Sakamoto Ryoma (3 January 1836 – 10 December 1867) was a samurai of the Tosa domain (today’s Kouchi prefecture in Shikoku) under the Tokugawa Shogunate. In his core Sakamoto was a pro-democracy who believes that every man is created equal. Admirer of the United States Congress and British Parliament alike. This made him an anti Shogun. A serious accusation in the Bakumatsu era. A time that saw the Tokugawa shogunate weak and being defied for the pro Imperialists and anti feudalism groups.
A pro-democracy Samurai
A Samurai himself, he was against the Feudal system that kept Japan from growing as an industrial and economic power. But to him it was clear that Japan was behind the progress that the Western Nations found post Industrial revolution. And he fought to put an end to the Samurai feudal system he was part of.
He was a member of the Ishin Shishi. A group of Domains, Samurai and politicians against the Tokugawa Shogunate. What puts his head into the long wanted list of the Shinsengumi. He successfully negotiated the Sacchou Alliance between the rival domains of Choushuu and Satsuma. But uniting them against the Shogun.
An early life in Tosa
Sakamoto Ryouma was born on 3 January of 1836 in what is today’s prefecture of Kochi, the Tosa domain. A wealthy family of Sake brewers who in past generations purchased the Samurai hierarchy. Make him a Samurai of the low rank, a Kashi. Being bullied and showing little scholarly inclination his older sister enrolled him in swordship classes of the Oguri tradition when he was 14 years old.
In 1853 he became a Master swordsman and moved on to continue his training in Edo. But that same year Commodore Perry arrived in Japan for the first time. Forcing the sign of the Kanagawa Treaty and making the Shogun to be seen as a weaky figure in the Country. Finally Sakamato understood that Japan was behind the time’s superpowers and the need to end feudalism and move into democracy. In 1858 he returned to Tosa after his studies in Edo.
He became politically active as an anti shogunate and befriended Hanpaita Takechi, founder of the Kinnou Tou party. An anti Tokugawa group of about 2.000 samurai, mostly of the lower ranks. But never recognized by the Tosa Domain, the party plotted to murder Yamauchi’s governor Yoshida Toyo.
Sakamoto leave Tosa before the murder of Yoshida. And the Kinnou Tou party was trying to make a change in the Domain. But he was looking to change the Nation. Later he became a Rounin using the name of Saitani Umetarou to avoid the death penalty for leaving the Domain without permission.
Facing The Shinsengumi
At the age of 31, Sakamoto Ryouma died in Kyoto on 10 December of 1967. The day before the Shinsengumi raid the Ikedaya Inn (learn more about the night that made the Shinsengumi a force to fear in Kyoto) and Sakamoto was ready to meet them knowing that a well known anti Shogun member of the Ishin Shishi like him would probably be a target of the Edo’s group. Later the Mimawarigumi confessed to the murder in 1870. A special police force hunting anti-Tokugawa voices on the streets of Kyoto. Nevertheless, the Imperial House later executed Shinsengumi leader Kondou Isami on this charge.