Chōshū Domain
Utsumi was born to a "samurai" family in Chōshū Domain, in what is now part of the city of Yamaguchi, Yamaguchi Prefecture). As a youth, he participated in the Kinmon Incident in Kyoto, where pro"-sonnō Jōi" Chōshū forces sought to seize control of the Emperor to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate.