 Complete the following phrase:  Yamada was born in Abu District, Nagato Province in what is now part of the city of Hagi, Yamaguchi, and was the son of a 102 koku samurai official of the Chōshū Navy. After studies at the domains Meirinkan academy where he studied the Yagyū Shinkage-ryū school of Japanese swordsmanship, he joined the Shōkasonjuku Academy run by Yoshida Shōin in June 1857. He was the youngest student of the Shōkasonjuku. He was in the retinue of Chōshū daimyō in Kyoto in the autumn of 1862. A strong supporter of the sonnō jōi movement, he signed his name in blood together with Takasugi Shinsaku, Kusaka Genzui, Itō Hirobumi, Inoue Kaoru, Shinagawa Yajirō to a petition to rid Japan of the foreigners. After Chōshū forces were driven from Kyoto by supporters of the kōbu gattai movement, he went into exile with Sanjō Sanetomi. During this period, he studied western military science under Ōmura Masujirō. He soon had the opportunity to put his training to practical use during the Kinmon incident, Shimonoseki Campaign, and 