Sakamoto Ryoma

Sakamoto Ryoma is one of the heroes of early modern Japan.  He was one of the key figures during the struggles to overthrow the Tokugawa Shogunate.  In his early political days, he was part of a movement to overthrow the Shogunate and supported Imperial rule.  He went to Edo to assassinate a high ranking Tokugawa official by the name of Katsu Kaishu (an advocate of modernizing Japan in order to eventually repel the Western powers which had gained much influence in Japan), but instead became Katsu's protoge.  Under Katsu's direction, and help from Western powers, he help build a modern navy that defeated the Shogunate navy.  He was assassinated on his birthday, in 1867.  The actual group that assassinated Ryoma is not (and probably will never be known), but most accounts assign the assassination to the shinsengumi.  However, the Mimawarigumi (another group of samurai assigned to protect the Shogun's interest in Kyoto) took credit for the assassination. The following year, the Tokugawa Shogunate fell, directly related to Sakamoto's negotiations with the Shogunate to cede control to the Imperialists.

This period of Japanese history is very confusing.  Although both the Imperialists and the Shogunates wanted the Western Powers to leave Japan, both sides seeked Western technologies, especially in weaponry.  Sakamoto himself wanted the foreigners expelled, but also wanted to model a "new" Japan after the ideals set forth in The United States' Declaration of Independence - a Japan free of fuedal structure.   As far as the struggles between the Imperial forces and the Shogunate,  as enjoyable as Tom Cruise's movie, The Last Samurai was, it is an inaccurate portrayal of the two sides, as far as weaponry goes.