Shimazu Nariakira
Terashima was born to a "samurai" family in Satsuma domain (in what is now part of Akune city, Kagoshima prefecture). He studied "rangaku" and was appointed as a physician to Satsuma "daimyō" Shimazu Nariakira. In 1862, he was chosen as a member of the group of students selected by the Tokugawa bakufu to study at the University College London in Great Britain. He also visited France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Russia and Portugal. He returned to Japan in 1863, and participated in the defense of Satsuma during the Anglo-Satsuma War.