defunct Japanese military academies Cliques

History

Further reading

References