Shinsaku Takasugi

Takasugi originated the revolutionary idea of auxiliary irregular militia shotai. Under the feudal system only the samurai class was allowed to own weapons. Takasugi promoted the recruitment of commoners into new sociallymixed paramilitary units. In these units neither recruitment nor promotion depended at least in theory on social status. Farmers merchants carpenters and even sumowrestlers and Buddhist priests were enlisted although samurai still formed the majority in most of the Shotai. Takasugi clearly saw that utilization of the financial wealth of the middleclass merchants and farmers could increase the military strength of the domain without weakening its finances. Since the leaders of Chsh were unable and unwilling to change the social structure of the domain limited use of peasants and commoners enabled them to form a new type of military without disturbing the traditional society. In 1863 Takasugi himself founded a special Shotai unit under his direct command called the Kiheitai which consisted of 300 soldiers about half of whom were samurai. Weakened by the punitive attack by the Western powers Chsh was unable to withstand an expedition mounted by the Bakufu in autumn 1864 in retaliation for previous Chsh attempts to seize control of Kyoto. At first conservative forces which favored conciliation with the Bakufu in order to secure the domain were dominant in Chsh politics and Takasugi and some of his compatriots had to leave the domain to avoid renewed imprisonment. Takasugi with only about a dozen followers including future political leaders Yamagata Aritomo It Hirobumi and Inoue Kaoru gathered in Kokura in Kysh and prepared an attack on the conservative forces in Chsh. The subsequent Chsh civil war began on 13 January 1865. Takasugi played a major role in this civil war and his Kiheitai militia proved its superiority over oldfashioned samurai forces. With a series of quick strikes and the support of Kido Takayoshi Takasugi achieved victory by March 1865. He became one of the main arbiters of the Chsh domains policy and continued to act as the domains expert on Western military science devoting his efforts to importing arms and raising troops. These reforms proved to be successful when Chsh was victorious on four fronts against the Bakufus Second Chsh expedition in 1866 with the Kiheitai itself securing victory on two fronts. Takasugis efforts had made a smallscale nation in arms out of Chsh giving it a military strength out of proportion to its relatively small size. With its victory over the Tokugawa forces the military power of the Bakufu was discredited and traditionally rival domains decided to join forces with Chsh in the subsequent battles which led to the Meiji Restoration and the end of the Tokugawa Bakufu.