Sakamoto Ryoma was born in 1835, the second son of a local family living in the castle town of Kochi city in Japan.
As a young man he went to Tokyo (then Edo), to study as a swordsman at the Chiba Dojo.
He practiced “Hokushin Itto-ryu”, that was founded by Chiba Shusaku Narimasa in 1820s, one of the last masters and known as a sword saint.
Sakamoto joined the Tosa Kin-o party in 1861, but later left to study under the statesman and famous naval engineer Kaishu Katsu who argued for a more unified naval force.
In 1866, Sakamoto successfully forged the Satcho alliance between the Satsuma and Choshu domains with Kogoro Katsura (Kido Takayoshi) of the Choshu domain in Yamaguchi prefecture and Takamori Saigo of the Satsuma clan in Kagoshima Prefecture.
As a result of this alliance, the Choshu domain defeated the opposing Tokugawa forces.
This was the beginning of the movement to defeat the Tokugawa shogunate.
Sakamoto added the Tosa domain to the Satcho alliance planning to use this as a backdrop for the restoration of the monarchy.
He persuaded the Tosa domain’s counsellor, Shojiro Goto, to support the creation of a new government, based on a constitutional parliamentary system.
Yamauchi Yodo, the 15th lord of the Tosa domain, accepted Goto's proposal and on 3rd October 1867 he submitted a proposal to the shogun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu.
On the 14th of October the shogun submitted his proposal to the Imperial Court.
Delighted by this Sakamoto worked hard to establish a new government.
However, on the 15th of November, together with his comrade Nakaoka Shintaro, he was killed by Shogunate assassins at the Omi-ya shop in Kawaramachi, Kyoto.
Sakamoto was 33 years old and Nakaoka was 30 years old.
Sakamoto was commander of the Kaientai, a trading and shipping company and private navy, considered to be the first corporation in Japan.
Nakaoka Shintaro was commander of the Rikuentai, expected to play an active role in the Tosa domain's army.
However, they became victims of the conflict between the old and new forces at the end of the Edo period.
