He was born in the castle town of Kagoshima in Satsuma, a son of Kimotsuki Kaneyoshi, lord of Kiire. His original name was Kimotsuki Kanetake. It is said that his parents doted on his elder brother and his nurse was short-tempered, so he grew up without much parental affection. He later succeeded to the Komatsu family and became widely known by his common name, Tatewaki.
From boyhood he showed talent for learning and studied Confucianism under the scholar Yokoyama Anyō. But being frail and studying day and night, he eventually became often bedridden. Even so he is said to have absorbed knowledge from people of different ranks at hot-spring resorts; he studied waka poetry under Hatta Tomonori and also trained in the Jigen school of swordsmanship.
He was appointed to serve close to the domain lord, and that same year was ordered to duty in Edo. But he stayed in Edo only about two months before being ordered home to Kagoshima. The travel diary he kept on the journey preserves a number of waka he composed, showing a young man who loved poetry.
He was adopted as heir of Komatsu Kiyomichi, lord of Yoshitoshi, and succeeded to the family. He then married Chika, Kiyomichi's younger sister. Records show the couple stayed for a while at a hot spring in Kirishima soon after the wedding, said to be a rare honeymoon for the time. He is said to have been a man who cherished his wife.
When Shimazu Nariakira died and Shimazu Tadayoshi became lord, Tatewaki was given a domain post, overseeing the Shūseikan, the modern factory complex built by Nariakira, and the minting of coins. Entrusted with practical work while young, he built up the ability later to steer the domain's finances and industry.
On a mission to Nagasaki he hired interpreters, boarded a Dutch warship and learned ship handling and techniques such as naval mines. After his return, a demonstration was held of a mine set off by electricity. Recognized for such work, he was taken on as an aide to Shimazu Hisamitsu and placed in charge of domain reform. Ōkubo Toshimichi served under him.
He accompanied Shimazu Hisamitsu when he led troops up to Kyoto, and on returning took the post of chief retainer. His generous, eloquent character won him wide trust, and he was entrusted with a heavy domain role while young. It is said that when he first met Saigō Takamori, Saigō deliberately lay down to wait for him, but Tatewaki did not take offense.
In the Anglo-Satsuma War, triggered by the Namamugi Incident, he worked hard on the defenses, for example placing the mines he had studied in Nagasaki in Kagoshima Bay. After the war he rebuilt the Shūseikan and worked to set up a factory making steamship machinery. Meanwhile, based in Kyoto, he served as liaison and negotiator with the court, the shogunate and other domains.
In the Kinmon Incident he was at first reluctant to answer the shogunate's call for troops, but once the court issued an order he led Satsuma's soldiers and helped the shogunate's side win. After the fighting he distributed rice seized from Chōshū to the people of Kyoto who had suffered in the fires of war. In the expedition against Chōshū that same year, he worked for Chōshū's surrender.
Seeking to repair relations with Chōshū, which Satsuma had once fought, he mediated Chōshū's purchase of warships and weapons. In Kyoto he became close to Sakamoto Ryōma, who had left the Tosa domain, helped found the Kameyama Shachū and looked after Ryōma's wife Oryō. He also sheltered Inoue Kaoru and Itō Hirobumi of Chōshū in the Satsuma residence in Nagasaki.
The Satchō Alliance joining Satsuma and Chōshū was formed. It is said that Kido Takayoshi of Chōshū stayed, and the talks were held, at Tatewaki's residence in Kyoto. This residence was called "Ohanabatake," and its location was confirmed by documents discovered in recent years. Meanwhile, he opposed a second attack on Chōshū.
He worked hard at negotiations with other domains and was appointed to the highest chief retainer post in the domain. When shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu announced the return of power to the court, he urged him, as Satsuma's representative, to resign as shogun, and pressed the court to accept the return of rule. Afterward illness kept him from accompanying the lord to Kyoto.
He held important posts in the new Meiji government, including in foreign affairs. When France threatened to seize the Yokosuka shipyard unless the shogunate's debt was repaid, he and Ōkuma Shigenobu borrowed funds from Britain to repay it and got through the crisis. With Glover and Godai Tomoatsu, he also built a ship-repair yard with a Western-style dock.
In the return of land and people he persuaded Shimazu Hisamitsu and set an example by being first to give up his own lands. That year he resigned his posts because of illness. He had long been unwell, and a swelling in his lower abdomen worsened; a Dutch doctor is said to have judged it hard to remove. He rented a house in Osaka and moved there for treatment.
By the time Ōkubo Toshimichi and Kido Takayoshi came to visit him early that year, he had already written his will. In the summer he died of illness in Osaka. He tended to be overshadowed by Saigō and Ōkubo, who went on to prominence in the Meiji government, but the British diplomat Ernest Satow called him the most charming Japanese he knew.
Shimazu NariakiraShimazu HisamitsuSaigō TakamoriTokugawa YoshinobuŌkubo ToshimichiKido TakayoshiGodai TomoatsuInoue Kaoru
Kiyokawa HachirōKondō IsamiHashimoto SanaiHijikata ToshizōSakamoto RyōmaAtsuhime (Tenshō-in)Matsudaira KatamoriYamaoka Tesshū
People of the Edo period ・ People by period
Based on facts found in textbooks and biographies. Uncertain points are marked as such.