People・Shimonoseki & Kanmon

Takasugi ShinsakuTakasugi Shinsaku

Also known as: 高杉晋作

A Choshu samurai of the late Edo period. In 1862 he joined a shogunate trade mission to Shanghai and was shaken by a city half-colonized by Western powers. In 1863 he formed the Kiheitai in Shimonoseki, and at the end of 1864 he rose in arms at Kozanji Temple in Chofu, turning the domain toward toppling the shogunate.

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