Ryoma Sakamoto (1835-1867), among Japan's most beloved heroes, came of age when U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry's Black Ships arrived demanding trade relations and ending the country's closed-door foreign policy. The old Japan ruled by the feudal Tokugawa shogunate was giving way to the modern nation state.
Ryoma is partly credited with roles in two major triumphs. The first was his so-called selfless mediation of an alliance between the embattled southwest domains of Satsuma and Choshu with a view to restoring imperial rule. The second was negotiating the peaceful transfer of governance to the Imperial Court.
According to the catalog to the "Sakamoto Ryoma: Japan's Favorite Hero" exhibition at the Kyoto National Museum, Ryoma is widely thought of as possessing "a truly sensitive mind and heart." His spectacular assassination by unknown assailants in Kyoto fulfilled the romantic myth of a hero in the service of his nation. The legend, however, is under humanizing amendment at this 150th commemoration exhibition, through 60 of his 130 or so extant letters.