was a Japanese samurai of the late Edo period

Edo period

The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....

, and an Imperial Japanese Army

Imperial Japanese Army

-Foundation:During the Meiji Restoration, the military forces loyal to the Emperor were samurai drawn primarily from the loyalist feudal domains of Satsuma and Chōshū...

 general

General

A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....

 of the early Meiji era.

Biography

Kirino, also known as , was renowned as one of the Four Hitokiri of the Bakumatsu

Four Hitokiri of the Bakumatsu

was a term given to four samurai during the Bakumatsu era in Japanese history. The four men were Kawakami Gensai, Kirino Toshiaki , Tanaka Shinbei, and Okada Izō. They opposed the Tokugawa shogunate . These four samurai were warrior elite and widely considered undefeatable by normal people...

. His sword style was Ko-jigen-ryū, a branch of the high-speed Jigen-ryū

Jigen-ryu

Jigen-ryū is a traditional school of Japanese martial arts founded in the late 16th century by Togo Chui in Satsuma Province, now Kagoshima prefecture, Kyushu, Japan. It focuses mainly on the art of swordsmanship...

. Kirino's activities during the early to mid-1860s largely centered around Kyoto

Kyoto

is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...

. During the Boshin War

Boshin War

The was a civil war in Japan, fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and those seeking to return political power to the imperial court....

, as a senior commander of Satsuma forces, he was a high ranking officer of the new Imperial Army. It was Kirino who was the representative of the imperial army at the surrender of Wakamatsu Castle, where he received the petition for surrender from Matsudaira Katamori

Matsudaira Katamori

was a samurai who lived in the last days of the Edo period and the early to mid Meiji period. He was the 9th daimyo of the Aizu han and the Military Commissioner of Kyoto during the Bakumatsu period. During the Boshin War, Katamori and the Aizu han fought against the Meiji Government armies, but...

, the lord of Aizu

Aizu

is an area comprising the westernmost third of Fukushima Prefecture in Japan. The principal city of the area is Aizuwakamatsu.During the Edo period, Aizu was a feudal domain known as and part of Mutsu Province.-History:...

.

Kirino became a brigadier general in the early years of the Imperial Japanese Army

Imperial Japanese Army

-Foundation:During the Meiji Restoration, the military forces loyal to the Emperor were samurai drawn primarily from the loyalist feudal domains of Satsuma and Chōshū...

. However, he joined the forces of Saigō Takamori

Saigo Takamori

was one of the most influential samurai in Japanese history, living during the late Edo Period and early Meiji Era. He has been dubbed the last true samurai.-Early life:...

 during the Satsuma Rebellion

Satsuma Rebellion

The was a revolt of Satsuma ex-samurai against the Meiji government from January 29 to September 24, 1877, 9 years into the Meiji Era. It was the last, and the most serious, of a series of armed uprisings against the new government.-Background:...

, taking part in the march northward to Kumamoto. Kirino remained with Saigō until the end, and was killed at the end of the rebellion.

A lover of Eau de Cologne

Eau de Cologne

Eau de Cologne or simply Cologne is a toiletry, a perfume in a style that originated from Cologne, Germany. It is nowadays a generic term for scented formulations in typical concentration of 2-5% essential oils. However as of today cologne is a blend of extracts, alcohol, and water...

, Kirino wore it even during his last battle at Shiroyama

Battle of Shiroyama

-External links:* *...

.

Kirino's wife, Hisa, was a skilled martial artist. As seen in several contemporary woodblock prints depicting the uprising, she also joined in its march; unlike her husband, she survived, and lived until 1920.

Media

Kirino appears as a character in the history-themed Getsumei Seiki, by Kenji Morita.

Kirino also appears as the Army Commander in the manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

 "RED: Livin' on The Edge", by Kenichi Muraeda.

External links

Photos of the graves of the Satsuma Rebellion leaders, including Kirino (3 Oct. 2007)

Further reading

• Nagano Ōgaku 長野桜岳 (1972). Kirino Toshiaki 桐野利秋. Tokyo: Shin Jinbutsu Ōraisha.