Nakaoka Shintarō — The Tosa Activist Who Bound Satsuma and Chōshū with Ryōma

Alongside Sakamoto Ryōma, the Tosa activist Nakaoka Shintarō worked to bring about the Satsuma–Chōshū Alliance. Often overshadowed by Ryōma, his part in shaping the current toward overthrowing the shogunate was by no means small.

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Born to a Tosa headman

Nakaoka Shintarō was born in 1838 into the family of a village headman in Tosa. Trained in scholarship and the sword, he threw himself into the movement to "revere the emperor, expel the barbarians."

After fierce political strife within Tosa, Shintarō left his domain and came to operate beyond its bounds. Crossing from place to place, he worked to connect the activists who sought to overthrow the shogunate.

Binding Satsuma and Chōshū

Shintarō's greatest mark on history was his work toward realizing the Satsuma–Chōshū Alliance.

Joining the bitterly opposed Satsuma and Chōshū required patient effort to dissolve mutual mistrust. Shintarō, together with Ryōma, shuttled between the two domains and opened the road to partnership. Quiet, persistent labor at smoothing over the samurai's emotions bore fruit in the great achievement of the alliance.

Leading the Rikuentai

To advance the overthrow of the shogunate by force, Shintarō led an organization known as the Rikuentai. Where Ryōma's Kaientai handled activities at sea, the Rikuentai was a unit for action on land.

From their respective positions, the two men spent their strength preparing for the new age to come.

At the Ōmiya

Yet Shintarō, too, never saw the new age dawn. In 1867 he was attacked along with Ryōma at the Ōmiya in Kyoto and soon died. He was thirty.

That two men of one purpose shared their fate in the same place is recounted as one of the tragedies of the Bakumatsu. Shintarō's work — moving the age together with Ryōma — deserves to be better known.

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The paths of the Tosa activists are gathered in Bakumatsu Figures.