Kido Takayoshi (Katsura Kogorō) — The Chōshū Strategist Among the Three Great Nobles

Counted alongside Saigō Takamori and Ōkubo Toshimichi among the "Three Great Nobles of the Restoration," Kido Takayoshi was known in the Bakumatsu as Katsura Kogorō. As a leading statesman of Chōshū, he supported everything from the overthrow of the shogunate to the building of the new state.

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As Katsura Kogorō

Kido Takayoshi was born in 1833, the son of a Chōshū domain physician, and was later adopted into the Katsura family. He studied under Yoshida Shōin and honed his skills at an Edo fencing school.

For his practical judgment — withdrawing rather than fighting hopeless battles, and waiting for the right moment — he was later nicknamed "Kogorō the Runaway." This was not cowardice but a strategist's conviction that surviving to move the larger situation mattered most.

Forging the alliance

As Chōshū's confrontation with the shogunate deepened, Katsura served as the domain's representative in talks with Satsuma. The Satsuma–Chōshū Alliance that bound the bitter rivals was, for him, an agonizing decision — and a decisive turning point on the road to overthrow.

Laying the foundations of the new government

After the Restoration, having taken the name Kido Takayoshi, he worked at the center of the new government. He was deeply involved in shaping the "Charter Oath" that set out the new state's principles.

As he pressed forward with great reforms such as the abolition of the domains, he often agonized between radical and gradual approaches. Caught between ideals and reality, he never ceased to worry over the country's course.

Felled by illness

Worn down by overwork and anxiety, Kido died of illness in 1877, in the midst of the Satsuma Rebellion. One wonders with what feelings he watched comrades who had achieved the Restoration together now fighting each other as enemies.

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The group portrait of those who carried the Restoration is traced across Bakumatsu Figures.