Goto Shojiro

• Born: 1838
• Died: 1897
• Japanese: 後藤 象二郎 (Gotou Shoujirou)

Gotô Shôjirô was a Tosa samurai who became in essence, "prime minister" of the Tosa government and hence, the principal advisor to Yamauchi Yôdô. After becoming acquainted with Sakamoto Ryôma in Nagasaki, Gotô began to work with Ryôma to work for the peaceful abdication of the shogun and return of power to the Imperial Throne. Gotô was the one who submitted Ryôma’s Eight Point Plan to Yôdô for submission to the reigning Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu, who then resigned his post in 1867.

Gotô later became a prominent figure in the Freedom and People's Rights Movement (Jiyû minken undô), and was one of the signatories to a memorial submitted to the government in January 1874 pushing for the establishment of a popularly-elected assembly. He was granted the title of hakushaku ("Count") in the new kazoku aristocracy.

A stone marker stands today at the former site of his home and soy sauce shop near Sanjô-Kawaramachi in Kyoto.

References

• Hillsborough, Romulus. RYOMA- Life of a Renaissance Samurai. Ridgeback Press, 1999
• Jansen, Marius B. Sakamoto Ryoma and the Meiji Restoration. Columbia University Press, 1994.
• Plaque on-site at former home of Gotô in Kyoto.[1]