Toshiaki Kirino

Japanese: 桐野利秋 - きりの・としあき

Year of death: September 24, 1877
Year of birth: Tenpo 9.12 (1838)
A samurai of the Satsuma (Kagoshima) domain during the late Edo period, and a major general in the army during the Meiji period. He was the third son of Nakamura Kaneaki and Sugako, samurai of Yoshino Village, Kagoshima County, Satsuma Province (Yoshino Town, Kagoshima City), who had low stipends. He was commonly known as Hanjiro and Shinsaku. In the Meiji period, he resumed his ancestors' maiden name, Kirino. Growing up in extreme poverty, he worked hard and diligently, and aspired to martial arts, mastering the secrets of the Kojigen-ryu style. In 1862 (Bunkyu 2), he was incorporated into the Kyoto-bound troops of Shimazu Hisamitsu, the domain's lord's father, and traveled to Kyoto. He became a guard for Prince Nakagawa Asahiko, and interacted with loyalists from various domains. He became known for his acts of divine punishment, earning him the nickname "Hanjiro the Assassin." After the coup d'état in August 1863, he investigated the internal affairs of the Choshu domain, and played a major role in the Kinmon Incident the following year (1864), earning the trust of Saigo Takamori. He fought bravely as a trainee shogun in the Satsuma army in the Battle of Toba-Fushimi, then joined the Tokaido vanguard general's army and entered Edo, where he was appointed military inspector of the Aizu subjugation general's army and achieved military success. In 1869 (Meiji 2), he became a battalion commander in the Kagoshima domain's standing corps, and in 1871, he was organized into the Imperial Guard and went to Tokyo as a battalion commander. He was appointed major general in the army, and in 1872, he served as commander-in-chief of the Kumamoto garrison, and in 1873, he served as chief of the Army Court. However, in the Seikanron Coup (1873), he resigned from his post following Saigo Takamori, and later, together with Murata Shinpachi and Shinohara Kunimoto, he was involved in the management of private schools in Kagoshima, and devoted himself to the education and military training of the Saigo faction's samurai, as well as to the reclamation of land to support the lives of the samurai class. In the Seinan War (1877), he was killed in battle with Saigo and others at Kagoshima Castle Hill as the commander-in-chief of Saigo's army.

(Atsushi Fukuchi)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

没年：明治10.9.24(1877)
生年：天保9.12(1838)
幕末の薩摩(鹿児島)藩士,明治期の陸軍少将。薩摩国鹿児島郡吉野村(鹿児島市吉野町)の微禄の藩士中村兼秋,スガ子の3男。通称半次郎,信作。明治に至り先祖の旧姓桐野に復した。極貧のなか刻苦精励して成長,武芸に志し古示現流の奥義を極めた。文久2(1862)年,藩主の実父島津久光の上洛部隊に編入されて上京,中川宮朝彦親王付守衛となり諸藩の勤王の志士と交流,天誅行動で鳴らし「人斬り半次郎」の異名をとった。3年8月政変ののち,長州藩の内情探索に当たり,翌元治1(1864)年の禁門の変にも大活躍して西郷隆盛の信頼を得た。鳥羽・伏見の戦に薩摩軍小頭見習として奮闘,次いで東海道先鋒総督軍に属して江戸に入り,会津征討総督軍の軍監に任じ,軍功あった。明治2(1869)年鹿児島藩常備隊大隊長,4年御親兵編成で大隊長として上京,陸軍少将に任じられ,5年熊本鎮台司令長官,6年陸軍裁判所長を歴任したが,征韓論政変(1873)で西郷隆盛に従って下野,その後,村田新八,篠原国幹らと鹿児島の私学校運営の衝に当たり,西郷派士族の教育,軍事訓練と士族層の生活維持のための開墾に尽力した。西南戦争(1877)では西郷軍総指揮者として鹿児島城山で西郷らと共に討死した。

(福地惇)

出典　朝日日本歴史人物事典：（株）朝日新聞出版朝日日本歴史人物事典について　情報

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