Send message to Author

Paper short abstract:

This paper presents some of the lesser-known media published around the time prior and after the death Saigō Takamori (1828-1877), and looks at the mechanics of how he became remembered as an exalted heroic figure that represented the most laudable of ‘Japanese’ values.

Paper long abstract:

In the year 1877, Saigō Takamori (1828-1877) was, without doubt, one of the most prominent men in Japanese media. As the (nominal?) leader of the rebels who fought against the Meiji government in the Seinan War, his name was mentioned in newspapers and other print media with exceeding frequency. The Tōkyō nichi nichi shinbun and the Yūbin hōchi shinbun established special columns with news delivered by the first war correspondents, and other newspapers also reported daily on the latest developments of the war. The newspaper articles were followed by hundreds of different nishiki-e that illustrated the most dramatic – and therefore monetizable – reports. These nishiki-e would often illustrate Saigō and/or his generals engaged in heroic fights, while still referring to them as chōteki, “enemies of the court.”

Barely any image seems to exist of Saigō prior to the Seinan War, but his image after had become clearly defined: an imposing man with a large beard, generally dressed in full court uniform. Though he officially died a traitor to his country, he was received as a hero by most people. He was adopted as such by the Freedom and People’s Rights Movement in 1880 in an eleven-volume biography titled Tsūzoku Saigō Takamori den, which stated in its foreword that “Saigō Takamori was an insurgent, and [also] a hero.” In 1894, after his official pardon, the government also contributed to this image in a more government-friendly manner when they had his five-volume biography titled Saigō Takamori den published.

The newspaper reports on the Seinan War and these later biographies are only part of the larger Saigō narrative, however. Already before 1880, biographies of Saigō Takamori were being published, and stories circulated that he had not actually died in Kagoshima in 1877. This paper presents some of the lesser-known media published around the time prior and after Saigō’s death, and looks at the mechanics of how he became remembered as an exalted heroic figure that represented the most laudable of ‘Japanese’ values.