Although his original class was as low as that of a footman, participation in Kihei-tai, an unconventional battalion led by Shinsaku TAKASUGI, gave him an opportunity to succeed (It is believed that he wouldn't have been able to succeed if he, as one from a chugen family, had been born in a different domain.
元の身分は下僕に近い極めて低いものであったが、高杉晋作の奇兵隊に参加したことで出世の糸口を掴んだ（中間出身の彼がもし他藩に生まれていれば出世は有り得なかったと考えられる。