KATSU

In the spring of 1868, Edo — the shogun's capital and one of the largest cities in the world — was about to be attacked by the new imperial army. A million people waited. One man had secretly arranged to burn the city in front of the attackers if it came to that. But first, he sat down with the enemy commander, Saigō Takamori, and talked. Two days later, the attack was called off. Edo was saved without a shot.

That man was Katsu Kaishū.

He was the son of a poor, brawling samurai. He taught himself Dutch by copying a fifty-eight-volume dictionary by hand. He learned to sail from Dutch officers at Nagasaki, captained the Kanrin Maru on the first Japanese crossing of the Pacific, and came home telling his superiors that in America, the people at the top were wise. He trained young rebels like Sakamoto Ryōma, told Saigō frankly that the shogunate was finished, and was dismissed for it.

After the surrender, he served the new Meiji government as Navy Minister, was made a count, and spent thirty years protecting the family of the last shogun. Some called him a hero. Others, including the famous Fukuzawa Yukichi, called him a turncoat. He answered: "Praise and blame are other people's business."

Told as a narrative history from beginning to end, with a cast of characters, a map, and a travel guide to the places you can still visit today, this book says plainly what the records show, what historians still debate, and which famous stories are only legends — including some that Katsu told about himself.

Inside, you'll find:

The brawler father, the dog bite, and the boy who never killed anyone
The dictionary copied by hand, and the proposal that changed his life
Nagasaki, the Dutch instructors, and a visit to Shimazu Nariakira
The Kanrin Maru, the American sailors, and what Katsu saw in San Francisco
Sakamoto Ryōma, the Kobe school, and the first meeting with Saigō
Miyajima, and the shogun who betrayed his word
The plan to burn Edo, and the two days that saved it
Serving the new government while protecting the old one
Fukuzawa's attack, the war with China, and the last shogun's audience with the emperor
A guide to visiting the places in this story today, from Tokyo and Uraga to Kobe, Miyajima, and Nagasaki
If you want a simple hero or a simple traitor, this is not your book. If you want the real story of the man who served the shogun to the end and helped end the shogunate in peace, turn the page and meet the real Katsu.