Early Life
Kido was born in Hagi, in Chōshū Domain (present-day Yamaguchi prefecture) as the latest son of Wada Masakage (和田 昌景?), a samurai physician. He was adopted into the Katsura family at age seven, and until 1865 was known as Katsura Kogorō (桂 小五郎?). He was educated at the academy of Yoshida Shōin, from whom he adopted the philosophy of Imperial loyalism.
In 1852, he went to Edo to study swordsmanship, established ties with radical samurai from Mito domain, learned artillery techniques with Egawa Tarōzaemon, and (after observing the construction of foreign ships in Nagasaki and Shimoda), returned to Chōshū to supervise the construction of the domain's first western-style warship.
Read more about this topic: Kido Takayoshi
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