Shinohara Kunimoto

Image of Shinohara from a period document on display at Saigô Takamori's home on Amami Ôshima.

Shinohara's grave at the Nanshû Cemetery in Kagoshima

• Died: 1877
• Japanese: 篠原国幹 (Shinohara Kunimoto)

Shinohara Kunimoto was a prominent military commander in Bakumatsu and early Meiji period Kagoshima. The head of the Satsuma Army Cadet School and gunnery instructor at Satsuma's Shigakkô, he is often considered one of the most prominent commanders in the Satsuma Rebellion, along with Kirino Toshiaki.

He was named Major General (Rikugun shôshô) in the Imperial Japanese Army, and commander of the Imperial Guards in 1872. He resigned from the military a year later, however, and returned to Kagoshima, where he began teaching at the Shigakkô (a private military academy).

During the Satsuma Rebellion, Shinohara commanded the largest of the troop contingents, and is particularly known for leading troops in the battle of Kichiji Pass, on May 4, 1877. He was killed in battle later in the rebellion, at the age of 42, and is buried in the Nanshû Cemetery in Kagoshima.

References

• Plaques at Nanshû Cemetery, Kagoshima.[1]