Takamori SAIGO was one of the 'Ishin no Sanketsu' (literally, three heroes of the Meiji Restoration), as were his sworn allies Toshimichi OKUBO of the Satsuma Domain and Takayoshi KIDO (also known as Kogoro KATSURA) of the Choshu Domain.
薩摩藩の盟友大久保利通、長州藩の木戸孝允（桂小五郎）と並び、「維新の三傑」と称される。