Ōtori Keisuke
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Ōtori Keisuke (大鳥 圭介? 14 April 1833—15 June 1911) was a Japanese military commander during the last years of the Tokugawa shogunate and the beginning of the Meiji Era.
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[edit] Early Life and Education
Ōtori Keisuke was born in Akamatsu Village, in the Ako domain of Harima Province (modern-day Hyōgo), the son of the doctor Kobayashi Naosuke. At a young age, he entered the Shizutani school in Bizen, engaging in Chinese studies. Later, he entered the famous Dutch Studies school of Ogata Kōan, where he studied the Dutch language and medicine. After leaving the Ogata school he went to Edo, entering the school of Tsuboi Tadamasu, lecturing students who were learning to translate Dutch. While in Edo he also learned strategy from Egawa Tarozaemon and English from Nakahama Manjiro, thus coming into possession of an uncommonly thorough appreciation of Western studies for that time. As a result, in the 5th year of Ansei (1859), the Shogunate appointed him as an instructor to its Kaiseijo institute, and it was from there that Ōtori entered the Shogunate Army.
[edit] Time in the Tokugawa Army
After entering the Tokugawa army, Ōtori displayed promise as a student, quickly becoming a senior instructor of infantry tactics. Following his study of French infantry tactics in Yokohama (where he was the student of Jules Brunet), he was promoted to Infantry Magistrate (Hohei bugyō (歩兵奉行?)), a rank equivalent to a four-star general in a modern Western army.
Ōtori used his status as a respected scholar of Western studies to take the rather unexpected step of making suggestions on governmental reform to the Shogunate. In 1864, he issued a petition expressing his views on the benefits of a bicameral legislature to the government, and while he was one of the first, he was by no means the last; Oguri Tadamasa and Fukuzawa Yukichi were other thinkers who would later suggest Western-style modifications to the Shogunate's system of government.
As hohei bugyō, Ōtori was able to push the Shogunate's Western-style military reforms even further, with the creation of his elite brigade, the Denshūtai (伝習隊?). Made up of 800 men, the Denshūtai's members were chosen on the basis of their capability rather than background; and for someone of relatively humble birth as Ōtori, this was proof that he was mindful of his own origins.
[edit] Boshin War
Following the defeat at Toba-Fushimi in early 1868, the shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu returned to Edo and began to express wishes for pledging allegiance to the new government. Not wanting to go down without a fight, Otori and Oguri Tadamasa expressed their desire to continue the fight, but on the 11th of the 4th month, Edo Castle was surrendered. Ōtori gathered 500 men of the Shogunate Army at Hō'on-ji Temple in Asakusa, and left Edo. On his arrival in Ichikawa he joined up with Hijikata Toshizō of the Shinsengumi, Akizuki Tōnosuke of Aizu, Tatsumi Naofumi of Kuwana, and others, bringing his force strength up to 2000. Dividing this into three groups, he ordered the attack. One unit was to head for Nikkō, and it was this unit that met with the Imperial army on the 16th, at Koyama in Shimotsuke Province, soundly defeating it. The detached unit under Hijikata had already defeated the enemy force at Utsunomiya Castle, and so it proceeded to enter the castle by way of Koyama. This was to be the last victory of any army Ōtori led.
Ōtori's men mounted a fighting retreat while defending the western approaches to Aizu; finally arriving in the domain seat of Wakamatsu. In order to reinforce their unit strength, Ōtori petitioned Matsudaira Katamori to gather peasants from the surrounding villages; however, he was refused. Otori remained in the vicinity of Wakamatsu for some time, however, with the advance of the Imperial Army, he was forced to retreat, making his way to Sendai. There he met with Enomoto Takeaki, who had arrived in Matsushima Bay with six warships of the former Shogunate. Boarding these ships, the force headed for Hokkaidō.
Soon afterward, the Republic of Ezo was established, and as a result of the first attempt at democratic elections that Japan had ever seen, Ōtori was elected Minister of the Army. However, in terms of battlefield experience, Ōtori was expert only in theory; his second-in-command Hijikata Toshizo was far more experienced in combat, and Ōtori's awkwardness, as well as his tendency to laugh and say Mata maketa yo! ("Oh I lost again!") in the face of defeat gave him a bad reputation with his men.
When the Imperial Army attacked Hakodate and the Goryokaku fortress was surrounded, Enomoto Takeaki wanted to go down fighting; however, it was Ōtori who suggested a peaceful surrender, changing Enomoto's mind with his words of "If it's dying you want you can do it anytime."
Ōtori was thus taken into custody and transferred to a prison in Tokyo; incidentally, that prison was formerly the Ōdaira-mae Infantry Barracks, which Ōtori himself had built.
[edit] Life in the Meiji Era
While in prison, Ōtori continued to make use of his knowledge of things Western, to the benefit of his fellow prisoners. In a rather amusing anecdote, it is said that while in prison, he not only reformed the bad habits of the prison boss, but also managed to institute a parliamentary system amongst the prisoners.
After his release in Meiji 5 (1872), he worked in the Meiji government, first becoming involved in land reclamation, and later becoming president of the Gakushuin, in 1886. In 1889, Ōtori was sent as a minister to Qing China and Korea. He was also instrumental in the opening of the 1895 Sino-Japanese War.
Otori was also involved in efforts to preserve history. Beginning in 1898, he assisted with the editing and publication of the magazine Kyū Bakufu, which focused on archiving memoirs and accounts of the former Shogunate by the men who had made up its ranks. He also contributed to the building of a monument to the war dead in Hakodate.
He passed away from esophageal cancer on June 15, 1911, at age 80.
