“Little Saigo”: The Life and Times of New Haven’s Own Last Samurai

The Satsuma Rebellion of 1877, and the rebels who died in it, have been romanticized in the Japanese imagination almost from the moment of the first battle. On this side of the Pacific, the conflict was freely reimagined on the big screen in The Last Samurai, with Tom Cruise portraying a fictional American veteran who throws in his lot with the cause. But fighting alongside rebel leader Saigō Takamori was a real-life commander fresh from the United States whose forgotten story is every bit as remarkable as the one dreamed up by Hollywood—all the more so for being true. Relying on previously unexplored archival materials from Yale, New Haven, Japan, and elsewhere, this talk will bring to life the forgotten story of New Haven’s own “last samurai,” a teenager whose bravery and determination in battle earned him the nickname “Little Saigō.”