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The military leader of [[Satsuma han|Satsuma]] during the waning days of the [[Tokugawa Bakufu|Tokugawa Shogunate]], Saigô played a pivotal role in the [[Meiji Restoration|restoration of Imperial rule to Japan]]. While his daimyo, [[Shimazu Hisamitsu]], tended to vacillate on his position regarding supporting the shogunate or not, Saigô was resolute in his distaste for the [[Tokugawa clan|Tokugawa]] regime and was determined to completely crush Tokugawa power at almost any cost. Saigô was one of [[Sakamoto Ryoma|Sakamoto Ryôma's]] closest allies and friends, but some historians have speculated that he may have had a hand in Ryôma's assassination by leaking the location of Ryôma's hideout to Bakufu officials. The logic behind this speculation is that Saigô deemed that Ryôma would be a formidable roadblock in his plan to crush the Tokugawa. Surprisingly, Saigô went on to become the commander-in-chief of the Meiji army, laying the groundwork for what became the modern [[Imperial Japanese Army]].  

The military leader of [[Satsuma han|Satsuma]] during the waning days of the [[Tokugawa Bakufu|Tokugawa Shogunate]], Saigô played a pivotal role in the [[Meiji Restoration|restoration of Imperial rule to Japan]]. While his daimyo, [[Shimazu Hisamitsu]], tended to vacillate on his position regarding supporting the shogunate or not, Saigô was resolute in his distaste for the [[Tokugawa clan|Tokugawa]] regime and was determined to completely crush Tokugawa power at almost any cost. Saigô was one of [[Sakamoto Ryoma|Sakamoto Ryôma's]] closest allies and friends, but some historians have speculated that he may have had a hand in Ryôma's assassination by leaking the location of Ryôma's hideout to Bakufu officials. The logic behind this speculation is that Saigô deemed that Ryôma would be a formidable roadblock in his plan to crush the Tokugawa. Surprisingly, Saigô went on to become the commander-in-chief of the Meiji army, laying the groundwork for what became the modern [[Imperial Japanese Army]].  

Saigô supported [[Seikanron|proposals to invade Korea]] in [[1873]]; according to some accounts, he was willing to go so far as to travel to Korea as an ambassador and arrange for himself to be killed in order to manufacture a justification for invasion.<ref>Schirokauer, et al., 171.</ref> The invasion was ardently opposed by his younger brother [[Saigo Tsugumichi|Saigô Tsugumichi]], however, among many others, and Saigô left the government. He died leading the [[Satsuma Rebellion]] against the government he helped to establish.

Saigô supported [[Seikanron|proposals to invade Korea]] in [[1873]], believing that only with China and Korea on her side could Japan hope to successfully resist the West; he expressed in a letter to [[Itagaki Taisuke]] in 1873 that he was willing to go so far as to travel to Korea as an ambassador and arrange for himself to be killed in order to manufacture a justification for invasion.<ref>Schirokauer, et al., 171.; Wm. Theodore de Bary, Tsunoda Ryûsaku, and Donald Keene, ''Sources of Japanese Tradition'', vol 1., Columbia University Press (1964), 147-149.</ref> The invasion was ardently opposed by his younger brother [[Saigo Tsugumichi|Saigô Tsugumichi]], however, among many others, and Saigô left the government. He died leading the [[Satsuma Rebellion]] against the government he helped to establish.

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