Kondo Chojiro

was a Japanese politician of the Bakumatsu period. His given name was Harumune. He was also known by the aliases Uesugi Sōjirō, Kondō Chōjirō (written with the variant character ), and Baikadōjin.

Early life Kondō Chōjirō was born on 1 April 1838 in the castle town of Kōchi in the han (domain) of Tosa, located in Tosa Province (present-day Kōchi Prefecture) on the island of Shikoku. By the Japanese calendar, Kondō was born on the 7th day of the 3rd month of the ninth year of Tenpō. He was the son of a manju merchant, and Chōjirō himself also sold manju. As his family had no surname, he was initially called Manjuya Chōjirō.

Intelligent from an early age, Kondō entered the school of Kawada Shōryū in Tosa and later studied under Iwasaki Yatarō. In 1859, he traveled to Edo as a servant of Tosa domain senior official Yui Inai, where he studied Confucianism under Asaka Gonsai, Western learning under Tezuka Genkai, and gunnery under Takashima Shūhan.

Career

With Satsuma Katsu requested support from the Satsuma Domain, which was itself short of warship crew members, so Kondō and others were taken in by the Satsuma Domain. In February 1865, they traveled to Kagoshima and came under the wing of Komatsu Tatewaki, serving in ship operations. They became a group of rōnin centered on former Tosa domain men who called themselves the shachū (the Company). At this stage, Kondō had no connection with Sakamoto Ryōma.

Arms trade and the Union-go Kondō led the transport of weapons from Nagasaki to the Chōshū Domain, and was granted an audience with the Chōshū domain lord Mōri Takachika, who entrusted him with the purchase of the steamship Union-go and expressed gratitude for his efforts in procuring and transporting arms. Kondō was presented with a set of three ceremonial sword fittings (mitokoromono) and was entrusted with letters of thanks from the Chōshū lord and his father addressed to Shimazu Hisamitsu and Shimazu Mochihisa. He was regarded by the Chōshū domain not as a Tosa rōnin but as a Satsuma samurai. However, he was accused by fellow members of the shachū, including Sawamura Sonojō, of violating the organization's code of conduct. He subsequently took responsibility by committing seppuku at the residence of Kosone Kendō in Nagasaki on 28 February 1866. He was 29 years old.

A theory holds that Sakamoto Ryōma personally ordered the seppuku, but Ryōma was in Kyoto at the time working to forge the Satchō Alliance and was not present in Nagasaki. It is highly probable that the decision was made by members of the shachū in his absence.

In popular culture

Television Ryōma ga Yuku (1968, NHK Taiga drama; portrayed by Noriaki Kitaura) Tennō no Seiki Part 2, Episode 11 "Nagasaki to Kameyama Shachū" (1973, ABC TV; portrayed by Shun'ichirō Okita) Katsu Kaishū (1974, NHK Taiga drama; portrayed by Sōichirō Kitamura) Ryōma ga Yuku (1982, TV Tokyo; portrayed by Daijirō Harada) Bakumatsu Seishun Graffiti: Sakamoto Ryōma (1982, NTV; portrayed by Hikaru Murozumi) Sakamoto Ryōma (1989, TBS; portrayed by Teruyuki Kagawa) Yabō no Kuni: Arashi no Shō (1989, NTV; portrayed by Teruyuki Kagawa) Katsu Kaishū (1990, NTV; portrayed by Jun'ichi Ōkura) Ryōma ni Omakase! (1996, NTV; portrayed by Masaki Kitahara) Ryōma ga Yuku (2004, TV Tokyo; portrayed by Asahi Hasegawa) Ryōmaden (2010, NHK Taiga drama; portrayed by Yo Oizumi)

Film Bakumatsu (1970; portrayed by Katsuo Nakamura) Bakumatsu Seishun Graffiti: Ronin Sakamoto Ryōma (1986; portrayed by Seiji Kurasaki)

Anime O~i! Ryōma (1992–1993, NHK; voiced by Shōko Suzuki (young), Shin-ichiro Miki (adult))

Manga O~i! Ryōma (original story by Tetsuya Takeda, art by Yū Koyama) Ryōma ga Yuku (original story by Ryōtarō Shiba, art by Yū Suzuki)