OOMURA Masujirou 大村益次郎
(Affiliation: Imperial Army - Choushuu)
First appearance: Ep 9
Military tactician for the Imperial Army.
Voiced by KAWAGUCHI Hiroshi.
Another character based on a real figure. In the anime we first see him as a military tactician, planning out the Battle of Ueno (Wikipedia link) with Saigou Takamori.
The real Oomura Masujirou(again shamelessly translated off the Japanese wiki article on him...)
In real life, he was a scholar of Western medicine and military tactics, and at one point studied under von Siebold. In 1862 he became a military instructor at a school in Choushuu (which if I might remind you was very anti-Shogunate) and made a name for himself by planning battles such as Choushuu's attack against the Shogunate troops in 1866, and most of the Boshin war of 1868 (including the abovementioned Battle of Ueno, ending with the attack on Hakodate and Goryoukaku in Feb 1869).
During this time he happened to be opposed with another military commander, Kaieda Nobuyoshi 海江田信義 from Satsuma. Apparently Oomura told him "You know nothing of war" which made Kaieda show very unusual anger.
When the new government took over in 1868, he became "assistant judge of the defence secretariat" (軍防事務局判事加勢). He was at odds with yet another famous man from Satsuma, Ookubo Toshimichi, regarding the construction of a new army. In a meeting held on June 1869, Oomura suggested that the army be under the government's direct control and not be made up of soldiers from any location in particular; while Ookubo insisted that it should be made up of soldiers from the allied anti-Shogunate domains of Satsuma, Choushuu and Tosa. Despite the famous Kido Takayoshi siding with Oomura, Ookubo eventually won out.
Ookubo even called for Oomura's dismissal from the government and Oomura himself was on the verge of quitting in frustration, but others like Kido knew that there wasn't anyone good enough to replace him and convinced him to stay.
Oomura regained confidence and started out carrying out his own reforms under the capacity of senior vice-minister for Military Affairs (兵部大輔). For example he set up a military boarding school and armoury in Osaka and explosives factories in Uji, Kyoto. With this he was slowly shifting the center of military activity to Kyoto rather than Tokyo, which he claimed was not only a geographically better choice but also allowed him to shake off Ookubo's influence. It also allowed him to keep an eye on the developments happening in the southwest that would later erupt into the Satsuma Rebellion.
Some, however, disagreed with his rapid military reforms - and more importantly his stance that the military should be made up of all types of citizens and that the samurai shouldn't be a privileged group. As such Oomura was stabbed in Kyoto by some disgruntled ex-samurai in October 1869 and he died the month after. There are speculations that his death was orchestrated by Kaieda (see above). In the end, however, Oomura's ideals of universal conscription were taken up by his protege Yamagata Aritomo, who modeled the new Imperial Japanese army after Western models and began conscription in 1873.
You can see a bronze statue of Oomura Masujirou in front of the infamous Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo. In his hometown of Hagi in Choushuu domain, he was known as "火吹き達磨" (Hifuki daruma - Fire-blowing daruma) due to his appearance. (Check out the historical comparisons chart to see what he looked like.)
Return to Characters page
(Affiliation: Imperial Army - Choushuu)
First appearance: Ep 9
Military tactician for the Imperial Army.
Voiced by KAWAGUCHI Hiroshi.
Another character based on a real figure. In the anime we first see him as a military tactician, planning out the Battle of Ueno (Wikipedia link) with Saigou Takamori.
The real Oomura Masujirou(again shamelessly translated off the Japanese wiki article on him...)
In real life, he was a scholar of Western medicine and military tactics, and at one point studied under von Siebold. In 1862 he became a military instructor at a school in Choushuu (which if I might remind you was very anti-Shogunate) and made a name for himself by planning battles such as Choushuu's attack against the Shogunate troops in 1866, and most of the Boshin war of 1868 (including the abovementioned Battle of Ueno, ending with the attack on Hakodate and Goryoukaku in Feb 1869).
During this time he happened to be opposed with another military commander, Kaieda Nobuyoshi 海江田信義 from Satsuma. Apparently Oomura told him "You know nothing of war" which made Kaieda show very unusual anger.
When the new government took over in 1868, he became "assistant judge of the defence secretariat" (軍防事務局判事加勢). He was at odds with yet another famous man from Satsuma, Ookubo Toshimichi, regarding the construction of a new army. In a meeting held on June 1869, Oomura suggested that the army be under the government's direct control and not be made up of soldiers from any location in particular; while Ookubo insisted that it should be made up of soldiers from the allied anti-Shogunate domains of Satsuma, Choushuu and Tosa. Despite the famous Kido Takayoshi siding with Oomura, Ookubo eventually won out.
Ookubo even called for Oomura's dismissal from the government and Oomura himself was on the verge of quitting in frustration, but others like Kido knew that there wasn't anyone good enough to replace him and convinced him to stay.
Oomura regained confidence and started out carrying out his own reforms under the capacity of senior vice-minister for Military Affairs (兵部大輔). For example he set up a military boarding school and armoury in Osaka and explosives factories in Uji, Kyoto. With this he was slowly shifting the center of military activity to Kyoto rather than Tokyo, which he claimed was not only a geographically better choice but also allowed him to shake off Ookubo's influence. It also allowed him to keep an eye on the developments happening in the southwest that would later erupt into the Satsuma Rebellion.
Some, however, disagreed with his rapid military reforms - and more importantly his stance that the military should be made up of all types of citizens and that the samurai shouldn't be a privileged group. As such Oomura was stabbed in Kyoto by some disgruntled ex-samurai in October 1869 and he died the month after. There are speculations that his death was orchestrated by Kaieda (see above). In the end, however, Oomura's ideals of universal conscription were taken up by his protege Yamagata Aritomo, who modeled the new Imperial Japanese army after Western models and began conscription in 1873.
You can see a bronze statue of Oomura Masujirou in front of the infamous Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo. In his hometown of Hagi in Choushuu domain, he was known as "火吹き達磨" (Hifuki daruma - Fire-blowing daruma) due to his appearance. (Check out the historical comparisons chart to see what he looked like.)
Return to Characters page
