Sagara Sozo ( Jap. 相 楽 総 三 Sagara So: zo:, 1839 - March 26, 1868 ) - Samurai of the end of the Edo period , commander of Sekihotaya . Sagara shared the ideology of Sonno Joi (“Long live the emperor, down with the barbarians”) and belonged to Yixing Sisi , the radical imperialists.
| Sagara Sozo | |
|---|---|
| jap. 相 楽 総 三 | |
| Years of life | |
| Period | Edo - Bakumatsu |
| Date of Birth | 1839 |
| Place of Birth | |
| Date of death | March 26, 1868 |
| Place of death | |
| Graves and places of worship | Aoyama cemetery |
| The names | |
| Adult name | Kojima Sirozaemon Masamitsu ( 小島 四郎 左衛 門将 満 ) |
| Posthumous title | Tenguin Kyo Dojo Jun Koji ( 天 忠 院 教 誉 道 順 居士 ) |
| Family and relatives | |
| Kind | Kojima |
| Father | Kojima Hyoma ( 小島 兵馬 ) |
| Brothers | only 3 brothers |
| Sisters | one sister |
| Wives | |
| Legal wife | Watanabe Teru ( 渡 辺 照 ) |
| Children | |
| Sons | Kimura Kawajiro ( 木村 河 次郎 ) |
Content
Biography
The early years
Sagara Sozo was born in 1839 and was the fifth child in a goshi (rural samurai) family named Kojima Hyoma from Soma County in Shimos Province (currently the city of Toride in Ibaraki Prefecture ). Subsequently, the Kojima family moved to Edo , so Sagara was born already in the Edos region of Akasaka . His real name was Kojima Shirodzaemon Masamitsu, he had three older brothers and a sister. He received a good education, having studied military strategy, poetry and kokugaku (the study of Japanese history and literature before the beginning of Chinese influence) [1] [2] .
In 1864 , when he was in the Principality of Mito , Sagara took part in the Tengu uprising. A few years before, he traveled to the Kanto region , organizing volunteer groups of people who supported the Sonno Joi ideology to fight the forces of the bakufu .
In 1864, Sagara married Watanabe Teru, the daughter of a samurai who served the Yuki-Matsudaira family from Izumo province. Soon they had a son, Kawajiro.
Sekihotai
Sagara had connections with Satsuma leaders in Edo, and in 1867, on their orders, organized a detachment called Somotai ( Japanese 草莽 п ), which was engaged in terrorist activities, staged arson and looting. This was done in order to provoke the forces of the shogunate to retaliate, which would enable Satsume and Choshu to unleash an open confrontation with the bakufu [3] . The plan was a success: in January 1868, samurai of the Principality of Shonai , faithful to the Bakuf, set fire to the Satsumi residence in Edo, which served as the beginning of the Bosin civil war [4] .
Immediately after the battle of Toba, Fushimi Sagara arrived in Kyoto , from where the troops of Satsuma and Choshu moved to Edo. By order of Saigoµ Takamori , who commanded the Satsumi forces, Sagara formed a squad called Sekikhotai , who was supposed to go at the forefront of the army, gathering opponents of the shogunate under his banner. To attract people, Sagara, with the permission of the command, on behalf of the new government promised to halve the land tax [1] . However, after a few weeks it became clear to the government that such a radical tax reduction could not be carried out. In addition, Sekihotai strengthened anarchist tendencies in the region [5] . The government ordered the detachment to curtail activity.
Death
Sagara, leaving his unit in Shimosuva (at that time one of the 69 stations on the Nakasendo tract, now a village in Nagano Prefecture ), went to the command headquarters to find out about his goals. At this time, the Shogunate’s troops approached Shimosuva and clashed with the first unit of Sekihotai near Shimosuva, near the Usui Pass ( 碓 氷 峠 ). The shogunate’s forces were defeated, however, since Sekihotai did not formally receive permission to fight, Sagara was arrested for disobeying orders, and on March 26 (March 3 according to the lunar calendar) in 1868 his head was cut off in Shimosuv along with seven other officers [6] .
The wife of Sagara, learning about the execution of her husband, committed suicide after him. Their son was taken over by the family of Sagara's older sister. Kimura Cametaro, the grandson of the executed, became interested in the fate of his grandfather and managed, albeit with great difficulty, to restore his good name. In 1928, Hirohito (Emperor Shoe) posthumously granted Sagara the fifth rank of the first degree ( Jap. 正 五位 ) on the Japanese Table of Ranks ( Jap. 位 階 ), and later allowed him to be worshiped in the Yasukuni Temple .
Sagara’s grave is located in Tokyo ’s Aoyama cemetery . In Shimosuva, there is a memorial in honor of Sagara and his soldiers, called Sakigake-dzuka ( Jap. ««, "Pioneer barrow") or Sagara-zuka ( jap. 相 楽 塚 , "Sagara mound") [7] .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 Onodera, Bosin Namboku Senso: That: To: Hoku Seiken , pp. 42-45
- ↑ 相 楽 総 三 関係 資料 . - A brief biography of Sagara Sodzo on the official website of the city of Shimosuva. Date of treatment December 31, 2009.
- ↑ Beasley, Modern Japan: aspects of history, literature, and society, p. 34
- ↑ Ravina, The last samurai: the life and battles of Saigō Takamori, p. 148
- ↑ Hane, Modern Japan: a historical survey, p. 125
- ↑ 赤 報 隊 ・ 総 督府 、 行動 対 比 年表 . - A table of the most important dates in the history of Sekihotai. Date of treatment December 31, 2009. Archived April 14, 2012.
- ↑ Historical characters (inaccessible link) . - Brief information about famous people associated with the city of Shimosuva. Date of treatment December 31, 2009. Archived on September 5, 2007.
Literature
- 小 野寺 永 幸. 戊辰 南北 戦 争 と 東北 政 権 . - 2004 .-- 197 p. - ISBN 9784907726256 . ( Eiko Onodera. Bosin Namboku Senso: That: To: Hoku Seiken. - 2004. - 197 p. - ISBN 9784907726256. )
- Mikiso Hane. Modern Japan: a historical survey. - Westview Press, 2001 .-- 554 p. - ISBN 9780813337562 .
- William G. Beasley. Modern Japan: aspects of history, literature, and society. - University of California Press, 1977 .-- 256 p. - ISBN 9780520034952 .
- Mark Ravina. The last samurai: the life and battles of Saigō Takamori. - John Wiley and Son, 2004 .-- 265 p. - ISBN 9780471089704 .