His views on Yoshida Shoin
The relationship between
student and teacher was fond and deep. Takasugi was not apparently the
easiest or most liked of the students at the Sonjuku, but it was stated
that the instructor was not alienated by Takasugi's 'wayward ways.'
"My keeping
company with you--"
he wrote "--is not just for practice in reading, but so that
you can realize great plans for the nation."
In one anecdote while
Takasugi was at the Sonjuku, Kido Koin (Takayoshi) apparently approached
Yoshida and urged him to either deal with Takasugi's waywardness or
expel him.
Yoshida's apparent
response was "Up to now, I have of course talked to Takasugi about
his character, but have no tried to reform it. If you try to force a
stubborn character to change, the person will just become incomplete,
or rather, in later days, he will come to lose the intense willpower
that is absolutely necessary for accomplishing great things. Takasugi
is a man, who in ten years will do much."
Takasugi's refusal
to be interested in the street politics that Kido and Kusaka engaged
in while in Edo in the late 1850s enabled him to be present in Edo when
Shoin was extradited and sentenced.
It is noted that Takasugi
was a frequent visitor at the Demmacho prison in which Shoin was housed,
often bringing his mentor food and books. These visits eventually ceased
when Takasugi was recalled back to Choshu due to the influence of his
father who did not want him associating with political prisoners. In
October 1859, he left.
The letter on 10/7
from Shoin to Takasugi reads as such:
Your being in
Edo at the time of my misfortune was an extremely happy circumstance.
I am deeply appreciative of your kindness. Hearing suddenly of your
return to your han, I could not help greatly regretting it.
When word Shoin's
execution reached Takasugi, he swore vengeance. In a letter to Aumeisha
chief Sufu Masanosuke on 11/16/59, he wrote
Our teacher
Shoin's head falling at the hands of the Bakufu is... a cause for
deep shame. As for me as a disciple, my heart will never rest until
I fell this antagonist... While yearning for our instructor Shoin's
shadow, morning and night, I have grieved deeply... Practicing military
arts in the morning and studying in the evening, tempering my mind
and body, serving the spirit of my forebears and accomplishing my
own duty, all become merged in the task of destroying the enemy of
our master, Shoin."
On 11/27, he and Kusaka
arranged for a Buddhist service to honor Shoin. Takasugi then attended
(returned to) the revived Sonjuku several months later.
