Talk:Saigō Takamori

message: I am currently writing an Extended Essay on Saigo Takamori, dealing mainly in the historiographical debate, and although mostly accurate, the article includes little of that sort. This could be misleading, as the orthrodox and revisionist views on Saigo, as well as his image in popular culture contrast a lot. I'm unclear whether such debates such as the significance of his role in the actual rebellion, his motivation in the Korean expedition and the real reason he was ousted from the goverment, etc should be included, but at the very least I think titles with contrasting views should be mentioned in a "See also" or "Related" section. Tamamuro, for example, asserts that he planned the overthrow of the Meiji goverment as soon as his resignation, Pyle calls it "high dudgeon", while Yates and other revisionists tend to view him as content with what has happened, planning to live in retirement. Due to the support for the claims, and perhaps the lack thereof for the others, as the orthrodox view tends to see it as granted, and Pyle doesn't really invest much time on Saigo (measley 2 pages), I find the latter-most most persuasive. Nonetheless, I think it's important to note this, but putting my essay up isn't going to work, it being quite biased, nor do I know how much is enough, since it would be out of proportion if I state every point, and there are quite a few on several aspects of his life. In fact, Man Behind the Myth questions the very validity of his image in popular culture and history in general, so there is actually quite a debate. I don't really edit wikipedia, can anyone else help with it?
Mark Ravina's book is already up, but there's also Saigo Takamori: Man Behind the Myth, Saigo Takamori by Inoue Kiyoshi, and Kagoshima Kenshi for the histriography.-RoSeeker 12:14, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  EE 

message: I don't have time to edit right now, but this article could benefit from the research done by Mark Ravina for his book "The Last Samurai".  Saigo's head was indeed found and brought to the government forces the following morning.  Ravina describes the most likely scenario of Saigo's death:  Saigo was sent into shock and lost consciousness as a result of the bullet that travelled through his abdomen and hip.  The motivation of his deputies for cutting off his head was in order to continue the battle.  As long as the government forces did not have Saigo's head, they could not definitively say he was dead.  And possession of the head by at least one of the deputies encouraged the surviving Satsuma soldiers to fight on.  In the end, all were killed.  Saigo's main deputies were Beppu, Kirino, and Murata.  They were actually the prosecutors of the Satsuma Rebellion, with Saigo as the titular head.　　Westwind273 (talk) 05:07, 27 February 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  The Death of Saigo 

message: According to Japanese Wiki page, Saigo Takamor was born on lunar calendar December 7, the 10th year of Bunsei era (23 January, 1828). 
Before my edit today, the birth data of his was shown as "23 Jan 1827/28" here. The reason it was "1827/28" was that the 10th year of Bunsei era was actually from the Feb of 1827 to Feb of 1828, and the original author Everyking, who made that editing on 4/24/2004, was not sure which day his birthday was, so put 1827/28 there, and it has been like that for more than 3 years. In the first paragraph, which was more interesting, it said that he was born on "Feb 7, 1827". That "Feb 7" (2/7) was obviously mistaken from "December 7" (12/7), the lunar calendar date.
There is no dispute of Saigo Takamori's birthday. The only confusion was caused by lunar calendar.
--Mongol (talk) 05:17, 6 December 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Birth date 

message: It's probably worth noting that (according to Alan Booth) there are no photographs of Saigo known; he even purposely skipped cabinet portraits. Jpatokal (talk) 07:03, 20 November 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  No photographs 

message: Ravina, Mark J. “The Apocryphal Suicide of Saigō Takamori: Samurai, Seppuku, and the Politics of Legend.” Journal of Asian Studies 69.3 (2010): 691-721. Print.
Yates, Charles L. "Saigō Takamori in the Emergence of Meiji Japan." Modern Asian Studies 28.3 (1994): 449-474. Print.
Tentative bibliography to be used to create a new section concerning Saigō Takamori's death.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dkindley (talk • contribs) 00:25, 12 March 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Death section