Sakamoto Ryōma

Sakamoto Ryōma was born on 3 January 1836, a minor samurai from Tosa Domain on Shikoku with little claim to influence. After Japan's isolationist sakoku policy collapsed, he turned against the Tokugawa Shogunate and operated under the alias Saitani Umetarō, moving through a country where the Shinsengumi and Bakufu loyalists wanted him dead. He pushed for democracy, the return of power to the Imperial Court, the end of feudalism, and cautious modernization - a program that married nationalism with pragmatism. His crucial maneuver was the Satchō Alliance, convincing the rival Chōshū and Satsuma domains to unite against the Bakufu. On 10 December 1867, he and his companion Nakaoka Shintarō were assassinated, weeks before the Boshin War began and the Meiji Restoration completed the work he had set in motion.