Shiro Saigo

Judoist (6th dan). A contributor to the Kodokan in its early days. Said to be the model for the novel "Sugata Sanshiro" by Tomita Tsuneo. The third son of Shida Teijiro, a samurai of the Aizu clan, he was adopted by Saigo Tanomo, a former clan elder, and called himself Saigo Shiro Noritake. In 1882 (Meiji 15) at the age of 17, he moved to Tokyo, and in August he entered the Kodokan at Eishoji Temple, becoming a valued research collaborator for Director Kano. In August of the following year, he was awarded the first 1st dan at the Kodokan, and in January 1886, he was promoted to 5th dan. In June of the same year, he made a name for himself in the Tokyo Metropolitan Government by using his great Yamaarashi techniques at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Martial Arts Tournament, but in 1890, while Kano was in Europe, his long-held ambition to visit the continent became too strong to be contained, so he left the Kodokan and fled to Nagasaki, leaving behind a document called "Opinions on Travel to China." He was 25 years old. From then on, he spent the latter half of his life, mainly in Nagasaki, working as an activist for continental issues and as a journalist, through both the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese wars.

[Ichiro Watanabe]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

柔道家（六段）。講道館草創期の功労者。富田常雄作『姿三四郎』のモデルといわれる。会津藩士志田貞二郎(しだていじろう)の三男、旧藩家老西郷頼母(たのも)の養子となり、西郷四郎悳武(のりたけ)を称した。1882年（明治15）17歳のとき上京、8月永昌寺の講道館に入門、嘉納(かのう)館長のよき研究協力者となった。翌年8月、講道館最初の初段、86年1月には五段に特進。同年6月の警視庁武術大会において、山嵐(やまあらし)の大技を駆使し、東都にその勇名を馳(は)せたが、90年、嘉納の渡欧中、かねて抱懐してきた大陸への野望やみがたく、「支那(しな)渡航意見書」という一書を残して講道館を去って、長崎に走った。25歳。それ以後の彼の後半生は、長崎を中心に、日清(にっしん)・日露両戦争を挟んで、大陸問題運動家・新聞人として活躍をみせた。

［渡邉一郎］

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