Born into a village doctor's family at Suzenji in Suō (Yamaguchi); his original name was Murata Zōroku.
He studied at Hirose Tansō's Kangien school at Hita in Bungo.
He entered Ogata Kōan's Tekijuku in Osaka and later became head pupil.
He returned home to practise as a village doctor.
Invited by the Uwajima domain, he taught Dutch learning and worked on Western military science and shipbuilding.
He opened a school in Edo and also taught at shogunate institutes and the military academy.
Recruited by Chōshū, he set about building a Western-style army.
In the second Chōshū expedition he commanded on the Iwami front and defeated the shogunate's army.
Commanding government forces in the Boshin War, he crushed the Shōgitai holed up at Ueno in a single day.
Pushing for a modern conscript army, he was attacked in Kyoto by opposing samurai, gravely wounded, and lost his life in Osaka.
Shimazu HisamitsuIwase TadanariAbe MasahiroKatsu KaishūJohn ManjirōKusumoto IneKawai TsugunosukeOguri Tadamasa
People of the Edo period ・ People by period
Based on facts found in textbooks and biographies. Uncertain points are marked as such.