Sketch of Climbing Mount Kirishima (in Letter to Otome)

This sketch of Mount Kirishima comes from a letter written by Sakamoto Ryōma to his elder sister Otome in Tosa. In the first month of 1866 (Keiō 2), Ryōma had been instrumental in bringing about the treaty between the antigovernment Satsuma and Chōshū factions, signed in Kyoto. Before dawn on the morning of the twenty-fourth day of that same month, however, he had been injured in an attack by Tokugawa government agents at the boarding house in which he was staying—the Teradaya in the Fushimi section of southern Kyoto. Having narrowly escaped the raid, the injured Ryōma heeded the advice of Saigō Takamori (1828–1877) of the Satsuma clan and traveled south to Kagoshima for respite. At the end of the third month of that year, having recovered his health in the hot springs at the foot of Mount Kirishima, Ryōma decided to climb the 1574-meter peak with his wife Oryō. This illustrated letter describes their ascent with their route up the mountain shown in red ink and other details in black ink.
One notation describes how the mountain trail was so treacherous that Ryōma had to “hold [Oryō’s] hand and pull her along”—a delightful and unusually intimate detail. He also describes seeing the sacred spear (amanosaka hoko) protruding from the mountain’s peak. Ryōma and Oryō’s trip to Kagoshima is today viewed as Japan’s first honeymoon trip. This lively letter detailing the journey reveals a fascinating human side of this distinguished historical figure. The letter to Otome is only one of a large number of archival documents and objects pertaining to Sakamoto Ryōma in the collection of the Kyoto National Museum.