Itō Hirobumi
At least six of his students, Takasugi Shinsaku, Katsura Kogorō, Kusaka Genzui, Inoue Kaoru, Itō Hirobumi and Yamagata Aritomo later became widely known, and virtually all of the survivors of the Sonjuku group became officers in the Meiji Restoration. Takasugi led rifle companies against the "shōgun"s army when it failed to conquer Chōshū in 1864, rapidly leading to the fall of the Tokugawa shogunate. Itō Hirobumi became Japan's first prime minister.