Sakamoto Ryōma
Japanese samurai
Died when: 31 years 341 days (383 months)Star Sign: Capricorn
Sakamoto Ryoma (????, 3 January 1836 – 10 December 1867) was a Japanese samurai, a shishi and influential figure of the Bakumatsu and establishment of the Empire of Japan in the late Edo period.
He was a low-ranking samurai from the Tosa Domain on Shikoku and became an active opponent of the Tokugawa Shogunate after the end of Japan's sakoku isolationist policy.
Ryoma under the alias Saitani Umetaro (?????) worked against the Bakufu, the government of the Tokugawa shogunate, and was often hunted by their supporters and the Shinsengumi.
Ryoma advocated for democracy, Japanese nationalism, return of power to the Imperial Court, abolition of feudalism, and moderate modernization and industrialization of Japan.
Ryoma successfully negotiated the Satcho Alliance between the powerful rival Choshu and Satsuma domains and united them against the Bakufu.
Ryoma was assassinated in December 1867 with his companion Nakaoka Shintaro, shortly before the Boshin War and the Meiji Restoration.
