Yoshida Shōin
Yamagata was born in a lower-ranked "samurai" family from Hagi, the capital of the feudal domain of Chōshū (present-day Yamaguchi prefecture). He went to "Shokasonjuku", a private school run by Yoshida Shōin, where he was active in the growing underground movement to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate. He was a commander in the "Kiheitai", a paramilitary organization created on semi-western lines by the Chōshū domain. During the Boshin War, the revolution of 1867 and 1868 often called the Meiji Restoration, he was a staff officer.