Today it's been more then a month since I got my 'Sakamoto Ryoma and the Meiji Restoration' book, but it takes a long time for me to read it. But it's in English after all so what did I expect?

But I've soon read half the book and I've learned a lot.

I've learned that Sakamoto Ryoma was a very funny person in his twenties. Let me show you by show you something from my book.

"Sakamoto continued his work in kendo. He also delved into serious reading, but without, startling results. An engaging story that dates from this period illustrates the relative amounts of self-confidence and learning which Sakamoto possessed.

To one of his friends who visited him, he announced that he had begun to read books, and showed him a copy of the Tzu-chih t'ung-chien. The friend admired the work, but admitted it was beyond him. Thereupon Sakamoto picked it up and began readingat the top of his lungs, making any number of of mistakes in reading and paying no attention to the punctuation indicated. "Do you mean to say that you can understand it that way" asked the startled visitor. "Well," Sakamoto replied, "I get the general idea."

This is from the diary of a messenger that once meet Sakamoto Ryoma

"The two outsiders (Tosa men) don't know a thing about their han's affairs; Sakamoto Ryoma dosen't even know the names of any of the ministers. We wasted several days; it's a great shame."

I hope I'm not the only one who find Ryoma quite funny?

Sakamoto Ryoma and the Meiji Restoration

Today was a big day! My mum helped me to order the Sakamoto Ryoma and the Meiji restoration book, I hope I'll get it before this weekend, that would realy be great! :) I guess that I'll have a lot to say when I've read it ^^

This is a picture I've made of Sakamoto Ryoma as young

Okay!

Today my mum tried to order Sakamoto Ryoma and the Meiji restoration from the local bookstore but they said that they couldn't do that because it was to old. WTF! It's only 16 years old, and I'm 16 to! I'm not very old, am I?

So, now we'll have to order it our self and that's not our strong side!

Tried to watch Ryoma-den yesterday but I could not find it with English subtitles, so does anyone know a good website to watch it?

Sakamoto Ryoma, born in Kochi in 1835, made a great contribution to Japan's rapid modernization which marked the end of 700 years of feudal government. The modernized nation he pictured had laws, a parliamentary system and a diplomatic office. The impact he had on the country was such that the people fondly refer to him only by his first name, Ryoma. Henceforth, we will refer to him as such in this brochure.
　In his time, it was not permitted to leave one's home clan without official permission. Japan's central government, called the bakufu, was losing its power in ruling all the clans. Instead, some clans were getting stronger than others and trying to overthrow the shogunate. Ryoma fled Tosa, the old name for Kochi, without official Tosa travel　permission at the age of 28. Ryoma, as a man outside the control of his home fief authorities, worked energetically all over Japan to reform the national political and economic system.
　Real national unity, Ryoma thought, would require the cooperation of the two strongest anti-bakufu clans at the time, the Satsuma and Choshu clans, which are now parts of Kagoshima and Yamaguchi prefectures. In 1866, he succeeded in forming an alliance between these two traditional enemies. In 1867, he formulated an "Eight-Point Program" for the modernization of Japan, a political guideline for the new government and cabinet. In October* of this year, with the help of other Tosa youths like Goto Shojiro, Fukuoka Takachika and Nagaoka Kenkichi, he finally realized "Taiseihokan" (returning power to the throne). The bakufu turned over its power to the emperor. It was a bloodless revolution.
　Only one month later, in November 15*, 1867, Ryoma was assassinated in Kyoto at the age of 33. He had lived long enough to see only one month of Japan's drastic change. "The Meiji Restoration" was near at hand, but he never saw the modern Japan he had struggled to build.

A brand new blogg

Hello out there everyone!

I've created this blog to tell you people out in the world about my life as a big fan och the historical man, Sakamoto Ryoma.

I will also tell you about my life as a person who loves books and manga.

Sakamoto Ryoma was born in a lowly merchant samurai family, but grew to become one of the leaders of the modernization of Japan.