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Rōshigumi
The Rōshigumi (浪士組, meaning "the rōnin squad"), the "Kyoto Defenders", was a group of 234 masterless samurai (''rōnin''), founded by Kiyokawa Hachirō in 1862. Loyal to the Bakufu, they were supposed to act as the protectors of the Tokugawa ''shōgun'', but were disbanded upon their arrival in Kyoto, Japan in 1863. History Formation Kiyokawa Hachirō formed the Rōshigumi with funding from the Tokugawa bakufu on October 19, 1862. Originally, he claimed it was formed for protecting the Tokugawa ''shōgun'' in Kyoto and preparing for military action against Western countries. However, he lied to the regime; his goal was to gather people to work with the imperialists and not the shogunate government. The Rōshigumi met on March 26 (lunar calendar February 8), 1863 in Edo and they all left for Kyoto. Kondō Isami, Hijikata Toshizō, Okita Sōji, Inoue Genzaburō, Tōdō Heisuke, Harada Sanosuke, Nagakura Shinpachi. Serizawa Kamo, Niimi Nishiki, Nakazawa Koto, Hirayama Goro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shinsengumi
The was a special police force organized by the (military government) during Japan's Bakumatsu period (late Tokugawa shogunate) in 1863. It was active until 1869. It was founded to protect the shogunate representatives in Kyoto at a time when a controversial imperial edict to exclude foreign trade from Japan had been made and the Chōshū clan had been forced from the imperial court. They gained considerable fame in the Ikedaya incident and the August 18 coup events etc. The men were drawn from the sword schools of Edo. History Japan's forced opening to the west in 1854, which required it to open its shores for trade or face military conflict, exacerbated internal political instability. One long-standing line of political opinion was (meaning, "revere the emperor, expel the barbarians"). Loyalists (particularly in Chōshū Domain) in Kyoto began to rebel. In response, the Tokugawa shogunate formed the on October 19, 1862. The was a squad of 234 (samurai without mas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mibu Rōshigumi
The was a special police force organized by the (military government) during Japan's Bakumatsu period (late Tokugawa shogunate) in 1863. It was active until 1869. It was founded to protect the shogunate representatives in Kyoto at a time when a controversial imperial edict to exclude foreign trade from Japan had been made and the Chōshū clan had been forced from the imperial court. They gained considerable fame in the Ikedaya incident and the August 18 coup events etc. The men were drawn from the sword schools of Edo. History Japan's forced opening to the west in 1854, which required it to open its shores for trade or face military conflict, exacerbated internal political instability. One long-standing line of political opinion was (meaning, "revere the emperor, expel the barbarians"). Loyalists (particularly in Chōshū Domain) in Kyoto began to rebel. In response, the Tokugawa shogunate formed the on October 19, 1862. The was a squad of 234 (samurai without m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nagakura Shinpachi
was the former captain of the 2nd troop of the Shinsengumi, He was later known as during the Meiji era. History Early life Nagakura Shinpachi Noriyuki, known as Eikichi or Eiji during his childhood, was born in the Matsumae clan's "kami-yashiki" (upper residence) in Edo on the 11th day of the fourth month of Tenpō 10 (May 23, 1839). His father, Nagakura Kanji, was a retainer of the Matsumae clan, with a 150 koku stipend. Like Okita Sōji, Nagakura was a true product of the Edo period — being a son of a retainer (of a domain he had never seen), who had lived in Edo his entire life. Nagakura's father spelled the family name with the "naga" meaning "long", but Nagakura later spelled it with the "naga" meaning "eternity". At eight, Nagakura entered Okada Juusuke Toshisada's Shindō Munen-ryū dojo; at age eighteen he reached mokuroku (6th dan), and received the menkyo kaiden certification. At age nineteen he left the service of the Matsumae clan in order to travel and improv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nakazawa Koto
Nakazawa Koto (中沢琴, 1839–October 12, 1927) was a Japanese Kenjutsu, swordswoman and Onna-musha of the Bakumatsu period. She joined the Rōshigumi and later Shinchogumi forces, and worked as a Tokugawa shogunate, pro-Tokugawa agent in the Boshin War. Life Nakazawa Koto was born in Kōzuke Province. She was very skilled in martial arts from childhood, especially in Kenjutsu. In 1863, she went to Kyoto dressed as a man, following her brother Sadamasa, who was a member of the Rōshigumi, Roshigumi group in Kyoto. At 170 cm (5'7"), she was tall for a Japanese woman at that time, so that she was taken for a man when she reported to the Shogunate officers in Kyoto. She took part in the ''Kyoto defenders'' group led by Kyokawa Hachirō. Although the Rōshigumi was funded by the Tokugawa Bakufu, the leader Kyokawa Hachirō and others had strong loyalties to the emperor and planned to gather other ''rōnin'' in Kyoto to combat insurgents in the city. On March 26, 1863, Ki ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kondō Isami
was a Japanese swordsman and official of the late Edo period. He was the fourth generation master of Tennen Rishin-ryū and was famed for his role as commander of the Shinsengumi. Background He was born Miyagawa Katsugorō to a farmer Miyagawa Hisajirō and his wife Miyo in Kami-Ishihara village in Musashi Province (present city of Chōfu, Tokyo, Chōfu) in Western Tokyo on November 9, 1834. He had two older brothers, Otojirō (音次郎; later known as Otogorō 音五郎) and Kumezō (粂蔵; later known as Sōbei 惣兵衛) and an older sister Rie (リエ), who died two years before he was born. Katsugorō began training at the Shieikan (the main dojo of the Tennen Rishin-ryū) in 1848. As a young man he was said to be an avid reader, and especially liked the stories of the ''Forty-seven rōnin'' and the ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms''. His renown as a scholar and his fame at having defeated a group of thieves who tried to break into his family home was great, and caught ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hijikata Toshizō
was a Japanese warrior. As of the ''Shinsengumi'', he resisted the Meiji Restoration and fought to his end. Background was born on May 31, 1835, in the Ishida village, Tama region of Musashi Province (present day Ishida, Hino, Tokyo), Japan. He was the youngest of ten children and his father Hijikata Yoshiatsu (Hayato), a well-to-do farmer, died a few months before his birth. His eldest brother Tamejiro, was born blind and as a result, could not inherit the family property. His third older brother Daisaku (later Kasuya Ryojin), was adopted to another family and would later become a physician. His eldest sister Shuu died when he was about three years old and his mother Etsu also died when he was six years old, and he was therefore raised by his second older brother Kiroku and sister-in-law. He was apparently tall compared to the average Japanese men of the period, and it is said that he was very handsome. He was said to be spoiled at an early age and was alleged to be mean ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harada Sanosuke
was a Japanese warrior (''samurai'') who lived in the late Edo period. He was the 10th unit captain of the Shinsengumi, and died during the Boshin War. Background Harada was born to a family of ''chūgen'', or low-ranking quasi-samurai, who served the retainers of the Iyo-Matsuyama Domain (now the city of Matsuyama). He trained in the spear technique of the ''Hōzōin-ryū'' style, and usually used that weapon in battle instead of a sword.Nakami, p. 51. During his time in Matsuyama, he was once ridiculed by a Matsuyama retainer as being a peon who was unfamiliar with how to properly commit seppuku. Harada, wishing to prove the man wrong, immediately drew his sword and attempted to commit seppuku; however, the wound was shallow, and he survived. Harada later boasted of his scar to his fellow Shinsengumi men, and the incident of his near-disembowelment is said to be the origin of the family crest he chose, which depicted a horizontal line within a circle (). Later leaving the Mat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Okita Sōji
was the captain of the first unit of the Shinsengumi, a special police force in Kyoto during the late shogunate period. He was one of the best swordsmen of the Shinsengumi. Background He was born in 1842 or 1844 from a samurai family in the Shirakawa Domain's Edo mansion. His great-grandfather was Okita Kan'emon (d. 1819) and his grandfather was Okita Sanshiro (d. 1833.) His father, Okita Katsujiro, died in 1845; he had two older sisters, Okita Mitsu (1833–1907) and Okita Kin (1836–1908). In 1846, in order to marry the adopted son of the Okita family, Okita Rintarō (1826–1883), his oldest sister Okita Mitsu became an adopted daughter of Kondo Shusuke in name. Kondo Shusuke was the third master of the ''Tennen Rishin-ryū'' and Okita started training at the ''Shieikan'' with him around the age of nine. By that time, Kondo Shusuke had already adopted Shimazaki Katsuta (the later Kondō Isami), but Hijikata Toshizō had not yet enrolled at the Tennen Rishin-ryū school. Ok ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Okita Rintarō
(born ; March 30, 1826 – February 13, 1883) was a Japanese samurai of the late Edo period who was a of the '' Shinchōgumi'' (the Shinsengumi's counterpart in Edo). Biography Born in Hino, Edo in 1826, he was Inoue Sōzō's younger brother and related to Inoue Genzaburō's family.Mori Makiko 森満喜子. ''Okita Sōji omokage-shō'' 沖田総司・おもかげ抄. Tokyo: Shin Jinbutsu Oraisha, 1999. He later became an adopted son of Okita Katsujirō (Okita Sōji's father) and changed his name to Okita Rintarō before his marriage to Katsujirō's daughter Mitsu in 1846 (Kōka 3). He then served as the head of the Okita family in place of Sōji. A licensed practitioner of the Tennen Rishin Ryu, [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Serizawa Kamo
Serizawa Kamo (芹沢 鴨; September 2, 1826 – October 30, 1863) was a samurai known for being the original lead commander of the Shinsengumi. He trained in and received a licence in the Shindō Munen-ryū. "Kamo" means goose or duck in Japanese which was an odd name to call oneself at the time. His full name was ''Serizawa Kamo Taira no Mitsumoto''. Background The Serizawa family were upper-seat Goshi rank samurai in Serizawa village in Mito which is now the capital of Ibaraki Prefecture in Japan. Kamo was born as the youngest son and his childhood name was Genta. He had two older brothers and an older sister. He was educated with the Sonnō jōi ideals (meaning revere the Tenno (emperor) and expel the foreigners) and swordsmanship since childhood at Kodoukan which was a state school in Mito. Mito is a sub-branch of the Tokugawa family and it was considered the motherland of the Sonnō Jōi ideology and was a center of support for the Tennō and the Imperial court, which helped ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tōdō Heisuke
was a samurai of Japan's late Edo period who served as the eighth unit captain of the Shinsengumi. His full name was ''Tōdō Heisuke Fujiwara no Yoshitora''. Background Tōdō was from Edo, Musashi Province (now Tokyo). Very little is known about his origin. Although he was said to be an illegitimate child of Tōdō Takayuki, the 11th generation lord of the Tsu domain, this is highly debatable. However, one argument some use in favor of this theory is the fact that he possessed a sword made by ''Kazusa no suke'' Kaneshige, who was a swordmaker under the patronage of the Tsu domain; and that such a sword would be difficult for a mere rōnin to obtain, even by heritage. Another point that suggests possible Tsu domain heritage is his formal given name , , which shares a character in common with the name of the first Tōdō lord of Tsu, . Tōdō was a practitioner of the ''Hokushin Ittō-ryū'', trained at Chiba Shusaku Narimasa's dojo. However, according to some sources, he was tra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inoue Genzaburō
was born in Hino, Tokyo. He was the captain of the sixth unit of the Shinsengumi which were a special police force for the Tokugawa regime. Inoue is the oldest unit captain of Shinsengumi. Like his older brother, Inoue Matsugoro, Inoue Genzaburō was also a practitioner of the ''Tennen Rishin-ryū'' and mastered all the techniques of the school in 1860. However, it is a misconception that he lived at the Shieikan. In 1863, he joined the Rōshigumi together with Kondō Isami and other members of the Shieikan. Inoue Genzaburō was related to Okita Rintarō (Okita Sōji's brother-in-law). He arrested eight members of the Ishin Shishi during the Ikedaya Affair in 1864. Inoue died during the Battle of Toba–Fushimi (the first battle of the Boshin War) in January 1868.Rekishi Dokuhon, December 1997 issue "The Ten Captains of The Late Tokugawa Period's Strongest Shinsengumi", p.95 Inoue in Fiction Inoue is featured in ''Kaze Hikaru'' (manga), '' Getsumei Seiki'' (manga), and S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
