Sakamoto Ryōma and the Meiji Restoration

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Introduction

I. Sakamoto's Japan. The Tokugawa setting ; Tosa ; Tosa at mid-century

II. The response to the west. The Tokugawa response ; Reforms in Tosa ; The education of Sakamoto Ryōma

III. The loyalist years. The Shishi type and ideal ; The Tosa Loyalist Party ; The Shishi in national politics ; The decline of loyalist extremism

IV. Service with Katsu. Katsu Rintarō ; Sakamoto and Katsu ; The Hyōgo Naval Academy ; The dismissal of Katsu

V. The Satsuma-Chōshū alliance. Saigō Takamori and Satsuma ; Nakaoka Shintarō and Chōshū ; From Shishi to statesmen ; The alliance

VI. The Kaientai. The attack in the Teradaya ; The second Chōshū expedition ; Changes in Tosa ; The Nagasaki scene ; Reinstatement and support for the Kaientai

VII. The eight-point program. The advantage of Tosa support ; The Shogun Yoshinobu (Keiki) ; The Kyoto Conference ; Program for a new government ; The Icarus affair

VIII. Restoration. Yōdō's petition to Keiki ; Preparations for war ; The end of the Bakufu ; Sakamoto and the new government ; The warriors become Kami

IX. The restoration in Tosa. The stages of response to the west ; The leaders and their aims ; The problem of class interest

Chronological table