The true story of the "last samurai," Saigo Takamori, whose life inspired the movie starring Ken Watanabe and Tom Cruise

One of Japan's most renowned samurai, Saigo Takamori (1828-1877) helped to pull down the Tokugawa shogunate and to restore the Meiji emperor. He then watched in anguish as the Meiji government, in its drive to modernize the country, stripped the samurai of all that made them samurai — the representatives of Japanese tradition, honor, and glory, if also feudal privilege. Ravina's biography takes a revealing look at Saigo, and examines him both as a legend and as a historical figure.

Saigo is one of Japan's most compelling cultural heroes and his story inspired the upcoming Warner Brothers film The Last Samurai, starring Tom Cruise. In the film, Saigo is represented by Katsumoto, a fictional rebel poet-warlord who teaches Nathan Algren (Cruise's character) traditional samurai morals and skills.

Ravina examines how Saigo's understanding of samurai honor led him first, to overthrow the shogun in the name of the emperor, then to support a radical reformist government, and finally to rebel against a government he had helped to establish. In this dramatic story of politics and rebellion, the author examines in gripping detail the clash between Saigo's samurai ideals and impending Japanese modernity — and the reasons why Saigo has been revered for his courage and integrity until the present day.