 Ebara Soroku

Ebara was born in Edo as the son of a lesser retainer of the Tokugawa shogunate, but was an exceptionally talented scholar and selected for the Shogunal military academy based on his performance at the "terakoya" temple schools.Following his combat service at the Battle of Toba–Fushimi during the Boshin War of the Meiji Restoration, he visited the United States.