was a Japanese samurai

Samurai

is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...

 of the late Edo period

Edo period

The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....

, who went on to become an educator and politician in the Meiji era.

Biography

A native of Aizu, Yamamoto claimed descent from the famed military strategist Yamamoto Kansuke

Yamamoto Kansuke

was a Japanese samurai of the 16th century who was one of Takeda Shingen's most trusted Twenty-Four Generals. Also known by his formal name, Haruyuki . He was a brilliant strategist, and is particularly known for his plan which led to victory in the fourth battle of Kawanakajima against Uesugi...

. A child prodigy

Child prodigy

A child prodigy is someone who, at an early age, masters one or more skills far beyond his or her level of maturity. One criterion for classifying prodigies is: a prodigy is a child, typically younger than 18 years old, who is performing at the level of a highly trained adult in a very demanding...

, he could read at age four, and recite Chinese

Chinese language

The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...

 Jueju

Jueju

Jueju is a style of jintishi, or "Modern form poetry", that grew popular among Chinese poets in the Tang Dynasty , although traceable to earlier origins...

 poetry at age five. He was sent to Edo

Edo

, also romanized as Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of the Japanese capital Tokyo, and was the seat of power for the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868...

 at age 22, to study with Katsu Kaishū

Katsu Kaishu

was a Japanese statesman, naval engineer during the Late Tokugawa shogunate and early Meiji period. Kaishū was a nickname which he took from a piece of calligraphy by Sakuma Shōzan. He went through a series of given names throughout his life; his childhood name was and his real name was...

 under the direction of Sakuma Shozan

Sakuma Shozan

sometimes called Sakuma Zōzan, was a Japanese politician and scholar of the Edo era. He was the son of a samurai, and a native of Shinshu in today's Nagano-ken.From the age of 23, he went to Edo and for 10 years studied Chinese sciences ....

, including rangaku

Rangaku

Rangaku is a body of knowledge developed by Japan through its contacts with the Dutch enclave of Dejima, which allowed Japan to keep abreast of Western technology and medicine in the period when the country was closed to foreigners, 1641–1853, because of the Tokugawa shogunate’s policy of national...

 and modern military science. He returned to Aizu at age 28, and became an instructor at Nisshinkan, the Aizu domain's academy.

In 1862, he was assigned to assist the Aizu Domain daimyo

Daimyo

is a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in pre-modern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...

Matsudaira Katamori

Matsudaira Katamori

was a samurai who lived in the last days of the Edo period and the early to mid Meiji period. He was the 9th daimyo of the Aizu han and the Military Commissioner of Kyoto during the Bakumatsu period. During the Boshin War, Katamori and the Aizu han fought against the Meiji Government armies, but...

 during the latter's tenure in Kyoto

Kyoto

is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...

 as Kyoto Shugoshoku

Kyoto Shugoshoku

The ' was a Japanese bureaucratic office of the Tokugawa shogunate from 1862 through 1868. The officeholder was responsible for keeping the peace in the city of Kyoto and its environs, and in this role, largely supplanted the extant office of Kyoto Shoshidai, though the two offices existed side by...

. The situation in Kyoto was very unsettled, and Yamamoto fought against Choshu Domain samurai at the Battle of Hamaguri Gate

Hamaguri rebellion

The rebellion at the Hamaguri Gate of the Imperial Palace in Kyōto took place on August 20, 1864 and reflected the discontent of pro-imperial and anti-alien groups...

 on August 20, 1864. After the start of the Boshin War

Boshin War

The was a civil war in Japan, fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and those seeking to return political power to the imperial court....

 of the Meiji Restoration

Meiji Restoration

The , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, Reform or Renewal, was a chain of events that restored imperial rule to Japan in 1868...

, he did not participate in the nearby Battle of Toba-Fushimi

Battle of Toba-Fushimi

The occurred between pro-Imperial and Tokugawa shogunate forces during the Boshin War in Japan. The battle started on 27 January 1868 , when the forces of the Tokugawa shogunate and the allied forces of Chōshū, Satsuma and Tosa domains clashed near Fushimi...

, but remained behind with his forces in Kyoto itself to attack the fortified residence of the Satsuma Domain. He lost his eyesight and was taken into custody by Satsuma forces soon afterwards. After the end of the war, he was pardoned through the intercession of Iwakura Tomomi

Iwakura Tomomi

was a Japanese statesman in the Meiji period. The former 500 Yen banknote issued by the Bank of Japan carried his portrait.-Early life:Iwakura was born in Kyoto as the second son of a low-ranking courtier and nobleman . In 1836 he was adopted by another nobleman, , from whom he received his family...

.

Subsequently, he was served as a member of the prefectural assembly of Kyoto. After becoming a Christian, Yamamoto worked with Joseph Hardy Neesima

Joseph Hardy Neesima

was a Japanese educator of the Meiji era, the founder of Doshisha University and Doshisha Women's College of Liberal Arts.Neesima was born in Edo , the son of a retainer of the Itakura clan of Annaka...

 to found Doshisha University

Doshisha University

, or is a prestigious private university in Kyoto, Japan. The university has approximately 27,000 students on three campuses, in faculties of theology, letters, law, commerce, economics, policy, and engineering...

 in Kyoto. Kakuma himself served as the university's second president. Yamamoto's sister was Neesima Yae

Yamamoto Yaeko

was a Japanese woman of the late Edo period who lived into the 20th century. Yaeko was the daughter of Yamamoto Gonpachi, one of the Aizu domain's official gunnery instructors. She herself was skilled in gunnery, and took part in the defense of Aizu during the Boshin War...

, who also fought in the Boshin War.

Apart from his work in education, Yamamoto was also an author. One of his best-known works was a lengthy work on national reform, penned during his captivity in 1868.

Yamamoto was portrayed by actor Ryū Raita in the 1987 miniseries

Miniseries

A miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a television show production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...

Byakkotai.