Early Life

Born in the castle town Hagi, the capital of the feudal domain of Choshu (present-day Yamaguchi prefecture) as the son of Kochuta Takasugi, a middle-ranked samurai of the domain.

Foreign Experience

Joined the Shokason-juku, the famous private school of Shoin Yoshida. Devoted himself to the modernization of Choshu's military, and became a favorite student of Yoshida. In 1858, entered the Shoheiko (a military school under direct control of the Shogun at Edo), but in 1859 returned home by the clan's command. In spite of his young age, an influential factor within Choshu as one of the most extreme advocates of a policy of seclusion and expelling the foreigners from Japan. Implicated in the 12 December 1862 attack on the British legation in Edo.

In spite of Japan's policy of national isolation in the Edo period, in 1862 Shinsuke was ordered by the domain to go secretly to Shanghai in China to investigate the state of affairs and the strength of the Western powers. Shinsuke's visit coincided with the Taiping Rebellion, and he was shocked by the effects of European imperialism even on the Chinese Empire. Shinsuke returned to Japan and convinced that Japan must strengthen itself to avoid being colonized by the western powers, or to suffer a similar fate as China. This coincided with the growing Sonno Joi (expel the barbarians and revere the Emperor) movement, which attracted certain radical sections of Japan's warrior class and court nobility, and his ideas found ready support in Choshu and other parts of Japan.

Formation of the Shotai and Kiheitai

Shinsuke originated the revolutionary idea of auxiliary irregular militia (shotai). Under the feudal system, only the samurai class was allowed to own weapons. Shinsuke promoted the recruitment of commoners into new, socially-mixed paramilitary units. In these units, neither recruitment nor promotion depended (at least in theory), on social status. Farmers, merchants, carpenters and even sumo-wrestlers and Buddhist priests were enlisted, although samurai still formed the majority in most of the Shotai. Shinsuke clearly saw that utilization of the financial wealth of the middle-class merchants and farmers could increase the military strength of the domain, without weakening its finances. Since the leaders of Choshu were unable - and unwilling - to change the social structure of the domain, limited use of peasants and commoners enabled them to form a new type of military without disturbing the traditional society.

In 1863, Shinsuke himself founded a special Shotai unit under his direct command called the Kiheitai, which consisted of 300 soldiers (about half of whom were samurai). However, due to his propagation of Sonno Joi ideology, Shinsuke was imprisoned by the domain's authorities, after an anti-Choshu coup in Kyoto in the summer of 1863 threatened to jeopardize Choshu's leading role in national politics.

External and Internal Crisis

However, Choshu soon had no choice but to call on Shinsuke again. After Choshu fired upon Western warships in the Straits of Shimonoseki on 25 June 1863, British, French, Dutch and American naval forces bombarded Shimonoseki, the main port of the Choshu domain the following summer in what was later called the Bombardment of Shimonoseki. This was followed by the landing of French marines. Their fighting against Choshu units demonstrated the inferiority of traditional Japanese troops against a Western army, and convinced the leaders of the domain of the absolute necessity for a thorough military reform. The Choshu domain’s administration called on Shinsuke not only to carry out this reform as ‘Director of Military Affairs’, but he - only 25 years of age - was also entrusted with negotiating peace with the four Western powers.

In view of the humiliation of Choshu forces against the Western powers, Shinsuke had come to the realization that direct confrontation with the foreigners was not an option. Instead, Japan had to learn military tactics, techniques and technologies from the West. Shinsuke reorganized his Kiheitai militia into a rifle-unit with the latest modern rifles, and introduced training in Western strategy and tactics. Moreover, Shinsuke used his influence with the Sonno Joi-movement to promote a more a conciliatory policy towards the West and thus, the ‘movement to expel the barbarians and revere the Emperor’ evolved into an anti-Bakufu movement with the overthrow of the Tokugawa Bakufu as a necessary means to strengthen Japan against the foreigners.

Weakened by the punitive attack by the Western powers, Choshu was unable to withstand an expedition mounted by the Bakufu in autumn 1864 in retaliation for previous Choshu attempts to seize control of Kyoto. At first, conservative forces, which favored conciliation with the Bakufu in order to secure the domain, were dominant in Choshu politics, and Shinsuke and some of his compatriots had to leave the domain to avoid renewed imprisonment. Shinsuke, with only about a dozen followers, including future political leaders Aritomo Yamagata, Hirobumi Ito and Kaoru Inoue, gathered in Kokura in Kyushu and prepared an attack on the conservative forces in Choshu. The subsequent Choshu civil war began on 13 January 1865.

Shinsuke played a major role in this civil war and his Kiheitai militia proved its superiority over old-fashioned samurai forces. With a series of quick strikes and the support of Takayoshi Kido, Shinsuke achieved victory by March 1865. He became one of the main arbiters of the Choshu domain's policy and continued to act as the domain's expert on Western military science, devoting his efforts to importing arms and raising troops. These reforms proved to be successful when Choshu was victorious on four fronts against the Bakufu's Second Choshu expedition in 1866, with the Kiheitai itself securing victory on two fronts. Shinsuke’s efforts had made a small-scale ‘nation in arms’ out of Choshu, giving it a military strength out of proportion to its relatively small size. With its victory over the Tokugawa forces, the military power of the Bakufu was discredited, and traditionally rival domains decided to join forces with Choshu in the subsequent battles which led to the Meiji Restoration and the end of the Tokugawa Bakufu.

Shinsuke did not live to see this success. He died of tuberculosis on 17 May 1867, only 28 years of age. His Kiheitai was taken over by his protege Aritomo Yamagata. Only a year later, Shinsuke's dream of overthrowing the Tokugawa Shogunate, which found obvious manifestation in his alternate name Togyo (Go to the East) - was fulfilled with the Meiji Restoration. The Kiheitai was disbanded in early 1870 after the establishment of the Imperial Japanese Army.

Takasugi Shinsaku, a central figure of the early Meiji Restoration, is as well known for his military talents as he is for his skills as a politician. However, dying at the young age of 28, Shinsuke was not to become one of Japan's famous leaders in the subsequent Meiji era. In his hometown - the castle town Hagi in western Japan - he is still remembered as a mystical and energetic hero, who put all his efforts into opening the way to modernization, westernization and reforms, not only in military matters but in political and social matters as well. (Wikipedia)