Ryoma Sakamoto

On November 15, 1836, Ryoma Sakamoto was born in Honmachi, near Kochi Castle.
He had four older siblings and was the youngest in the family.
The main Sakamoto family ran a merchant house called Saitaniya. Ryoma’s branch family later acquired the status of goshi (rural samurai) and served as official aides.

When Ryoma turned 12, his mother passed away, and he was raised and educated by his stepmother.
Ryoma and his third sister often visited the Kawashima family, where they heard stories about the wider world from Isaburo Kawashima, nicknamed “Europe.”

At 14, he entered Hineno Dojo and began learning swordsmanship such as Oguri-ryu. He improved quickly, and at 19 he traveled to Edo for further training.

In 1853, Ryoma left Kochi for Edo to train in swordsmanship, entering the Chiba Sadakichi Dojo of Hokushin Itto-ryu, one of Edo’s three great schools.
That same year, four of Perry’s “Black Ships” arrived at Uraga, and Ryoma was mobilized for coastal defense in Shinagawa.

After returning home the following year, he visited Shoryo Kawada, who taught him that Japan needed large ships and skilled people to operate them in order to deal with the world as an equal.
At that point, he realized that “joi” (driving out foreigners and rejecting diplomacy) was a mistake.

In 1861, at 27, Ryoma joined the Tosa Kinno-to, a political group formed by the Tosa Domain and led by his relative and close friend, Zuizan Takechi.

The next year, carrying a secret letter from Takechi, he visited Genzui Kusaka, who told him, “Neither daimyo nor court nobles can be relied on anymore. From here on, ordinary people must rise up.” Ryoma returned to Tosa, and the following month he left the domain without permission.

That same year, he went to Edo and became a disciple of Katsu Kaishu, a senior shogunate naval official.
Katsu was later ordered to defend the Osaka Bay area and, as part of that mission, built the Kobe Naval Training Center. Ryoma accompanied him and entered Katsu’s private school attached to the facility. While working as Katsu’s right-hand man, he trained intensely in naval studies.
In 1864, Ryoma met Takamori Saigo as Katsu’s envoy.

In 1866, war broke out between the Tokugawa shogunate and the Choshu Domain (the Second Choshu Expedition).
To support Choshu, Kameyama Shachu joined the fight using the Union, purchased under the Satsuma name.
Ryoma also showed his strength as an economic thinker, proposing development plans for Ezo (Hokkaido) and Takeshima off the coast of today’s Shimane Prefecture.
The Tosa Domain took notice of him.

In Nagasaki, Shojiro Goto, the Tosa domain official who held real power, met with Ryoma.
Ryoma, aiming to bring down the shogunate, saw Tosa’s support as an advantage, allied with Goto, and returned to Tosa.
As a result, Kameyama Shachu was renamed the Kaientai and became an organization under Tosa. Ryoma was appointed captain of the Kaientai.

Satsuma and Choshu began leaning toward a military overthrow, but Tosa wanted to avoid armed conflict and asked Ryoma for a plan.
Ryoma proposed eight measures to Goto aboard the Tosa ship Yugao, including the return of political power to the Imperial Court.
These became known as the Senchu Hassaku (Eight Proposals While Aboard Ship).

Goto presented them to the former Tosa lord Yodo Yamauchi, who then proposed Taisei Hokan to Shogun Yoshinobu Tokugawa.
Yoshinobu accepted and returned authority to the Imperial Court.

One month after Taisei Hokan, on November 15, his 31st birthday, Ryoma was assassinated at Omiya in Kyoto.
The leading theory points to the Mimawarigumi, a group tasked with suppressing anti-shogunate forces, but the truth remains unknown.

Winning an argument only takes away the other person’s pride.
Even if people lose a debate, they don’t easily change their beliefs or the way they live, and what they’re left with afterward is resentment. That’s the message behind this quote.
It’s a line that feels very Ryoma: he changed the world through action, not just words.

When you’re not sure what to do, this quote urges you to choose what you love, what you can truly immerse yourself in, and what lets you hold onto an ambition or dream.

Ryoma understood that when motivation comes from within, you don’t even see effort as effort, and you can face high walls and still want to climb them.
In other words, do what you sincerely want to do.
It’s a quote that reminds you how important it is to be honest with your own heart.

Instead of forcing yourself to run when the rain starts, you take shelter, sleep while thinking through your next move, then try what you came up with the next day.
You repeat that cycle again and again.
This quote reflects Ryoma’s approach: do what you want to do, don’t push too hard or panic, and try again.

As a child, Ryoma apparently had a strange habit: on the way home from visiting friends, he would often stop and relieve himself in front of the front gate.
He also supposedly wet the bed even at 13.
It’s one of those stories that makes you think great figures and eccentrics are only a step apart.

The childhood stories don’t end with bed-wetting.
Ryoma, known as a crybaby and a target of bullying, once joined a school only to be made to quit soon after.
It hardly sounds like someone who would later shape Japanese history, but through being toughened up by his big-hearted, physically strong sister, training in jujutsu and swordsmanship at the dojo, and meeting all kinds of people, he grew into a man of major change.
It’s an encouraging story that makes you feel anyone can change.

After being injured in the Teradaya Incident, Ryoma traveled with his new wife to a hot spring town in Kagoshima Prefecture to recuperate.
That trip is often said to be Japan’s first honeymoon.
Also, the Kameyama Shachu he created is sometimes described as Japan’s first joint-stock company.

In that sense, his impact on Japanese history may have come from the very thing that set him apart: ideas and action not bound by conventional wisdom.

A scenic coastline at the tip of the Urado Peninsula in Kochi City, curving between Ryuto Cape and Ryuozaki Cape. With pine groves, sandy beach, and ocean views, it’s one of Kochi’s most iconic sightseeing spots, also known for its large statue of Ryoma Sakamoto.

At the Sakamoto Ryoma Memorial Museum, you can learn about Ryoma’s life and late-Edo history in an engaging way through audio and animation.
You’ll also find many valuable exhibits, including a Ryoma statue by master craftsman Kakiemon Sakida XII and a pistol of the same model as Ryoma’s.

A historic site that was repaired and restored to closely match its original condition, and opened to the public in 2009.
At the entrance stands a stone monument reading “Former Site of Kameyama Shachu.”
Inside, you can see items connected to Ryoma and the group, including his boots, a pistol, letter replicas, a gekkin (moon lute), and photos of Kameyama Shachu members.