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Some sources confuse him for his younger brother, [[Narahara Shigeru]] aka Narahara Kôgorô, another prominent Satsuma retainer.
Some sources confuse him for his younger brother, [[Narahara Shigeru]] aka Narahara Kôgorô, another prominent Satsuma retainer.
He was a master of the ''[[Yakumaru Jigen-ryu|Yakumaru jigen-ryû]]'' sword school.<ref>"Narahara Kizaemon." ''Nihon jinmei dai jiten'' 日本人名大辞典. Kodansha. Accessed via Japan Knowledge online resource, 28 May 2010.</ref>
==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, the faction backing [[Tokugawa Yoshitomi]] and led by [[Ii Naosuke]] won out, and Kizaemon returned to Satsuma.<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 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>
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.
After British demands for reparations, a formal apology, and the punishment of those responsible were rebuffed by Satsuma authorities, a number of ships of the Royal Navy [[bombardment of Kagoshima|bombarded Kagoshima]] in 1863/7. Narahara, along with [[Kaieda Nobuyoshi]], another Satsuma samurai alleged to have been involved in the Namamugi Incident, attempted unsuccessfully to seize one of the British ships.<ref name=kotobank/>
Narahara was active in the Kyoto-Osaka area for a short time after that, eventually dying of illness or natural causes at the [[Nihonmatsu han]] compound in Kyoto.<ref name=kotobank/>
==References==
==References==
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