Saigo Takamori was Japan's most renowned samurai. He helped to bring down the Tokugawa shogunate and restore the Meiji emperor.
The story of the 'Last Samurai' inspired the movie starring Ken Watanabe and Tom Cruise. Assistant Professor Gregory K Clancey who teaches History at the National University of Singapore and is an author himself took a walk back in time and told us all about the man behind the legend on 'Off The Shelf'.
Here are excerpts from the interview:
Q : Who was Saigo Takamori?
A : Saigo was one of the samurai leaders of the Meiji Restoration, which overthrew the Shogun and brought the Japanese Emperor to power in 1868. But nine years later, Saigo led an armed rebellion against the Emperor's government, and was forced to commit suicide on the battlefield. He became a legend. His legend inspired the character Katsumoto (played by Ken Watanabe) in the movie "The Last Samurai"
Q : Why did Saigo rebel?
A : The Meiji government abolished certain samurai privileges, such as wearing special clothing, carrying swords, and above all, getting a stipend from the state. Now many samurai went along with this, because they retained their status and pay as officers in the new army or as bureaucrats. Saigo couldn't go along, for complex reasons that book explains. The irony is that he didn't want to lead the rebellion, but the rebels appealed to him, and out of a sense of responsibility - and maybe because of a death-wish - he agreed to lead, knowing it would be his death sentence.
Q : Why has the legend of Saigo persisted?
A : People like doomed heroes - those who fight against impossible odds knowing that they'll be killed in the end. Saigo stood and died on principle, and was generally merciful to his enemies. Plus, the doomed hero persona particularly resonates in Japanese culture. It proves one is sincere. But Ravina demonstrates that like any good legend, the Saigo one has been embellished.
Q : Was the film portrayal of Saigo's rebellion accurate?
A : Hollywood's accuracy usually stops with costumes. The film portrays Saigo's samurai army as medieval - on horseback, dressed in armour, and using swords instead of guns. In reality, they used western guns and even dressed in western uniforms. Saigo had no trouble with modern technology. Saigo and the rebels did throw away their guns in the end, but only because they ran out of ammunition. Thus they raced down a hill to their deaths with swords drawn, and they did kill each other on the battlefield so they wouldn't be taken prisoner.
Saigo was later converted into an anti-Western figure. Actually he was not. He praised western prisons, for instance, as being more humane than Japanese ones, and he even conspired with Englishmen against the Shogun. The book shows him as much more complicated than Katsumoto in the movie. One thing that the movie portrays accurately, however, is that Saigo was a generous, calm, and humorous man who strove for simplicity. He was apparently admired by everyone.
Q : Was the film based on the book?
A : No. The author, Mark Ravina, just happened to be researching and writing about Saigo at the same time that Hollywood got interested. So there's no sensationalism about the book. It tells the story in a straight forward way. It's a good read. I highly recommend it.
BOOK EXCERPT
Where was Saigo Takamori's head? For one frantic morning in 1877 this question consumed the Japanese government. The Japanese imperial army had defeated Saigo's rebellion. They had reduced his army of thirty thousand fearsome, disgruntled samurai to a few hundred diehards . . . But the government's triumph rang hollow. The imperial army had Saigo's body, but his head was nowhere to be found. Without Saigo's head the government victory was incomplete." |
Deepika Shetty is a Producer with Prime Time Morning and takes care of the book segment 'Off The Shelf' as well. | 
