Home ⼎ Late-Edo Patriots
01 — People
From a domain of little more than three hundred thousand people came Ryoma, a go-between for the Satsuma-Choshu Alliance; Nakaoka Shintaro, often credited as a broker of the Restoration; and Lord Yamauchi Yodo himself — each shaping the transition from his own vantage point.
Tosa goshi — founder of the Kameyama Company
He left Tosa in 1862, studied under Katsu Kaishu, and founded what's often called Japan's first trading company, the Kameyama Company (later the Kaientai), in Nagasaki. He's credited with brokering the Satsuma-Choshu alliance and pushing for the shogunate's peaceful transfer of power, though little survives in his own hand, and historians still debate exactly how large his role was. In 1867 he was assassinated in Kyoto alongside Nakaoka Shintaro.
1838–1867
Tosa goshi — head of the Rikuentai
A member of the Tosa Loyalist Party who later pushed for closer ties with Choshu. Close friend and sometime rival of Ryoma, he died alongside him, the same night, in the same room.
1829–1865
Leader, Tosa Loyalist Party
Ran a fencing school and led the Tosa Loyalist Party, briefly steering domain policy. Purged when Lord Yodo reversed course, he was ordered to commit seppuku — said to have cut himself three times to show his resolve.
1827–1872
15th Lord of Tosa
A pragmatist who leaned toward neither the shogunate nor the imperial court, and a famously heavy drinker who styled himself "the whale-sea drunken lord." It was Yodo himself who submitted the petition for the shogunate's peaceful abdication — Ryoma's circle's ideas, carried into power by their own lord.
1838–1897
Tosa upper samurai; later a count
A joshi in a senior post who nonetheless embraced Ryoma's vision, reportedly carrying his "Eight-Point Plan" to Lord Yodo — a rare case of joshi and goshi cooperating at the domain's highest level.
CONNECTED REGIONS
This story connects with the history of other regions.