Ryoma : Life of a Renaissance Samurai by Hillsborough, Romulus

Onwards and Upwards
Although Sakamoto Ryoma indeed shared Katsu Kaishu's goal of the peaceful unification of Japan, his plan to convince Edo to relinquish power was put on hold with the news that Lord Shungaku had flatly rejected his proposal. Aware that it would take more than words to convince the Bakufu, Ryoma arranged a meeting in Shimonoseki between representatives of Satsuma, several other Kyushu clans, and Choshu. The Dragon s latest plan, which he had briefly discussed during the previous summer with his men in Nagasaki, was to establish a cartel among these clans in the form of a mutual trading company, whose overwhelming force, both militarily and economically, he envisioned as the final straw to convince the waning Bakufu to relinquish power peacefully.
The Loyalists in Choshu enjoyed close ties with a number of wealthy Shimonoseki merchants who sympathized with and even actively and openly aided their cause. Prominent among these families was that of Ito Kuzo, who had been granted the right to a surname. For generations, the Ito family had been one of six Elder Families designated by the Lord of Choshu to govern the commoners, under the authority of samurai overlords. The Ito mansion was the officially appointed inn for Choshu-related lords traveling through Shimonoseki, and for this reason it was often referred to as "Headquarters." Ryoma had recently been staying at Ito's home whenever he was in Shimonoseki, and it was here that he called for the meeting between representatives of several Kyushu clans, and Choshu. He had no trouble arranging the meeting. In fact, many of the Men of High Purpose traveling through Shimonoseki made it a point to visit Ryoma if they could find his whereabouts, which, as they had recently warned, were far too accessible for his own safety. Ryoma's fame was a matter of course: he was the man who had united Choshu and Satsuma; the man who was most responsible for arming Choshu for the war against the Bakufu; and the man who had commanded a band of ronin in a victorious sea battle against the Tokugawa forces in Shimonoseki.

One chilly afternoon in November, Ryoma and Kenkichi sat in a room on the second floor of the Ito mansion with ten other samurai, six of whom were prominent members of the three Kyushu clans which had outwardly supported Choshu in the war. Katsura Kogoro represented Choshu, and Godai Saisuke was there for Satsuma.

"I've called you here today..." Ryoma said, then paused, turning to his Chief Secretary, the eloquent Nagaoka Kenkichi. "Tell them," he said, as Kenkichi proceeded to explain Ryoma's plan. "This will be the first step toward a coalition of the most powerful lords," Kenkichi concluded, "whose cooperation we will need to topple the Bakufu. The lords must form a council in Kyoto, declare a new Imperial government separate from Edo, under the authority of the Imperial Court. As a first step to this great political scheme..."

"We need to offer these han a way to make some big money," Ryoma interrupted.

"But," said Godai, "many of the Kyushu clans have hated each other for centuries."

"Then we're going to have to convince them to get along with each other," Ryoma answered gruffly. "Or else they won't have a country left to live in. France and England will divide Japan among themselves."

"But most of the thirty-four clans of Kyushu are still petrified of the Bakufu," Godai said. "You know that before the war with Choshu the Lord of Fukuoka executed every last one of the Loyalists in his han."

"Even cowards have a way of being convinced," Katsura said bitterly.

"Now that Choshu has won," Ryoma proposed, "I'm sure that those han will listen to reason. In fact, that's the purpose of this meeting—to give them a chance. Although they might have a hard time joining a political or military alliance against Edo, I think they'll be able to swallow the idea of a business coalition. Then, after they've learned the benefits of working together economically, I think the next step will be political and military cooperation. After that, we'll have our revolution."

"Ingenious, Sakamoto-san," Godai said.

"Yes," agreed several others, to whom Ryoma proposed a toast. "Onwards and upwards," he said, refilling several sake cups.

"Onwards and upwards," Kenkichi echoed, as all fourteen men drained their cups.

"Onwards and upwards!" There is little doubt that Ryoma knew just how relevant his remark was, although he expected that it would take months, if not years, before a cartel could actually be formed. In the meantime a chance meeting he would have with an old friend in Nagasaki would not only change his life, but affect the destiny of the entire nation.

On the day after the meeting at Ito's mansion, Ryoma and his men returned to Nagasaki to discuss his plan for the cartel with Kosone Eishiro, on whose financial support the Kameyama Company was greatly dependent. Late one afternoon, as Ryoma, Toranosuke and Eishiro were leaving a sake house in Maruyama, a voice from behind called Ryoma's name. Ryoma immediately turned around to see a samurai waving at him in the distance.

"Who's that?" Eishiro whispered.

Ryoma squinted, but could not make out the face for his poor vision. "I'm not sure, but I'd say from his accent that he's from Kochi."

"He sure is," Toranosuke bitterly ascertained. "That's Mizobuchi Hironojo," he sneered, reaching for his sword. "I'll cut the traitor."

"No," Ryoma growled in no uncertain terms. "Come on. Let's get out of here." Although Ryoma had only fond memories of his old friend, with whom he had shared the same room at Tosa headquarters in Edo years ago, he had heard that Mizobuchi was now an official, and any official of Tosa Han meant trouble to the fugitive.

"I want to cut him," Toranosuke objected, his hand reaching, as of its own

accord, for the hilt of his sword. "That son of a bitch is working for the men who killed Takechi-sensei."

"Relax, Tora!" Ryoma demanded, squinting in the direction of the fast-approaching Tosa official.

"If you don't let me cut him now, we'll have Tosa agents all over us," Toranosuke argued.

"Nobody's going to cut anyone," Ryoma growled, as Mizobuchi called his name again. "Ryoma!" he called a third time, before reaching the three men and taking hold of Ryoma's hand. "It sure is good to see you again," he said. Mizobuchi Hironojo, a lower-samurai from Kochi Castletown, was seven years older than Ryoma. He had practiced kenjutsu under Takechi Hanpeita at the Momonoi Dojo in Edo, but, notwithstanding his deep reverence for the Loyalist Party leader, he had never joined the party, nor had he ever considered fleeing Tosa. This is not to say that Mizobuchi was a traitor; rather he was simply too subdued of nature for the extremism demanded by the Loyalists. This Ryoma realized, and in the spring of 1862, just before fleeing Tosa, he introduced Mizobuchi to Kawada Shoryo. This was the last time the two had met, until this chilly November afternoon in the pleasure quarters of Nagasaki.

Despite his lower-samurai status, Mizobuchi was eventually promoted to petty officialdom for his scholastic prowess. He was officially in Nagasaki to continue his study of things Western, but his actual purpose was to investigate the activities among the various han in this international trading center.

"It's good to see you too, Mizobuchi," Ryoma said. "But I'm in a hurry. I have some urgent business to attend to," he lied. Followed by Toranosuke and Eishiro, Ryoma started to walk away, scraping his boot heels on the stone pavement.

"Like finding a financial backer for your shipping company?" Mizobuchi called out. Needless to say, the remark took Ryoma completely by surprise.

"What did you say?" Ryoma said, turning around to face Mizobuchi.

"I thought I might be able to find you around here, Ryoma." Mizobuchi smiled through beady black eyes, which were situated a bit too high on his gourd-shaped face. "Although you're a fugitive, it's no mystery to anyone that if Sakamoto Ryoma is in Nagasaki, one is bound to find him in one of the brothels around Maruyama."

"Well, at least some things never change," Ryoma snickered. Then feigning nonchalance, "Like I said, I have to be going."

"Ryoma!" Mizobuchi shouted, not a little offended. "Two old friends who haven't seen each other in years happen to meet on the street, and this is how you act? The Sakamoto Ryoma I once knew was never so cold."

"Mizobuchi, don't you understand?" Ryoma said apologetically. Although he detested Tosa Han, and indeed wanted nothing to do with it, his longing for his old friends and his home in Kochi suddenly got the best of him. "I'm wanted for fleeing Tosa, and along comes a Tosa official. Now how am I supposed to act?"

Mizobuchi put his hand on Ryoma's shoulder. "I'm your friend," he said. "Certainly you know I'd never turn you in. And I meant it when I said I've been looking for you because I've heard that you've been having financial troubles, and are looking for a backer. Well, I know a very influential Tosa official who I think you ought to meet."

"Why don't we have a drink somewhere?" Ryoma suggested. Then turning to Toranosuke, "Didn't you have some business to attend to?" Toranosuke had never completely gotten over the days when he had worked with Hanpeita's hit-squads in Kyoto, and Ryoma did not want to take any chances.

"I'm not about to leave you alone with this traitor," Toranosuke protested angrily.

"It's alright, Tora. Mizobuchi and I are old friends, and I know that he's not a traitor."

"Very well," Toranosuke muttered, cast a menacing glance at the Tosa official, and left the three men on the street.

Kosone accompanied the Tosa men into a sake house, where he was a frequent customer. After instructing the proprietress to give the two men a private room, and all the sake they could drink, he told her to charge the bill to his own account, and left the Tosa men to themselves.

"Like I've told ypu Ryoma," Mizobuchi spoke in a low, deliberate voice, "I've recently heard about the financial trouble of your shipping company."

"I see," Ryoma said evasively, warming his hands over a blue ceramic brazier.

"I've been working closely with Tosa Minister Goto Shojiro, and..."

"Goto Shojiro," Ryoma sneered. "That's the nephew of Yoshida Toyo who condemned Hanpeita to death."

"I know how you feel, Ryoma. But if you'd just listen to what I have to say," Mizobuchi entreated.

"Continue, then."

"Like I just said, I've heard you're having financial trouble."

"We're a shipping company without a ship. I guess that says it all. But I've just come from Shimonoseki, where I spoke with representatives of several han." After explaining his ideas about a cartel, Ryoma said, "What I'd like to do in the meantime is buy products from all over Kyushu, ship them to the central market in Osaka and sell them for big profit."

"But I thought you just said you don't have a ship."

"We don't."

Mizobuchi smiled, as if confident his purpose would soon be accomplished. "Then let me introduce you to Goto," he said.

"Goto? What for?"

"Tosa is changing," Mizobuchi said. "Have you heard about the new Institution for Development and Achievement?"

"No," Ryoma replied, and with his eyes urged Mizobuchi to continue. As Mizobuchi explained, the Institution for Development and Achievement had been established in Kochi in the spring of the previous year by Lord Yodo and his Chief Minister Goto Shojiro to modernize local industry. Separate

divisions were set up within the institution to exploit Tosa's reserves of gold, silver, and copper; to promote the whaling industry, and to purchase foreign books, machines, ships and weapons. A school of Western medicine and a hospital had been established, where French and English were also being taught.

"And Goto has recently set up a trading office in Nagasaki, called the Tosa Company," Mizobuchi said, drawing a look of intense interest from Ryoma. "So you see, Ryoma, Goto has the same basic ideas as you, but he's in a much better position than you are to realize them."

"Yes," Ryoma groaned, as if to himself, "he has Tosa to back him."

"And what I think will interest you most, is that Goto has also set up a Navy Department as part of the institution. But as you may well expect, there are still plenty of hardheaded conservatives among the upper-samurai in Tosa who are convinced that everything foreign is evil, and who don't approve of what Goto is doing."

"The more you tell me about Goto, the more I think I'd like to meet him," Ryoma said.

"Recently, Goto sailed to Shanghai, partly to avoid assassination by the conservatives, but also to purchase a steamer. But what he saw apparently impressed him so, that he ended up buying two warships and a gunboat."

"What was it that impressed him?" Ryoma asked.

"The military encroachment of the great Western powers into Asia."

"Sounds like a man who has some brains," Ryoma remarked sarcastically.

"He does," Mizobuchi ignored the sarcasm. "In fact, Goto is now convinced that the only way to save Japan is through developing the economy and modernizing the military."

"I could have told you that years ago," Ryoma snickered. "But, of course, none of the upper-samurai would ever listen."

"Tosa is changing," Mizobuchi said. "And as proof of that, even though the hardheads in Kochi are furious with Goto over all the money he's spent on weapons, he also contracted in Shanghai for several of those new Armstrong guns."

"Armstrong guns?" Ryoma said. "You mean Tosa has Armstrong guns?" Ryoma had wanted so badly to purchase these state-of-the-art cannon that the mere mention of them made him smell, and even taste, gunpowder.

"They haven't arrived yet. But like I said, Ryoma, Tosa is changing."

"Besides just brains, it sounds like Goto has some guts too," Ryoma said, this time without a trace of sarcasm.

"Plenty!' Mizobuchi stressed. "One evening last summer as Goto was on his way to a brothel in Maruyama he was attacked by several men."

"And?"

"He didn't let that stop him."

"Who attacked him?"

"I don't know, but I do know that he fought them off. And then, what do you think he did?"

"Continued on his way to the brothel," Ryoma said matter-of-factly.

"How did you know?" Mizobuchi asked.

"Because that's just what I'd do. Once you have it in your mind to have a woman, you don't let some trivial incident stop you."

"I see," Mizobuchi said, giving Ryoma a puzzled look. "Anyway, since the Choshu victory, men like Goto are beginning to realize that the future of Japan depends on mutual cooperation between the most powerful clans, like you yourself have just said. And they don't want to see Tosa left behind."

"Tosa?" Ryoma sneered. "They don't want to see Tosa left behind? Ha!" he laughed derisively. "I couldn't care less about Tosa. My only concern is for Japan."

"Goto wants to develop Tosa's navy," Mizobuchi changed the subject.

"What does that have to do with me?" Ryoma remarked caustically. "I want to develop a Japanese Navy."

"Recently Goto was in Kyoto, where he spent a lot of time with the Satsuma men," Mizobuchi again changed the subject. "He apparently spoke extensively with Saigo, among others."

"Saigo?" Ryoma blurted.

"Yes. Saigo's a close friend of yours, isn't he? At least that's what he told Goto. Impressed the hell out of him, too," Mizobuchi chuckled. "I guess Goto didn't expect to hear the most powerful man in Satsuma praise a ronin from Tosa."

"What did they talk about?"

"The necessity of developing the military to overthrow the Bakufu, for one thing."

"And?"

"And about you, for another. Saigo apparently told Goto that it was a shame a man of your caliber was idle when the nation was in such dire need of your services."

"What does Goto think about the necessity of overthrowing the Bakufu?" Ryoma asked, ignoring the compliment.

"He agrees. At least that's what he's told me." Mizobuchi paused, rested his sake cup against his lower lip. "Don't you see, Ryoma? That's why I want to introduce you to Goto. He's very anxious to meet you. He says he suspects that you and he have the same goals. And after what I've heard you say today, I tend to agree with him. You and Goto have the same basic goals: building a navy and developing foreign trade. I have no doubt that the two of you will be able to work well together. Besides," Mizobuchi paused, looked hard at Ryoma, "you just told me you needed a ship."

"You mean to tell me that Tosa would be willing to give a ship to a band of men who have fled the hanT

"I can't promise anything. But do me and yourself a favor. At least talk to Goto."

"Before I agree, let me ask you something."

"What?"

"If what you say is true about Tosa changing, what would you say the chances are of Tosa joining the Satsuma-Choshu military alliance?"

"Ryoma, you know that there's been bad blood between Tosa and Choshu for the past two years, since the young Tosa daimyo separated from his wife because she was a relative of the Lord of Choshu."

"Yes, I know. And it's despicable," Ryoma sneered.

'Yes, it is," Mizobuchi agreed contemptuously, impressing upon Ryoma that even this mild-mannered official had a touch of the rebel in his heart. "But after Choshu's victory in the war, the young daimyo has taken her back."

Ryoma released a loud guffaw. "You mean to tell me that the Lord of Tosa actually has the balls to accept his own wife back without approval from the Tokugawa? Maybe Tosa really is changing," he snickered. "Maybe Tosa just might agree to enter into the alliance with Choshu and Satsuma against the Bakufu."

Mizobuchi swallowed hard, as Ryoma's sarcasm was warranted. "I wouldn't know," he said. "I'm just a lower-samurai."

"I know. We all are, in the eyes of Lord Yodo. That's the whole problem with Tosa. I don't think Yodo will ever agree to oppose the Tokugawa, any more than he'll agree to recognize the lower-samurai as anything more than subhuman."

"No, Ryoma. You're wrong. Even the commoners are allowed to study at the Institution for Development and Achievement."

"Really?" Ryoma said, impressed.

"If you could convince Goto of the necessity of Tosa allying with Satsuma and Choshu, then I think he could convince Yodo."

"But is Goto any different from Yodo? Is Goto willing to deal with the lower-samurai on equal terms?"

"I think he is."

"Alright, Mizobuchi!" Ryoma slammed his fist into his palm, "I'll meet Goto. But on two conditions."

"Which are?"

"First, that you come to Choshu with me to meet Katsura Kogoro to discuss the possibilities of a reconciliation between Choshu and Tosa."

"I see," Mizobuchi said, nodding approval. "But, considering the bad blood, would the Choshu men be willing to talk with a Tosa official?"

Mizobuchi, I don't like to brag," Ryoma lied, "but you're looking at the man who united Satsuma and Choshu.'

"I see."

"So," Ryoma continued to brag, "as long as you're with me, you'll have no problems in Choshu."

"Then let's go," Mizobuchi said. "Goto isn't due back from Shanghai until the beginning of January." Mizobuchi rubbed his hands over the brazier. "And what's your other condition?"

"That you take as fair warning what I'm about to say."

"Which is?"

"You saw the way Toranosuke acted toward you. I had to send him away for fear he'd try to kill you on the spot."

"Don't worry about me."

"It's not you I'm worried about. It's Goto. Once my men find out he's in Nagasaki, not even I'll be able to guarantee that they won't try to kill him. And you can't blame them," Ryoma said bitterly. "Goto is the man who condemned Hanpeita to death."

While Ryoma and Mizobuchi were in Choshu discussing with Katsura the possibility of a Tosa-Choshu alliance, an event in Kyoto sent shock waves throughout Edo, and indeed the entire nation.

Since the previous August Satsuma and the anti-Bakufu nobles in Kyoto had been using the political vacuum created by Choshu's victory, the death of the Shogun, and the refusal of Yoshinobu to succeed him, to strengthen their position at court. Although Emperor Komei and his top advisors were staunch supporters of the Bakufu, the anti-Bakufu faction at court, with the cooperation of Satsuma, was planning the restoration of Imperial rule. Why, one might ask, would the Emperor bitterly oppose those who would restore his divine line to the pinnacle of power in his sacred empire? The answer is simple: So great was his fear of anything Western, that he preferred that the political authority remain in the hands of the Tokugawa Shogun— Commander in Chief of the Expeditionary Forces Against the Barbarians— who, until recently, had kept the foreigners out and Japan at peace for two and a half centuries. Thus Emperor Komei's hate for Choshu and all other radical elements, who for the past several years had been plotting to shatter the state of things by destroying his sturdiest shield, the Tokugawa Bakufu.

The leader of the plot at court to overthrow the Bakufu and restore the Emperor to power was Iwakura Tomomi, a previously high-ranking court noble, who was now operating in exile from the outskirts of Kyoto. Six years before, Iwakura had urged the Emperor to sanction the marriage between the Emperor's younger sister and the Shogun, as a means of uniting the court and the Bakufu. "Then," this master of political intrigue had explained to the Emperor, "if you would order the Bakufu to first consult with the court before making any decisions involving either domestic or foreign matters, Edo would maintain political authority in name only, with the actual power resting in the hands of the Imperial Court." His intentions mistaken as traitorous by the Loyalists in Kyoto, Iwakura was banished by the court, partly for his own safety, in the summer of 1862, but was now once again actively plotting the overthrow of the Bakufu.

During his past four years in exile, Iwakura had been in secret contact with several of the leading anti-Bakufu activists, the most prominent of whom was Okubo Ichizo of Satsuma. At the end of the previous August, after Edo's defeat by Choshu, Iwakura had organized a group of twenty-two court nobles to deliver a memorial to the Emperor. The memorial stated two main objectives: the formation of a council of lords in Kyoto to decide the affairs of state; and a political reformation within the court. The suggestion was tantamount to the impeachment of the Emperor's leading advisors, all of whom supported Edo. The plan backfired, and at the end of October the Emperor ordered the detention of the twenty-two nobles who had submitted the memorial, and a tighter watch on Iwakura's home in exile. At the beginning of December the anti-Bakufu radicals were struck with another blow: Yoshinobu gave into pressure from the Imperial Court and his own ministers, and agreed to become the fifteenth Tokugawa Shogun as a final resort to save the Bakufu. But less than three weeks later, on December 25, Shogun Yoshinobu met with his worst disaster since the fall of Kokura Castle in the previous August.

Emperor Komei had suddenly died at the age of thirty-six, and although the official medical report attributed the cause of death to smallpox, rumor had it that the Son of Heaven had been poisoned. This was not a farfetched conclusion. Alive Emperor Komei presented a serious obstacle to both Iwakura and Satsuma in their mutual goal of toppling the Bakufu. What's more, the Imperial heir was only fourteen years old at the time; his maternal grandfather and official guardian, Nakayama Tadayasu, had for years been an opponent of Edo, and was in a perfect position to aid his longtime ally Iwakura.

To the anti-Bakufu revolutionaries in Choshu, Satsuma and Kyoto; to the Bakufu elite in Edo and Osaka; and to Sakamoto Ryoma and his band of ronin in Nagasaki, the death of Emperor Komei marked the beginning of a new political age.

The second year of the Era of Keio, 1866, was coming to a close, as Ryoma sat alone one night in his room at the Kosone mansion. The meeting between Katsura and Mizobuchi had gone well, and Ryoma now felt confident enough in the feasibility of a Tosa-Choshu alliance to justify a meeting with Goto Shojiro.

Oryo was asleep in the next room. But unable to sleep himself, Ryoma was writing a letter to Otome, when suddenly his thoughts drifted to his brother Gombei. He sat up straight, lay his writing brush on the desk and inhaled deeply. His hot breath came out white, reminding him just how cold the night had become, and he wondered how Gombei must feel about his being away from home for so many years. "If I should die," he said aloud, as if Gombei were somehow listening, "I sure would like to have one of our prize family swords with me." Although Ryoma rarely thought of his own death, much less the Sakamoto family heirlooms, it must have been something in the air, the coldness of the night, or perhaps an eerie premonition which suddenly turned his thoughts morbid.

After all, there was no end in sight to the dangerous and difficult road which Ryoma had chosen when he fled Tosa four and a half years before. Nevertheless, he was feeling content, even happy, with his life. He picked up the brush, dabbed it in the ink and continued writing to Otome. He described in elaborate detail his honeymoon at the hot springs in the misty mountains of Kagoshima, his hike up a volcanic summit, holding Oryo's hand all the way, when suddenly his thoughts turned existential. "This is certainly a strange world," he wrote, "unpredictable as the moon and clouds. Rather than staying at home at the end of the year and receiving a stipend of rice, it is much more amusing to be fighting for the nation, if only one is prepared to die."

Ryoma's men shared his sentiments on the unpredictability of this world, particularly when, on the next day at headquarters, he told them of his intentions to meet Goto.

"What?" Toranosuke was the first to react, with a loud gasp.

"Goto?" Sonojo hollered. "I'd like to cut the son of a bitch."

"Isn't he the one who had Takechi-sensei commit seppukul" Yonosuke asked, in his typical monotone.

Irked by the impassivity of Yonosuke's remark, Toranosuke shot back, "You wouldn't know how we Tosa men feel about it."

"Hold it right there!" Yonosuke demanded, jumping to his feet.

"Relax, Yonosuke!" Ryoma said appeasingly, then turned to Toranosuke with a scowl. "Don't forget that in our company there are no Tosa or Kii or any other clans. There's only Japan."

Toranosuke nodded assent, then added, "But you mustn't see Goto."

"I know how you feel," Ryoma said.

"Where is Goto?" Sonojo asked.

"In Shanghai," Ryoma said. "He's not due to return to Nagasaki until the first of the year."

"When he does return," Toranosuke seethed, "I'm going to cut the bastard down."

"Ryoma," Kenkichi said, "Toranosuke is right." Although Kenkichi had never been a member of Hanpeita's Loyalist Party, even this most erudite of Kameyama Company men was unable to overcome his resentment for the upper-samurai of Tosa. "For all we know, Goto and his lackeys might be plotting to arrest the whole lot of us."

"Ryoma-san," Taro spoke up, "it would be an insult to the souls of Takechi-sensei and the others who died in Kochi if we didn't avenge their deaths. We must take Goto's head."

"He's right, Sakamoto-san," asserted Umanosuke. Even this mild-mannered peasant's son agreed with his comrades from Tosa.

"All of you listen!" Ryoma suddenly shouted. "I know how you feel about Goto. I feel the same way. Not only is he responsible for Hanpeita's death, but he's an upper-samurai." Indeed, there wasn't a man among them who detested more than Ryoma the discrimination of the lower classes by the social elite. "Sonojo, you know better than anyone why I fled Tosa with you all those years ago. I had to get away from the unfairness and stupidity of the system. I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't know where I was heading. But I did know that none of us would ever stand a chance in Tosa Han."

Rage filled Sonojo's eyes, as he reached for his sword. "That's why we must kill Goto," he screamed. "This is one time when I can't agree with you, Ryoma. If Goto comes back to Nagasaki, I'll take his head."

Ryoma folded his arms at his chest. "If you must kill him," he said, "at least wait until he's had the chance to speak with me."

"Ryoma," Toranosuke protested violently, "Goto never gave Takechi-sensei a chance. Why should we give him one?"

"Because," Ryoma slammed his fist on the floor with such force that the walls of the old wooden house shook, "it was Hanpeita who killed Goto's uncle, Yoshida Toyo." The remark drew a cringe from Toranosuke, who was once among Hanpeita's most devoted disciples, and although he was not directly involved in the murder of Yoshida, he had participated in several of Hanpeita's Heaven's Revenge assassinations in Kyoto. "I was Hanpeita's closest friend," Ryoma continued. "For all Goto knows I was involved in Yoshida's murder. Nevertheless he wants to speak to me. Goto is a minister of Tosa Han, but he's willing to meet me on equal terms."

"What does he want to talk about?" asked the newest member of the company, Nakajima Sakutaro of Tosa, who had recently showed up at headquarters. At age twenty-three, Sakutaro was the second youngest in the company, and Ryoma welcomed him for his levelheadedness. "Sakutaro is a good counterbalance to the hotheads among us," he had told Yonosuke. Yonosuke agreed, and, in fact, he and Sakutaro had now become good friends.

Yonosuke was one of Ryoma's most valuable men. But whether it was out of jealousy over Ryoma's favor, or Yonosuke's tendency to bring reason to an extreme, he was not liked by most of the others. To make matters worse, he was a bit of a miser, a quality particularly unbecoming of a samurai. Recently, while Ryoma was away, Yonosuke had ordered samples of cotton padding from several shops in Nagasaki, on the pretext that he would show them to the other men to decide which to use for bedding for the employees. But instead Yonosuke had used the free samples of cotton to make one very comfortable quilt for himself. Sakutaro's ability to look beyond Yonosuke's shortcomings was reflected in his levelheaded question about Ryoma's intentions to meet Goto."

"I'm not sure what Goto wants to talk about," Ryoma answered Sakutaro, whose powerful, inset eyes did not befit his baby face.

"Then why meet him?" Sonojo sneered.

Ryoma stood up, walked over to window, his back to the others. "For the sake of Japan," he said.

"What?"

"You heard me, Sonojo." Ryoma turned around to face all eight men. "Don't you think I'd like as much as any of you to revenge Hanpeita's death? But I think that, if nothing else, Katsu-sensei has at least taught us to look at things from a wide perspective. You see, what I have in mind is something more important than revenge. Something that Hanpeita himself would surely have agreed with."

"Which is?" Sonojo asked.

"A Tosa-Choshu-Satsuma alliance that Hanpeita envisioned years ago." After telling of Mizobuchi's meeting with Katsura, who had agreed in theory to such an alliance, Ryoma added, "Anyway, with the way things are going for us now, since we have no money or a ship of our own, I can't see any reason not to at least talk to Goto. We know that we can't very well continue depending on Choshu and Satsuma for support. They have enough problems of their own. But if what I've heard is true, I think that Goto just might be the person we need." "What do you mean, Sakamoto-san?" Yonosuke asked. "What I mean," Ryoma said, leaning back against the wooden alcove, his arms folded at his chest, "is that I intend to swallow my pride, forget about the past, and form a partnership with Goto."

"That's treachery!" Sonojo gasped. "I can't believe what I'm hearing. And from Sakamoto Ryoma of all people."

"Ryoma," Toranosuke shouted, "it would be like conceding the Loyalists' defeat to the upper-samurai of Tosa."

Ryoma scratched the back of his head, began speaking very slowly. "Don't you know that by losing one battle, you can sometimes gain one hundred victories?" "I don't follow you," Sakutaro said.

"We need Goto. He's Lord Yodo's chief minister. He controls the treasury of Tosa, which is one of the wealthiest in Japan. If we can form a partnership with Goto, think of the things our company can do for Japan. We'll never have to worry about a lack of funds or ships for our business. We'll be in a position to buy weapons to sell to any of the han which are willing to stand up against the Bakufu. All I need do is throw away my pride, and..." "Ryoma," Toranosuke interrupted, "I can't believe..." "I know," Ryoma shouted. "I'm the one who swore he'd never deal with Tosa. That's why I fled in the first place. But if I've learned anything since then, I've learned that a man must be flexible. He has to be willing to change with the times in order to keep his options open. If not, he might as well stop living, because he'll never improve." Ryoma nonchalantly plucked a nose hair, flicked it across the room. "Now, Sonojo, if you think that's treachery, then so be it. But remember what most of you said when I tried to get you to work under Katsu-sensei. You said that Katsu-sensei was a traitor for selling out to the foreigners." Ryoma laughed slightly, not a little nostalgically. "I thought the same thing myself. That's why Jutaro and I went to kill him." Ryoma laughed again. "How stupid we were! But it's a good thing we realized it when we did."

"But, Ryoma-san," Taro protested, "it isn't Katsu-sensei we're talking about. It's Tosa Han. And we know the way things are in Tosa Han."

"Taro," Ryoma hollered, his eyes flashing, "we have to give ourselves this chance, because it might be our last one. Goto has asked to talk to me. I haven't asked to meet him. Now, if we can put Goto and all of Tosa Han to use for the good of Japan, what could possibly be better?" "I see," Taro said.

Ryoma smiled, rubbed his hands together. "If Tosa unites with Satsuma and Choshu, the Bakufu will surely fall. So, if any of you still insist on cutting Goto before I have a chance to meet him, go ahead. But," he said with firm conviction, "you'll have to cut me first." Nobody dared to speak, as Ryoma burst out laughing. "I guess this means that I can see Goto without a fight," he said, then added ominously, "However, I will promise you this. If things don't work out, or if Goto tries to arrest us, not only will you have my blessings to cut him, I'll do it for you, and for Hanpeita and the others."

Tosa Minister Goto Shojiro's ship dropped anchor at Nagasaki one overcast afternoon in the second week of 1867. When the skiff carrying him reached the docks, Mizobuchi and another Tosa official were waiting for him.

"Minister Goto, welcome back," Mizobuchi called out. He bowed deeply, then, offering the younger man his hand, asked, "How was your journey, Your Excellency?"

Refusing to be helped out of the boat, Goto leaped onto the pier, landing with a loud thump. At age twenty-eight, Goto was short, built solidly, with a round face, firm jaw, determined black eyes, and a strength of character befitting the most powerful minister in the Tosa government. "Just fine," he said. "But it sure feels good to be back in Japan. All I need now is a hot bath, some good sake and a pretty Nagasaki wench."

"Please, Minister Goto," the other man urged nervously, "we must hurry."

"Why?" Goto asked, adjusting his swords at his left hip.

"It's just that..."

"Save it for later," Goto said, and with a wave of dismissal, began walking at a brisk pace toward the town.

"Minister Goto!" the man persisted, "we have reason to believe that there are Tosa ronin in Nagasaki out to revenge the death of Takechi Hanpeita."

Goto laughed sardonically. "Is that all that's worrying you? I have more important things on my mind." Turning to Mizobuchi he asked, "Have you made the arrangements?"

"Yes, Your Excellency. Ryoma has agreed to meet you."

"Ryoma?" the third man gasped. "You mean Sakamoto Ryoma?"

"Yes," Goto snapped, "Sakamoto Ryoma."

"But that's the ronin who..."

"I know," the minister growled, his scowl instantly silencing his underling. "When is the meeting scheduled for?"

"I don't know," Mizobuchi said, turning his long, narrow face slightly downward, and drawing a snicker from Goto.

"When you do that," Goto chided, "your face looks just like a gourd." Then looking at Mizobuchi, he added, as if annoyed, "What do you mean you don't know?"

"I couldn't schedule a meeting until you returned, Your Excellency."

"Well, I'm back now. Schedule one," Goto said, as the three men continued walking toward town.

Goto Shojiro was born in Kochi Castletown in the spring of 1838. At age sixteen he entered the academy of his uncle, Yoshida Toyo, who would recruit his nephew several years later to help him realize his great plan to enrich the fiefdom and strengthen its defenses through foreign trade. After Yodo's assassination, and the rise to power of the Tosa Loyalists, Goto went to Edo, partly to avoid assassination himself, partly to study Western navigational science, but always with the full intentions of realizing his late mentor's plan to strengthen Tosa Han. With the fall of Choshu from Imperial grace in August, and the beginning of the end of the Tosa Loyalist Party, Goto's chance had arrived. He and other young Yoshida disciples were reinstated into government service by Lord Yodo to revive the Tosa economy and strengthen its military. Goto's first reappointment was as Chief of Police, a post which included him in the central policy-making board of Tosa Han. In 1865, he was appointed by Yodo as Chief Inspector of Takechi Hanpeita's jailed Loyalists; his mission: to discover the murderers of Yoshida Toyo.

"Sir Harry (the British minister to Japan) took a great fancy to him," Ernest Satow wrote of Goto, "as being one of the most intelligent Japanese we had yet met, and to my own mind Saigo alone was his superior in force of character.'" Lord Yodo apparently was of similar opinion when he entrusted the reins of the Tosa government to the twenty-seven-year-old nephew of the late regent.

One afternoon in mid-January Goto was about to leave the office of the Tosa Company when someone called his name.

"What is it?" He turned around with an annoyed expression, as if to inform that he did not want to be bothered.

"Excuse me," Goto's attendant said sheepishly, "but I don't think you should be going out alone. Word has it that there is a group of Tosa ronin who are after you."

"I've heard all about it," Goto snickered. "Out to avenge Takechi's death. But I'm not concerned." In fact, he wasn't. Goto's boldness, however, had nothing to do with the fact that he was on his way to a nearby cottage to have a secret meeting with the leader of the same men who were supposedly after his head. "If anyone thinks he can cut me, let him try," he roared, and without further ado, left the office and his bewildered attendant.

Goto, like Ryoma, possessed a tremendous amount of energy, an inflated ego, and a tendency to boast. Also, like Ryoma, he was a charismatic leader with the gift of foresight. Unlike the practical president of the Kameyama Company, however, the Tosa minister cared nothing for detail.

In February 1866, one month after Ryoma had united Satsuma and Choshu, Goto had established the Institution for Development and Achievement in Kochi, and shortly after, its trading branch, the Tosa Company, in Nagasaki. When Lord Yodo's chief minister came to his Nagasaki headquarters in the following July he had one grand purpose in mind: establishing connections with foreign arms dealers in order to purchase Western warships and guns.

In Nagasaki, Goto spent exorbitant amounts of gold, living up to his reputation as a carouser by wining and dining business associates at the Maruyama brothels. When word of his escapades reached Kochi, Lord Yodo, who had nothing but confidence in his chief minister, arranged for him to travel to Shanghai to avoid assassination by xenophobic, if not jealous conservatives.

No sooner had Goto returned to Nagasaki, than his foreign debtors demanded payment of loans, compelling him to seek financial help from the Satsuma trade representative, Godai Saisuke. In order to convince Godai that Tosa was a sound investment, Goto boasted of the great wealth of the Yamanouchi domain, which, he claimed, "included the greatest abundance of camphor, paper and whale oil in all of Japan."

"If Tosa is so wealthy," Godai cunningly turned the conversation around, "how about doing Satsuma and me a big favor and taking one of our warships off my hands? You see, I seem to have purchased one more ship than our budget allows for."

Unable to retract his initial boasting of Tosa wealth, Goto had no choice but to put his lord into further debt with the purchase of yet another warship.

Such were the financial straits of Goto Shojiro when he arrived at the Cottage of the Pure Wind, where Mizobuchi was waiting for him.

"Where's Ryoma?" was the first thing out of Goto's mouth when Mizobuchi greeted him in the front garden.

"Ah," Mizobuchi hesitated nervously, "it looks like he's a little late, Your Excellency."

"Is the girl here?" Goto asked.

"Yes, she's waiting inside. I've arrange everything exactly as you've instructed."

"Well, lead the way," Goto said. "I want to have a look at her."

Meanwhile, Ryoma and Yonosuke had just left company headquarters in the Kameyama Hills. Ryoma had chosen Yonosuke to accompany him during the meeting with Goto, not only because the Kii man was his private secretary, but because, with the exception of Shiramine Shunme of Nagaoka Han, Yonosuke was the only one in the company who did not hold a personal grudge against the upper-samurai of Tosa Han. The two men walked quickly down the narrow path leading to the base of the hill, and just as they turned left at the main street lined with temples, Ryoma whispered, "Don't look back, but there are three men following us."

Yonosuke stopped.

"Just keep on walking, Yonosuke, as if you didn't notice them." Ryoma reached into his kimono to check his revolver, before adjusting his sword at his left hip.

"Sakamoto-san, look!" Yonosuke gestured with his chin at two more men approaching from the front.

Ryoma squinted, took hold of his revolver, but kept it concealed in his kimono. "Who are they?" he muttered.

"I'd say they were from Tosa," Yonosuke conjectured, as the two men hurried toward them.

"Heaven's Revenged the three men behind screamed the old Loyalist battle cry, charging with drawn swords.

"Stop!" Ryoma hollered, delivering a backhanded blow to the side of Toranosuke's face, knocking him down in front of the great wooden gate of Kofukuji temple. "Taro! Sonojo! Resheathe your swords!" Ryoma roared, as Toranosuke sat up in the dirt, retrieved his sword and the others watched in exasperation. "The name's Sakamoto," Ryoma said walking directly up to his would-be jailers. "Don't any of you even think about drawing your swords," he demanded in no uncertain terms. Then without looking back, he called his own men, who now joined him. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"We anticipated that Goto would send his lackeys after you," Taro explained. "Hold your tongue!" one of Goto's agents flared. "I don't think it was Goto who sent them," Ryoma said. "Nobody sent us. We've come of our own accord, because we thought there would be trouble."

Ryoma laughed derisively. "If you want to kill each other, then do it. But I have an appointment to keep with Goto." Ryoma started to walk away.

"Halt!" one of the upper-samurai hollered. "Where do you think you're going?"

Ryoma turned around, as if the very motion were bothersome. Taro, Sonojo and Toranosuke were glaring furiously at the upper-samurai, who reciprocated with the same condescendence which the lower-samurai in Tosa had resented for centuries. "Like I just told you," Ryoma said calmly. "I'm going to see Goto. Now why don't you tell me your names so I can tell him why I had to keep him waiting."

"Ah," one of Goto's lackeys stammered, "that won't be necessary You can go."

"How kind of you," Ryoma snickered. "But remember one thing." He shifted his eyes to his own men. "And this goes for the three of you, too. Killing each other isn't going to do a bit of good, least of all for Japan. But I'd better hurry," he said, before continuing on his way with Yonosuke down the road lined with temples, toward the nearby Cottage of the Pure Wind.

"Ryoma, I thought you'd never get here," a relieved Mizobuchi greeted the two men at the front door.

"Where's Goto?" Ryoma's voice carried, and Mizobuchi winced. "Keep your voice down!" the Tosa official reprimanded, drawing laughter from Ryoma.

"What's so funny?" Mizobuchi was indignant.

"It's just that whenever you get upset, Mizobuchi, your face looks like a gourd."

"When addressing Goto-san," Mizobuchi said, ignoring the remark, and stressing the honorific, "remember that he's a minister of Tosa."

"This is no time to argue the point, but we're not in Tosa, and I'm not a Tosa samurai. If Goto's come to meet me on equal terms, then I'll meet him on equal terms. Now, where is he?"

Mizobuchi sighed, shook his head, before leading the two ronin to a room at the rear of the house.

Ryoma entered first. With Goto sat a young geisha. This was Omoto, whom Ryoma had seen on several occasions since first meeting her a year before at the House of the Flower Moon.

"This Goto's not the typical upper-samurai," Ryoma thought as he and Yonosuke took their places opposite the Tosa minister. Ryoma had reason to be impressed. It was nearly unheard of for a man of Goto's rank to even sit in the same room with a lower-samurai, let alone arrange for the favorite geisha of an outlaw to pour the outlaw's sake.

Ryoma looked hard into Goto's eyes, nodded his head in a cool greeting to the man who had ordered the execution of several of his friends, and forced several others to commit seppuku. "So, what is it you wanted to talk about?" Ryoma demanded brusquely, holding his sake cup for the girl to fill.

"How can we solve the crises facing our nation?" Goto asked.

Ryoma drained his cup, placed it on the tray in front of him, rubbed the back of his neck and sneezed loudly. "I'd like to ask you the same question," he said cautiously.

"Very well," Goto said, took a drink of sake, then told Ryoma about the necessity of continued trade with the West. "Otherwise," he concluded, "Japan is doomed to foreign subjugation."

"And what about Tosa's allegiance to Edo? Will Lord Yodo agree to side with Satsuma and Choshu against the Bakufu?" Ryoma asked suddenly, his eyes flashing.

"Please elaborate," Goto urged.

"A choice must be made. There's no time left for indecisiveness. Either Tosa backs the Bakufu, or it backs the rest of Japan. The Bakufu is concerned only with its own selfish interests. It opposes the idea of the clans uniting to form one centralized government. But this is the only way that Japan can develop a military and an economy strong enough to compete with the West. The Bakufu must be toppled, the political power restored to the Emperor and a council of lords formed in Kyoto to determine national policy." Ryoma paused as Omoto refilled his cup.

Goto nodded, his determined black eyes meeting those of the ronin, with whom he was deeply impressed. "I agree with you completely," he said.

"And the necessity of a Tosa-Satsuma-Choshu Alliance?" Ryoma prodded.

"If Satsuma and Choshu will agree, I'll convince Lord Yodo," said the most powerful man in the Tosa government, before taking up a flask himself and filling the cups of the two ronin.

Ryoma grinned at Mizobuchi, who was sitting silently at Goto's side. When his old friend had told him that Tosa was changing, Ryoma had not expected the changes to be quite so radical. But now he had seen for himself that the same man who had condemned Takechi Hanpeita to death just a year and a half before, was at the vanguard of those changes. And although he could not help but suspect that perhaps, even now, Goto was not being completely sincere with him, Ryoma knew that men were capable of the most profound transformations. Had he himself not taken a hundred eighty-degree turn five years ago when he met Katsu Kaishu? Was he not now drinking sake with a former enemy? If Ryoma himself could change so drastically to adjust to these most drastic of times, why not Goto? Why not Tosa Han itself? The Bakufu's defeat to Choshu in the previous summer, followed by the sudden death of the Emperor in December had certainly influenced Tosa's outlook on national politics. Moreover, the Satsuma-Choshu Alliance was very real. Goto could not stand idly by while Satsuma and Choshu took the initiative to form a new centralized government. This, Ryoma now realized, was the biggest reason Goto had asked to meet him. Having crushed the Tosa Loyalists, Goto was not in a position to approach the Choshu and Satsuma Loyalists directly. But he knew that Sakamoto Ryoma could do this for him. "And I'll convince Satsuma and Choshu," Ryoma assured Goto, before draining his cup.

After the meeting Ryoma and Yonosuke returned to the Kosone house, where the others were waiting anxiously.

"Well, have you decided to cut him?" Toranosuke was the first to ask the question on everyone's mind.

Ryoma sat on the floor next to a ceramic brazier. "Are you still harping on that?" he groaned, then lay down on the floor. "I'm tired, and drunk, and in no mood to discuss the matter right now. But if you must know," he said, sitting up, "Goto Shojiro is one of the greatest men I've ever met."

"What?" Sonojo protested. "That's blasphemy!" Toranosuke shouted.

"First of all, Goto has a lot of guts. He and Mizobuchi were there alone. For all Goto knew, I could have come to revenge Hanpeita's death. I've never met or even heard of an upper-samurai like him. He's certainly the best they have in Tosa." Ryoma rubbed his hands over the brazier. "Until now he and I were bitter enemies. But throughout our whole discussion he never once mentioned the past. His only concern was what must be done in the future. So do me a favor, all of you. I don't want to hear any more talk of killing Goto."

"What did you talk about?" Kenkichi asked.

After Ryoma explained what he had discussed with Goto, Kenkichi thoughtfully suggested, "It sounds to me like Goto just wants to use you to help him break the ice with Satsuma and Choshu."

"Exactly!" Ryoma said. "But so what? We'll use him, too. Today I've broken the ice with the most powerful minister in Tosa. And I liked what I saw. I think we can do business together. If using each other is what we must do for the good of Japan, then by all means we'd better do it."

Word of the meeting between Goto Shojiro and Sakamoto Ryoma caused an uproar among the upper-samurai in Kochi. Not only had Goto put Tosa in debt by purchasing more weapons than it could afford, but now he was making overtures to the former right-hand man of Yoshida Toyo's murderer.

"Goto must be punished," they insisted, and when Lord Yodo heard of their plans to assassinate his chief minister, he sent him to Kyoto, where he would have the security of the guard at Tosa headquarters.

Ryoma, on the other hand, met with a more subtle kind of opposition. His sister Otome sent him a letter soon after his meeting with Goto. "I'm disappointed in you," she wrote. "You seem to have forgotten about all you've promised to do, not the least being your vow to clean up Japan. It seems that you are now more concerned with making money than anything else. Whatever you do, Ryoma, do not let yourself be deceived by the man who killed Takechi Hanpeita"

To his sister's advice Ryoma replied sharply, but not without jest: "Although it might be beyond your imagination, Otome, rather than my recruiting five hundred or even seven hundred men to work for the nation, isn 't it just possible that I would be able to achieve more for the nation with all of the wealth of Tosa behind me?"

At the end of January, Godai Taisuke showed up at the Kosone mansion with good news for Ryoma: at the urging of Saigo and Komatsu, the Satsuma treasury had agreed to guarantee a loan for the Kameyama Company to purchase the sailing schooner Absolute, for 12,000 ryo, payable in installments.

"I went immediately to the office of a Prussian arms dealer I know here. I've just finished speaking with him, and he's agreed to sell us the ship on credit."

Ryoma slapped his thigh. "Where's the ship now?" he asked.

"In the harbor."

"When can we have it?"

"Right away. But there's one favor I'd like to ask of you, Sakamoto-san."

"Or course. Anything."

"Could your company deliver a load of cargo to Shimonoseki?"

"With pleasure."

"Of course, we'll pay you for the job."

"We couldn't take money from Satsuma," Ryoma said. "You people have been too kind to us."

"I appreciate your gratitude. But if I were to use your services without paying for them, Saigo would be very angry." Godai exaggerated a shudder. "And I think you understand what that means."

"Very well," Ryoma agreed. "What is it you want us to transport?"

"Rifles, Sakamoto-san. I've just purchased five thousand breechloaders for the Choshu Army."

Having delivered the rifles to Shimonoseki, Ryoma left Oryo in the safe care of Ito Kuzo, and in the second week of February returned to Nagasaki aboard the Absolute. Soon after, Ryoma procured still another "weapon" by which to fulfill his vow to clean up Japan.

"Take a look at this!" Ryoma shouted, throwing open the door of the old headquarters in the Kameyama Hills one particularly cold afternoon. All nine of his men were present, including Yasuoka Kanema who had recently rejoined the group after finishing two years of service in the Choshu military. Ryoma sat down on the floor next to Kenkichi. "Take a look at this," he repeated, handing a cloth-bound book to his Chief Secretary.

"Elements of International Law," Kenkichi read the title aloud. "I've heard of this book. But where did you find a Japanese translation?"

"In a bookstore in town," Ryoma said. "I have a feeling that it's going to be one of our most strategic weapons in conducting foreign trade, so I want all of you to read it. Kenkichi, I ask that you be sure that each man here understands the contents."

"Certainly," Kenkichi said, paging through the book. Having only recently been translated into Japanese from the original English, the very existence of this book on international law was as foreign to most Japanese as its contents.

"Human rights, maritime and trade laws, the rules of war, as agreed upon by Great Britain, France, the Netherlands and the United States, are just some of the points covered in this book," Ryoma informed. "The Bakufu's own scholars translated it," he snickered. "But what's ironic is that we're going to use it as a weapon to topple the Tokugawa."

While Ryoma was anxious to share his newest weapon with his men, he was not quite as eager to tell them of a second meeting he had had with Goto earlier that afternoon. He had just purchased the law book and was on his way to headquarters when he happened upon the Tosa minister. Goto invited him "to have a drink or two," as he phrased it, and soon the two men were sitting in a private room at a sake house in town.

"So, I hear you finally have a ship of your own," Goto said with affected nonchalance.

"What of it?" Ryoma was to the point.

"Well," Goto smiled, filled Ryoma's sake cup, "I also hear that you're in debt for it."

"What's it to you?" Ryoma drained his cup, held it out for Goto to refill.

"Ryoma," Goto slammed the flask on the tray in front of him, "have you ever considered rejoining Tosa?"

Ryoma swallowed a mouthful of sake, then burst out laughing. "You can't be serious," he bellowed.

"I've never been more serious in my life."

"Why would I want to do something so stupid?"

"To pay off the loan on your ship, to begin with."

"Goto, you've always been in the service of Tosa Han. You have no idea how good it feels to be a ronin."

"But you must constantly be worried about arrest, and you don't know what's to come one day to the next."

"It's the freedom," Ryoma said. "A ronin has more freedom than a samurai could ever have. I wouldn't go back to Tosa if..."

"Not even if we were to offer you and all your men good incomes and positions within the government?"

ONWARDS AND UPWARDS

"Goto!" Ryoma slammed his cup angrily on the tray, "I figured you for a Man of High Purpose, but I guess I was wrong. If any of my men could hear you, your life wouldn't be worth a fart. All of us have been risking our lives everyday for years. Not for ourselves, not for Tosa, but for the nation. And you have the gall to ask me this."

"You've misunderstood me, Ryoma. Consider Saigo, or Katsura, or myself, or anyone else who has the support of an entire han behind him. The advantage is obvious. If you could have the advantage of Tosa behind you, think of what you could do. Not only for yourself, but for the nation."

"I see," Ryoma said, staring hard into Goto's eyes. This was similar to what he himself had recently written to Otome.

"Ryoma," Goto continued, "Tosa could use you and your men. All of you. Your navigational expertise is invaluable, and..."

"Goto," Ryoma interrupted, "although I realize that I've misjudged you, I'm not interested in rejoining Tosa."

"Why not?"

"Because I just can't see myself ever fitting into an organization which is so unjust, where good men are discriminated against and stupid men are in control simply because of birthright."

"What you're saying," Goto raised his voice, "is that you don't think that any of the upper-samurai of Tosa, or even the daimyo himself, are necessarily superior to the lower-samurai?"

"Listen Goto," Ryoma took firm hold of the minister's wrist. "What I mean is that no man is any better or any worse than any other man, simply because of his lineage. That includes the daimyo, the upper-samurai, the lower-samurai, the peasants and the merchants. Particularly not the peasants, whose sweat the samurai have been living off for centuries."

"What you're saying, then, is that the peasants are equal to the daimyo^

"No! What I'm saying is that they are more valuable than the daimyo. Without the peasants there would be no daimyo, no han and no Japan."

"With that reasoning, I suppose you'd say that the peasants are more important to Japan than the Emperor himself?"

"Maybe. But all I'm saying is that no man is better than any other simply because of birthright. That's what American democracy is all about. In America there are no samurai, no daimyo, no Shogun, no Emperor. The people elect their leaders, who must in turn abide by the will of the people. Don't you see, Goto? We must establish a democracy in Japan."

"I might be crazy for asking," Goto said with a vague smile, "but I'd like to hear how you would propose creating this democracy."

"By toppling the Bakufu. Then, by abolishing the feudal system, which means getting rid of all of the han and all of the daimyo. Then, we would be ready to set up a democratic system of national government, whereby all people would be equal."

"Ryoma!" Goto said, "for your own safety, I suggest you keep these thoughts to yourself. If they were to reach the wrong ears, your life would be in serious danger."

Goto was right, and Ryoma knew it. Certainly he couldn't say these things to his closest allies in Choshu and Satsuma; not even his own men in the Kameyama Company would understand. In fact, there were only five men to whom Ryoma was willing to divulge these ideas: Kaishu's Group of Four and the Tosa minister sitting across from him.

Ryoma was not about to accept Goto's offer to rejoin Tosa, but later that night, after thinking alone for several hours, he proposed a quite different idea to his men. "Kaientai," he uttered for the first time the word which in plain English meant "Naval Auxiliary Force." "As Tosa's naval auxiliary force," he explained, "our company could help Tosa at sea, without actually belonging to the hart. Tosa would pay us a base fee for being at its beck and call in case of war, but we would remain a free agent, enabling us to engage in business activities of our own."

"I don't like it," Toranosuke objected immediately. In fact, everyone objected, including Kenkichi, Yonosuke and Sakutaro, the three most open-minded of Ryoma's men.

"It's our basic policy to be independent," Sonojo said.

"It's always been that way," Taro insisted.

"I don't understand," Kenkichi said. "We finally have our own ship and money coming in, and now you're talking about selling out to Tosa."

"Kenkichi," Ryoma shouted, "I thought you were more realistic than that. I might have expected to hear as much from the others, but not from you. Now tell me, any one of you: How can we be most beneficial to Japan," he proposed the same question that he had to Otome in his recent letter, and that Goto had asked him earlier in the day, "by ourselves, or with the support of Tosa?"

"How do you suggest we proceed?" Kenkichi asked.

"By drawing up a charter with Tosa, whereby we'll be working for it, but will still be an independent company."

"What's a charter?" Sonojo asked.

"Like it says in the book on international law: a charter is a written agreement between two parties, binding each one to fulfill that agreement. It's common practice in Europe and America."

"What happens if one of the parties doesn't fulfill his side of the agreement?" Toranosuke asked.

"That's against the law," Ryoma replied.

"Against the law?" Sakutaro asked.

"There are a set of international laws governing all Western society. If someone breaks any of those laws, then he's punished accordingly."

"How would we be able to punish Tosa?" Taro asked.

"Tosa is bound to abide by the law," Ryoma said.

"How's that?" Kanema asked.

"Because if word ever got out to the foreign traders in Nagasaki that Tosa didn't honor its written agreements, it would have a hard time finding anyone to sell it arms."

"Ingenious," blurted Yonosuke. "As leader of a naval auxiliary force, you'd be on equal terms with the Lord of Tosa himself."

"I suppose so," Ryoma snickered. "Anyway, just leave things to me," he said, and nobody dared challenge his authority.

Ryoma and Kenkichi spent the following week drafting a plan for a naval auxiliary force. Then, in the second week of March, Ryoma paid a visit to the office of the Tosa Company.

"You have a lot of nerve showing your face around here, Sakamoto," sneered one of the upper-samurai when he saw Ryoma at the front door.

"I've come to see Goto," Ryoma said brusquely.

"Insolence!" roared the Tosa official.

"No, not insolence," Ryoma mocked. "I said, 'Goto.' Now, where is he?"

"How dare you refer to a minister of Tosa Han with such disrespect? I could arrest you for..."

Before the man could finish speaking, Goto appeared from the rear of the building. "Ryoma," he called, beaming, "let's you and I go somewhere and have a drink."

"Thanks just the same, but I have another appointment," Ryoma lied. "I've just come to make you an offer."

"An offer?" Much to the vexation of his angry underling, Goto was clearly amused.

"Yes." Ryoma produced the draft of the plan for the Kaientai, and handed it to Goto. "I'll give you time to think it over," he said. "You know where you can find me."

On the following day Nakaoka Shintaro appeared at the Kosone mansion. A maid showed him to a second-story room, where Ryoma was fast asleep. Nakaoka removed his faded black jacket and hung it on a wooden rack, then, sitting down on the tatami floor, lay his long sword beside him, and called his friend's name.

"Shinta!" Ryoma exclaimed with a start.

"I have bad news from Shimonoseki," Nakaoka said grimly.

"What is it?" Ryoma braced himself.

"Takasugi Shinsaku is dying of consumption. I tried to see him, but he was too ill to receive visitors."

"It's the war that did it to him," Ryoma said, shaking his head. "Even when he was coughing up blood last summer, he still led his troops in battle. Takasugi is one of the bravest men I've ever had the good fortune of knowing." As the maid served sake, Ryoma said, "Now tell me about yourself, Shinta."

As Nakaoka explained, he had gone to Kyoto at the end of September to investigate the political situation there. "I was particularly anxious to investigate the situation in the Imperial Court," he said, his dark eyes burning with a strength of conviction reinforced by his powerful, square jaw. "I also wanted to see what Aizu was up to, and how the representatives of the various han viewed Choshu's victory."

At Satsuma headquarters, old friends from Kochi who were now stationed in Kyoto informed Nakaoka of the changes occurring back in Tosa, the same changes that had convinced Ryoma to talk to Goto. "Then in October," Nakaoka said, "Tosa Minister Fukuoka Toji arrived in Kyoto to investigate the political situation there for Lord Yodo."

"Fukuoka Toji," Ryoma sneered. "I know him."

"Along with Goto," Nakaoka drained his sake cup, "he's one of Lord Yodo's leading retainers." Fukuoka had been wanting to arrest Nakaoka, among others, since Yodo's crackdown on the Tosa Loyalists. To say the least, the two men did not see eye to eye. "Nakaoka was a man of extremely violent emotion," Fukuoka would recall years later. "One time he nearly killed me. He came looking for me, with intentions to cut me if he didn 't like what I said. But since I was away at the time, nothing came of it."

"But," Nakaoka told Ryoma with a snicker, "I knew Fukuoka wouldn't want to arrest me because, like Goto, he's convinced that Tosa needs our help to join Satsuma and Choshu at the vanguard of the revolution. In fact, this is why Fukuoka fully supported my urging Saigo to go to Kochi to talk to Lord Yodo."

Saigo had visited Kochi in January to urge Yodo to attend a conference in Kyoto among the Lords of Satsuma, Fukui and Iwajima, and Shogun Yoshinobu. The Satsuma leader advised the Lord of Tosa of two urgent matters which must be settled in Kyoto, but conveniently avoided any mention of a conspiracy against Edo. Firstly, Saigo informed, an Imperial pardon for the Lord of Choshu and his heir must be granted.

"Without Choshu reinstated in Kyoto," Nakaoka told Ryoma, "it would be difficult to start the revolution. But with Choshu fighting alongside Satsuma, and hopefully Tosa, our Imperial Army will be invincible."

Nevertheless, Yoshinobu, aware that Choshu now had the support of many of the han, including Satsuma, realized that the Bakufu was no longer in a position to ban its archenemy from Kyoto. And to make things worse, he felt the constant pressure of Satsuma, and even the Imperial Court, for leniency in dealing with Choshu.

The second matter to be settled in Kyoto, Saigo informed Yodo, was the opening of the Port of Kobe. The four foreign powers, most notably England, had recently expressed to the Shogun their discontent over Japan reneging in its treaties. (Although the late Emperor had officially sanctioned the opening of Kobe in the previous year, he had only done so to appease the foreigners, and only after instructing Edo that "the barbarians must never be allowed to get so dangerously close to Kyoto.") The foreigners had warned the Shogun that if Kobe were not opened by January 1, as guaranteed by the treaties, they might be obliged to encourage the formation of a more responsible government—i.e., a government of the Imperial Court. Yoshinobu saw a prompt opening of Kobe as a chance to win back the confidence of the foreigners, and so restore the authority of his wavering regime.

"And this is one of the two reasons why the Shogun has agreed to the Conference of the Four Great Lords," Nakaoka said, taking a drink of sake.

Ryoma nodded, refilled Nakaoka's cup, drained his own. "The other reason is that he needs revenue for his military, right?"

"Yes," Nakaoka growled. "The Shogun believes he can get consensus from Fukui, Tosa and Uwajima to open Kobe. After that, he is apparently convinced that Satsuma will follow suit. But Saigo has assured me that while Satsuma is reconciled to the eventual opening of Kobe, Lord Hisamitsu will never agree to it while the Tokugawa is still in power."

Indeed, as Britain's Satow had recently whispered in Saigo's ear, the revenue that Edo would collect from an open Kobe would spell disaster for the anti-Bakufu clans, including Satsuma. Saigo, Okubo and Iwakura, then, masterminded the Conference of the Four Great Lords to undermine Tokugawa authority, and thus put a stop to Yoshinobu's plans. Not only would the political power thereby be shifted from the Edo Bakufu to the Kyoto Conference, but Satsuma was confident that its secret connections at court would enable Lord Hisamitsu to dominate the conference, and so stall Imperial sanction to open Kobe until the Tokugawa could be overthrown. To justify its opposition to the opening of Kobe, Satsuma simply claimed that it had been the will of the late Emperor that the port remain closed. If the Shogun were to betray the Emperor, as they expected he would, he should be punished. In short, Satsuma planned to use Iwakura's influence at court to arrange for the issuance of an Imperial decree for the Four Great Lords, assembled in Kyoto, to prepare armies against the Bakufu.

"But," Nakaoka smiled wryly, "Yoshinobu is not aware of this."

"How can he not be aware of it?" Ryoma asked.

"His mind's preoccupied with a more immediate problem. The foreigners are threatening to go to Kyoto unless Kobe is opened, but the court still adamantly refuses. If Yoshinobu agrees to open Kobe without Imperial sanction, he'll surely be forced from power, and the Bakufu will fall."

"And if he refuses?" Ryoma asked.

"Then the foreigners will no longer recognize the Bakufu as the legitimate authority of Japan, and instead deal directly with the Imperial Court."

Ryoma slapped his knee. "Which means the Bakufu loses either way!" he blurted.

"Yes. Saigo knows that Yoshinobu is depending on the Conference of the Four Great Lords to help him solve his problems..."

"Which," Ryoma interrupted, "diminishes his authority even more."

"Exactly! And even if, as suspected, the Lords of Fukui, Uwajima and Tosa will never agree of their own free will to oppose the Tokugawa, they will have no choice but to do so, or else risk being branded Imperial Enemies. And once the Four Great Lords agree to go to war against the Bakufu, most of the other daimyo throughout Japan will surely follow the example, for fear of being left behind in the dust," Nakaoka snickered, before briefing Ryoma on Saigo's meeting with Lord Yodo and his minister, Fukuoka Toji.

"I've come as an envoy of the Lord of Satsuma," Saigo announced himself to Yodo at the latter's villa near Kochi Castle. The Satsuma man bowed deeply, then took a seat on a small wooden chair which, compared to his great bulk, appeared smaller than the identical one which Fukuoka occupied. The Lord of Tosa was perched comfortably on a handsome armchair upholstered with purple velvet, his back to an alcove. Yodo's eyes were badly bloodshot, and his complexion a pale yellow, symptoms of too much drink. With his right hand he took up a crystal decanter filled with French red wine. Thank you for the gift, Saigo-san," he said, filling the glass of the Satsuma man, who, despite his great size, was simply unable to drink.

"Surely you understand, My Lord," Fukuoka pressed, "why it is of utmost importance that you go to Kyoto. As one of the Four Great Lords who will be mediating between the court and the Bakufu, you will have the opportunity to secure your rightful place in the mainstream of national politics, and to unite Tosa with Satsuma as a means to strengthen Japan."

Yodo fixed his bloodshot eyes on Fukuoka, and replied, "Toji, I must say that I'm surprised at your change of outlook. It's obvious that you no longer support Edo. Saigo-san," he shifted his gaze to the commander in chief of Satsuma, "please tell Lord Hisamitsu that I fully respect his opinions," he lied, "and that I look forward to meeting him in Kyoto."

"I assume this means that you agree to oppose the Bakufu," Saigo pressed with controlled intensity radiating from his black-diamond eyes, which challenged Yodo's straight on.

Yodo cleared his throat, before replying with firm conviction, "Remember one thing. Unlike Satsuma and Choshu, the House of Yamanouchi is deeply indebted to the House of Tokugawa for bestowing upon our ancestors the domain of Tosa."

"Lord Yodo," boomed Saigo the Great, "what is more important, your debt to the Tokugawa or the future of Japan?"

Yodo sighed deeply. "The answer is obvious," he said. "Please tell Lord Hisamitsu that I fully understand that in times of national crises the interest of the nation must outweigh personal considerations. And though I agree to go to Kyoto, I will only do so with the firmest resolve to die there."

Saigo, taking this to mean that Yodo would agree to oppose the Bakufu, bowed his head. "There is one more thing I must ask of you," he said. "I'm certain that it would be in your best interest to pardon the former Tosa Loyalists who have fled your great domain." The large man drained his wine glass with one long quaff, as if to appease the Drunken Lord of the Sea of Whales.

"Who?" Yodo snapped, Saigo balked, but Fukuoka answered sharply, "Sakamoto Ryoma and Nakaoka Shintaro."

"Consider them pardoned," Yodo muttered, and much to Saigo's distress, filled the wine glasses once again.

Nakaoka took another drink of sake. "I left Kyoto at the end of December," he told Ryoma, "sailing on a Choshu ship from Osaka to Shimonoseki. From there I crossed the strait to Kyushu, and traveled on foot to Dazaifu to report the news of the Emperor's passing to the Five Banished Nobles. It was a bit-

ter experience," Nakaoka groaned. "And the nobles! After I broke the news they wept all through the night. But," Nakaoka looked hard into Ryoma's eyes, "the passing of the Emperor might mean the beginning of a new age for Japan."

"No, Shinta," Ryoma said, draining his sake cup, "it does mean the beginning of a new age."

"Yes, I believe you're right, Ryoma." Nakaoka straightened his sitting posture, then continued. "Great changes are occurring in the Imperial Court. The nobles have been pardoned, and will soon return to Kyoto." As Nakaoka explained, Edo had yielded to recent demands by several hart, not least of all Satsuma, to pardon the five radical nobles. "Satsuma has also arranged for Lord Sanjo Sanetomi to be appointed Imperial Advisor upon his return to Kyoto." Nakaoka clapped his hands loudly. "Ryoma," he roared, "Edo has lost control of the Imperial Court."

"No doubt, it was all Saigo's doing," Ryoma said.

"I'm sure of it. Also, the twenty-one nobles who were put under house arrest for working with Lord Iwakura have been pardoned."

"But Shinta," Ryoma leaned back against the wall, "from the way the Shogun has been yielding to Satsuma's every demand lately, I suspect he has something up his sleeve."

"Like building up his navy," Nakaoka said.

"Yes. His navy. What do you know about it, Shinta?"

"Saigo tells me that the Bakufu has recently purchased a great warship from the United States, and has even hired American sailors to man it. Apparently Yoshinobu's closest aide has urged him to afford eight hundred thousand ryo over the next five years to the navy alone," Nakaoka informed, drawing a grim nod from Ryoma. "But I've come to ask your opinion on a different matter."

"What is it?"

"What would you think of my raising a militia for the coming war when we will drive the Bakufu forces from Kyoto?"

"A very commendable idea, Shinta." Ryoma laughed to ease the tension in the room caused by the intensity in Nakaoka's eyes.

"Ryoma, I'm dead serious."

"I know you are, Shinta. So am I."

"Crushing the Bakufu by military force is the only way to ensure that the Tokugawa will never rise again," Nakaoka insisted. "History teaches that war is the only way to power. It was through war that Bismarck made Prussia the master of Germany, and it was through war that Washington won American independence from England. Likewise, only through military might can Japan destroy the Bakufu and protect itself from foreign aggression." Such was the essence of Nakaoka's convictions, with which Ryoma did not agree. Civil war, Ryoma feared, would not only kill tens of thousands of men, but also invite foreign attack.

"We must establish a Western-style infantry," Nakaoka said, "armed with state-of-the-art weaponry."

With this Ryoma completely agreed. He believed that a strong military would be the key to convincing the Shogun to relinquish power peacefully. "Shinta," Ryoma said, "have you ever thought of getting Tosa's help to finance an army?"

"A good idea," Nakaoka pressed his cup to his lower lip, "but one easier said than realized."

"Not necessarily so, Shinta." After explaining his plan for a naval auxiliary force, Ryoma said, "With so many ronin just waiting to get arrested or killed in Kyoto and Osaka, you should use them to form a land auxiliary force there."

"What about Goto?" Nakaoka asked. "Has he agreed with your plan?"

"No, but he will." As usual, Ryoma was confident. "He just needs a little more time."

"Where will you set up headquarters?"

"Right here. Since Nagasaki is the center of foreign trade, including that of weapons and ships, it's the only place for us."

Nakaoka nodded. "Ryoma," he said, "whether Tosa will agree to support me or not, I will set up a militia in Kyoto, the center of Toppling the Bakufu and Imperial Loyalism."

The next day Nakaoka returned to Kyoto, and shortly after a special delivery message reached Ryoma's headquarters informing that all Tosa men in the Kameyama Company and Nakaoka Shintaro had been "pardoned for the crime of fleeing Tosa Han." Ryoma crumpled up the message and tossed it across the room like so much wastepaper. "It's too bad Shinta couldn't have been here for this," he snickered. "Who do they think they are pardoning us?"

"Just accept it, Sakamoto-san," Yonosuke urged. "It will make things a lot easier."

"Yonosuke, if we accept a pardon, it means that we admit to having done something wrong. But so be it," Ryoma groaned. "Some day soon this whole thing will be over with, and there won't be any more Tosa Han to pardon us."

One rainy spring evening Ryoma received word that Minister Fukuoka and a group of Tosa officials had arrived in Nagasaki on board the steamer Butterfly, which Tosa had recently purchased from Satsuma. The purpose for Fukuoka's visit, Ryoma was informed, was to finalize an agreement concerning the Kaientai.

Ryoma had met Fukuoka only once, years before in Kochi, and did not like what little he remembered of the man. One day when Ryoma and a friend were walking along the Kagamigawa river in Kochi Castletown, they happened upon a group of upper-samurai headed their way. This was long before the murder of Ikeda Chujiro by an upper-samurai, which compelled so many lower-samurai to flee Tosa Han. Just as Ryoma and his friend were about to pass the group, one of them demanded, "Bow when you see us, lower-samurai." This was Fukuoka Toji, the same age as Ryoma, and related

to the Fukuoka family of hereditary councilors, under whose command the Sakamoto family had been placed for military purposes. Ryoma continued walking without turning back, but his less mettlesome friend immediately dropped to his knees and apologized profusely.

"So Tosa has sent Fukuoka to deal with me," Ryoma thought, but kept his bitter memories to himself, so as not to arouse resentment among his men.

The meeting took place one afternoon at the beginning of April, in a spacious room at the mansion of Kosone Eishiro. Among the Tosa officials present were Fukuoka, Goto and another man whom Ryoma had never met. This was Iwasaki Yataro, the future founder of the Mitsubishi, whose genius for business had been sufficient reason for Yoshida Toyo to admit the lower-samurai into his academy for the elite, and who had recently, at the recommendation of Goto, been promoted to upper-samurai ranking and assigned to the important post of general manager of the Tosa Company.

With Ryoma were all nine of his men, and Eishiro. "When we meet the Tosa officials," Ryoma had warned them before the meeting, "I don't want anyone losing his temper. No matter what they might say, no matter how puffed up they might act, remember that it's our purpose to use Tosa for our own benefit, and the benefit of the Japan."

The meeting began, with Ryoma's men sitting along one side of the room, the Tosa officials on the other. "Ryoma," Goto began the discussion, "we've summoned you here to let you know that we accept your offer for the joint venture of a naval auxiliary force. Now all we have to do is to reach some terms of agreement."

Ryoma was flanked by his two secretaries, Kenkichi and Yonosuke. "These two men," he said, "know a lot more about contracts than I do. You'll have to discuss the matter with them."

"Then why are you here, Sakamoto?" Fukuoka asked belligerently.

"To oversee," Ryoma said as if to intentionally annoy. "And maybe pick my nose." This was Ryoma's strategy. He had used it many times during fencing bouts, when he would feign weakness before delivering a fatal attack. Ryoma knew that there were few men who could out-argue the razor-sharp Yonosuke, or out-think the learned Kenkichi.

And he was right. In fact, the contract for his shipping and trading company and private navy, as concluded at the meeting, was almost identical to the draft Ryoma had submitted to Goto. The Kameyama Company, a group of ronin, unofficially sponsored by Satsuma, now became the Kaientai, or Naval Auxiliary Force, whose official backer was Tosa Han. The Kaientai was a legal organization sponsored by Tosa, and the precursor of Mitsubishi Commercial Company, which would be established in 1873. Its members, no longer ronin, did not have to worry about arrest by either Bakufu or Tosa agents. Commander Sakamoto Ryoma had full control of all company affairs; and any man of ability, regardless of lineage or han, was welcome to join. All profits would be retained by the company, and Ryoma and his men would use their own vessel, the Absolute, for shipping purposes. If the need should arise, they had the option of leasing a Tosa steamer.

After the contract was sealed, Goto asked Ryoma how much he owned on the loan for the Absolute.

"Twelve-thousand ryo," Ryoma replied.

"As a token of goodwill," Goto said, "Tosa will repay the loan for you, as well as pay each of your men a monthly wage of five ryo."

Ryoma grinned, ran his fingers through his tangled hair. "Not bad, Goto," he said, "considering that, if a man has a mind to, he can buy a woman in Maruyama every night of the month with that kind of money."

It was Ryoma's belief that a man could only perform to his fullest capacity if he followed his own personal calling. Such was the basic philosophy upon which his Kaientai was founded. "The way to develop the country" he wrote to Miyoshi Shinzo, "is for those who want to fight to fight, those who want to study to study, and those who want to conduct trade to conduct trade, each doing what he is most suited to do." In times of peace, the Kaientai would be a trading and shipping company, dedicated to developing Japan through free trade; in times of war, it would be a private navy prepared to fight to bring down the Bakufu and defend Japan from foreign invasion.

Among the some fifty men who soon joined the Kaientai, only one was a supporter of the Bakufu. This was a Fukui samurai by the name of Kotani Kozo. When Sonojo, Toranosuke, Yonosuke and Taro found out about Kotani's pro-Tokugawa sentiments, they immediately reported to Ryoma in his office at the Kosone mansion.

"You have to let us kill Kotani," Sonojo insisted.

Ryoma leaned back against the wall, his arms folded at his chest. "The Kaientai is not a political organization," he said calmly. "It's a private navy, and a trading and shipping company. Everyone has the right to his own opinion."

"What are you saying?" Toranosuke exploded.

"Kotani happens to be from Fukui," Ryoma said. "And you all know that the Lord of Fukui is directly related to the Tokugawa. So, he's naturally inclined to support the Bakufu."

"Yonosuke is from Kii," hissed Taro, "one of the three elite Tokugawa branches, but he doesn't..."

"Taro," Ryoma reprimanded his nephew, "not every man is the same. Kotani is Kotani. Yonosuke is Yonosuke. I've never heard you speak badly about Katsu-sensei because he is a Tokugawa retainer."

"But," Sonojo attempted argument, but was interrupted by Ryoma, who said: "There are dozens of men in the Kaientai, and all of us, except Kotani, oppose the Bakufu. If we can't correct the way one man thinks without killing him, then maybe we're the ones who are wrong." This ended the argument. But more than just his sound logic, it was Ryoma's dedication to equality for all men, and his love of freedom, which compelled the men of the Kaientai to serve him well.