Saigo Takamori (1828–1877) was a samurai, statesman, and military leader from the Satsuma domain. During the final years of the Tokugawa shogunate, he helped forge the Satsuma–Choshu alliance and negotiated the peaceful surrender of Edo Castle, playing a central role in the Meiji Restoration. He later served as a councillor and senior military official in the new government but resigned during the political crisis of 1873 over a proposed diplomatic mission to Korea. Returning to Kagoshima, he became the leader of the Satsuma Rebellion and died at Shiroyama in 1877. His political and ethical teachings were preserved by former retainers of the Shonai domain in “Saigo Nanshu Ikun.”
