KYOTO - An 850-year-old sacred tree with ties to Ryoma Sakamoto has collapsed at Takenobu Inari Shrine in Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto, damaging parts of the shrine's main and auxiliary buildings. No injuries were reported.
The tree, a hackberry (enoki), stood about 23 meters tall and was long venerated as a symbol of the shrine. According to shrine legend, during the late Edo period, Sakamoto carved a message into the trunk to let his wife Oryo know he was still alive.
Chief priest Nakao Sotai said the tree fell around 11:30 a.m. three days ago, creating a loud crash and tremors like an earthquake. "The ground rumbled and everything shook," Nakao said. "When I ran outside, the area was completely covered in fallen branches. It felt surreal."
The cause is believed to be internal decay. The shrine is now considering ways to preserve the remains of the sacred tree.
Ryoma Sakamoto was a pivotal figure in Japan’s transition from feudal rule to the modern Meiji state, remembered as both a visionary and a revolutionary during one of the nation’s most turbulent periods. Born in 1836 in Tosa Domain, present-day Kochi Prefecture, Sakamoto came from a low-ranking samurai family and struggled with bullying in his youth. However, his early exposure to swordsmanship and later intellectual pursuits instilled in him a spirit of independence that would define his later actions. In his twenties, he moved to Edo and came into contact with rangaku, or Dutch learning, which sparked his fascination with Western political systems, navigation, and modern weapons. His worldview began shifting dramatically, and he grew disillusioned with the rigid Tokugawa hierarchy that had kept Japan closed and stagnant for over two centuries.
Rather than aligning with one of the many anti-Tokugawa clans seeking to overthrow the shogunate through traditional power structures, Sakamoto took a uniquely modern approach. He left his home domain and status behind, effectively becoming a rōnin, and started operating as a free political agent. This was a bold move, as loyalty to one’s domain was a defining feature of samurai identity. Sakamoto believed that real reform required unity across domains and a vision beyond regional feuds. His most enduring contribution was brokering the alliance between the Satsuma and Choshu domains—bitter enemies at the time—which laid the foundation for the eventual toppling of the Tokugawa regime. This Satsuma-Choshu Alliance, orchestrated behind the scenes by Sakamoto despite his lack of official rank or institutional power, was a turning point in Japanese history. It demonstrated his diplomatic skill and his ability to win trust across factions by focusing on shared ideals rather than personal gain.
In addition to his political efforts, Sakamoto was also a forerunner of modern economic and military thinking in Japan. He founded the Kaientai, a private navy and trading company, which functioned as both a commercial and quasi-military organization. Through the Kaientai, Sakamoto supported technological modernization and the importation of Western ships and arms, aligning Japan with the realities of global power in the 19th century. His admiration for American democracy and constitutional government influenced his vision for Japan, and he famously drafted a document outlining eight proposals for reform, including the creation of a national assembly. Though this vision was not realized in his lifetime, many of its elements would become central to the Meiji government's reforms in the following decades.
Sakamoto's life was cut short in 1867, when he was assassinated at the Omiya inn in Kyoto at the age of 31, just a month before the Tokugawa shogunate formally handed back power to the emperor. His death shocked the reformist movement, but by then his ideas and alliances had taken root.
Source: YOMIURI
