Ōtori Keisuke

[1] Ōtori Keisuke was born in Akamatsu Village, in the Akō domain of Harima Province (modern-day Hyōgo), the son of physician Kobayashi Naosuke.

Further learning was obtained in Edo, where Ōtori travelled to attend the school of Tsuboi Tadamasu, known for instructing students engaged in the study and translation of Dutch.

While in Edo he also received education from Egawa Tarōzaemon regarding military strategy, and studied English with Nakahama Manjirō, thus coming into possession of an uncommonly thorough, for his era, appreciation of Western culture.

Consisting of 800 men, the Denshūtai's members were chosen on the basis of capability rather than background; a matter of particular determination for Ōtori, who remained mindful of his own relatively humble birth.

In the aftermath of military failure at the Battle of Toba–Fushimi in early 1868, Shōgun Tokugawa Yoshinobu returned to Edo and expressed serious consideration towards pledging allegiance to the new Meiji government.

In his search for reinforcements, Ōtori unsuccessfully petitioned Matsudaira Katamori to gather peasants from the surrounding villages and, although continuing to remain in the vicinity of Wakamatsu for some time, was eventually forced to retreat in the face of an advance from the Imperial Army, making his way to Sendai.

Beginning in 1898, he assisted with the editing and publication of the magazine Kyū Bakufu, which focused on archiving memoirs and accounts of the former Shogunate by the men who had made up its ranks.