who was Saigo Takamori and what was the insurrection of the samurai all about?
For those of you who saw the film, a short reference to names. Saigo Takamori is the historical figure for Katsumoto in the film – played by Watanabe Ken. And Omura, his opponent in the film and proponent of a strict Westernization of Japan, was in reality Okubo Toshimichi, 1830-1878. The producers of the film obviously tried to model the actors after their historic appearance. The two actors, representing Katsumoto and Omura have a certain physical similarity with their paragons from history. No historic basis exists for the US captain Algren in the film. The Satsuma rebellion was an all Japanese event.
