Changes

==Life and Career==

==Life and Career==

A prominent agent of the [[Shimazu clan]] daimyô, Kizaemon was sent to Edo in [[1858]] to aid in efforts to have [[Tokugawa Yoshinobu]] named shogunal successor. Ultimately, however, the faction backing [[Tokugawa Yoshitomi]] and led by [[Ii Naosuke]] won out. Kizaemon returned to Satsuma, and the following year joined a ''[[sonno joi|sonnô jôi]]'' faction known as the [[Seichu-gumi|Seichû-gumi]].<ref name=kotobank>"[http://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%A5%88%E8%89%AF%E5%8E%9F%E5%96%9C%E5%B7%A6%E8%A1%9B%E9%96%80 Narahara Kizaemon]." ''Asahi Nihon Rekishi Jinbutsu Jiten'' 朝日日本歴史人物事典. Accessed via Kotobank.jp, 28 May 2010.</ref>

A prominent agent of the [[Shimazu clan]] daimyô, Kizaemon was sent to Edo in [[1858]] to aid in efforts to have [[Tokugawa Yoshinobu]] named shogunal successor. Ultimately, however, the faction backing [[Tokugawa Yoshitomi]] and led by [[Ii Naosuke]] won out. Kizaemon returned to Satsuma, and the following year joined a ''[[sonno|sonnô]] [[joi|jôi]]'' faction known as the [[Seichu-gumi|Seichû-gumi]].<ref name=kotobank>"[http://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%A5%88%E8%89%AF%E5%8E%9F%E5%96%9C%E5%B7%A6%E8%A1%9B%E9%96%80 Narahara Kizaemon]." ''Asahi Nihon Rekishi Jinbutsu Jiten'' 朝日日本歴史人物事典. Accessed via Kotobank.jp, 28 May 2010.</ref>

In 1862, he helped organize the disruption of [[Arima Shinshichi]]'s efforts to raise an army. That same year, Kizaemon served as a member of [[Shimazu Hisamitsu]]'s retinue as the former daimyô escorted Imperial envoys to Edo. On 1862/8/21, as the procession traveled on the [[Tokaido|Tôkaidô]] on its way back from Edo, in the village of Namamugi it encountered a party of Englishmen on horseback. In what has come to be known as the Namamugi Incident, Kizaemon cut down one of the English merchants.<ref name=kotobank/> Two others were wounded, while only one escaped relatively unharmed.

In 1862, he helped organize the disruption of [[Arima Shinshichi]]'s efforts to raise an army. That same year, Kizaemon served as a member of [[Shimazu Hisamitsu]]'s retinue as the former daimyô escorted Imperial envoys to Edo. On 1862/8/21, as the procession traveled on the [[Tokaido|Tôkaidô]] on its way back from Edo, in the village of Namamugi it encountered a party of Englishmen on horseback. In what has come to be known as the Namamugi Incident, Kizaemon cut down one of the English merchants.<ref name=kotobank/> Two others were wounded, while only one escaped relatively unharmed.