On the termination of the War of the Restoration Saigo received a grant, for his eminent services to the State, in the form of an estate of the annual value of 2000 _Koku_, equivalent, if the present-day price of rice be taken as a guide, to £2500 per annum. He retired to his native province and settled at Takemura, a village close to Kagoshima, his life from that time forward being characterised by extreme simplicity, frugality, and the cultivation of his lands with his own hands, until duty once more called him forth from his eminently peaceful pursuits to take part in matters of administration. Although the idol of the samurai, and constantly mixed up in political affairs, as was indeed almost unavoidable in that stage of the national progress, when every prominent man was intimately concerned with one party or another, it was nevertheless contrary to Saigo’s personal tastes to figure as a Government official, and he would infinitely have preferred to roam the hills of Satsuma or Osumi, gun in hand, than to take part in State functions. In the Government which was formed in 1872 under the presidency of Prince Sanjo, Saigo held the portfolio of Minister of War, and it was at this time that the army of Japan began to take definite shape, Saigo himself being responsible for the general plan on which the establishment of an adequate military force was based. That Japan’s ambition did not soar very high at that time may be gathered from the subjoined figures, which represent approximately the strength in peace time and in war which was then decided upon:— In Peace time In War Household Infantry 26,880 40,320 3,200 Cavalry 360 450 150 Artillery 2,160 2,700 300 Engineers 1,200 1,500 150 Military Train 360 480 80 Marine Artillery 720 900 ... ------ ------ ----- 31,680 46,350 3,880