born December 1849, Edo [Tokyo], Japan
died Sept. 13, 1912, Tokyo
General in
He served as governor of Taiwan and fought in the {{link=Russo-Japanese War">Russo-Japanese War . On the death of the Meiji emperor , Nogi and his wife committed ritual suicide by seppuku (self-disembowlment), considered the ultimate samurai act of loyalty. This action affected such Meiji-period writers as Natsume Sōseki and Mori Ōgai (1862–1922) and illuminated the contrast between Japan's feudal past and rapidly modernizing present.