Kaientai

This was a guerrilla unit of the Tosa clan in the late Edo period, led by Sakamoto Ryoma. After the Kobe Naval Training School was closed, Sakamoto Ryoma and others were protected by the Satsuma clan, and in 1865 (Keio 1) they formed an association called Kameyama Shachu in Nagasaki, and worked to overthrow the shogunate while following the transport and trade interests. When the Tosa clan's policy of uniting the military and the imperial court began to waver, Goto Shojiro, who was on a business trip to Nagasaki in 1867, met with Ryoma, and Fukuoka Toji (Takachika), who was back home, took action, and Ryoma was pardoned for his crime of desertion. He was appointed commander of the Kaientai in Nagasaki in April, and the Kameyama Shachu became the Kaientai. According to the unit's "rules," members were defectors from each domain who had ambitions to go overseas, and their missions were "transportation, profiteering, development, speculation, and support for the main domain (Tosa clan)," as well as training in political science, navigation, languages, and publishing. The approximately 50 members of the unit included Tosa natives such as Nakajima Sakutaro (Nobuyuki) and Nagaoka Kenkichi, as well as many from outside the Tosa clan, such as Mutsu Yonosuke (Munemitsu). After the unit's leader, Ryoma, was assassinated in Kyoto in November of the same year, the members gradually dispersed. Nagaoka Kenkichi, who had been active in the Sanuki Islands, became the unit's leader the following year, 1868, but the unit was disbanded by the Tosa clan in leap April of the same year.

[Eri Sekita]

"The Story of the Kaien-tai" by Michio Hirao (Chuko Bunko)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

坂本龍馬(りょうま)を隊長とした幕末土佐藩の外郭遊撃隊。神戸の海軍操練所閉鎖後、坂本龍馬らは薩摩(さつま)藩の保護を受け、1865年（慶応1）長崎に亀山(かめやま)社中という結社をつくり、運輸通商に従いながら、倒幕のために活動していた。土佐藩の公武合体策が動揺し始めると、67年、長崎出張中の後藤象二郎(しょうじろう)が龍馬と会談、国元で福岡藤次(とうじ)（孝弟(たかちか)）が動いて、龍馬は脱藩罪を許され、4月長崎で海援隊長に任ぜられ、亀山社中がそのまま海援隊となった。隊の「約規」によれば、隊員は各藩の脱藩者で海外に志ある者、任務は「運輸、射利、開拓、投機、本藩（土佐藩）の應援」と、政治学・航海術・語学などの修得で、出版なども行った。約50名の隊員には中島作太郎（信行(のぶゆき)）、長岡謙吉など土佐人のほか、陸奥(むつ)陽之助（宗光(むねみつ)）のような土佐藩以外の出身者も多かった。同年11月隊長龍馬が京都で暗殺されたのち、隊士はしだいに分散。讃岐(さぬき)諸島で活動していた長岡謙吉が翌68年隊長になったが、同年閏(うるう)4月には土佐藩によって解散させられた。

［関田英里］

『平尾道雄著『海援隊始末記』（中公文庫）』

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