Tesshu: The Man Who Exemplified Bushido

The Hero Who Facilitated One of Japan’s Most Dramatic Meetings

YAMAOKA Tesshu
山岡 鉄舟
1836 ～ 1888)

Reproduced Courtesy of Hiraganatimes, Japan, May, 2010. www.hiraganatimes.com



In the late 19th century those who were in favor of restoring the Emperor’s government clashed with those who wanted to maintain the 260-year-old Tokugawa shogunate. Shogun TOKUGAWA Yoshinobu wisely decided not to fight, instead ceding his power to the Imperial Court.

However, the Emperor’s group didn’t believe that the real restoration would be possible without completely destroying the Tokugawa family, and had their army advance on his castle. Had nobody stopped it, all of Edo (present-day Tokyo) would have been burned and destroyed.

So in order to avoid the disaster, KATSU Kaishu, a person of influence within the shogunate, decided to try to speak with SAIGO Takamori, the Emperor’s military commander. YAMAOKA Tesshu was selected as this mission’s messenger, to help arrange the meeting.

Born in Edo, Tesshu was both a master swordsman as well as a Zen practitioner. Accepting certain death, Tesshu made his way past enemies all around from Edo to present-day Shizuoka prefecture, and finally met with Saigo. It was March 9, 1868, and Tesshu was 33 years old.

Tesshu succeeded in obtaining a basic agreement where the shogun would voluntarily leave the Edo castle in exchange for the Emperor’s army canceling their planned attack.

When the meeting between Katsu and Saigo took place, Saigo said of Tesshu, “It is difficult to deal with a man like him, who doesn’t want money or honor, nor values his own life. But it’s just such a man who can accomplish such an historical achievement.”

Afterwards, Tesshu served the Meiji Emperor for 10 years, during which time the Emperor challenged him to a sumo bout. Tesshu dodged the Emperor who tried to jump him, but fell over instead. Generally, on such an occasion the subordinate deliberately loses. So, the people around Tesshu advised him to apologize to the Emperor, but he refused.

Tesshu stated, “It should not happen that a sovereign and his subordinate should have a sumo bout. If the Emperor asks and gets anything he wants, he will be called a tyrant.” Hearing Tesshu’s words, the Emperor apologized.

As time passed, Tesshu became ill. Sensing his own final moments, he sat in Zen meditation facing the Imperial Palace to die. After his death, the book “Bushido (the Way of the Warrior),” written by educator NITOBE Inazo, became a best-seller in the West, with Tesshu being its very first advocate.