was a

samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...

of Japan's late

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

who served as the eighth unit captain of the

Shinsengumi The was a small secret police organization, elite group of swordsmen that was organized by commoners and low rank samurai, commissioned by the (military government) during Japan's Bakumatsu period (late Tokugawa shogunate) in 1863. It was ac ...

. 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 is a that was founded in the late Edo period by . He was one of the last masters who was called a . Curriculum and Characteristics The curriculum of this (martial arts style) contains mainly , and , but the main weapons used are the long ...

'', trained at Chiba Shusaku Narimasa's dojo. However, according to some sources, he was trained at Itō Kashitarō's dojo instead. In around 1862, he started "taking his meals" at Kondo Isami's Shieikan.

Shinsengumi period

In 1863, Tōdō joined the Rōshigumi with Kondō and other members of the Shieikan. After the

was formed, Tōdō first became a ''fukuchō jokin'' (assistant vice commander). Tōdō was the youngest unit captain of Shinsengumi. Sources vary as to his role in the Serizawa Kamo (one of the original commanders of the Shinsengumi) assassination. Tōdō received a wound on his forehead during the Ikedaya incident on July 8, 1864.Yamamura, Tatsuya. ''Shinsengumi Kenkyaku-Den''. Tokyo: PHP Kenkyūjo, 1998, p.177 He then became the captain of the eighth unit in 1865.

Death

Tōdō, having joined Itō Kashitarō's breakaway group, left the Shinsengumi. While with the help of six other defectors, attempting to retrieve the body of Itō who was killed earlier, he was killed along with Hattori Takeo and Mônai Arinosuke in an ambush by the Shinsengumi during the Aburanokōji incident in Aburanokōji, Kyoto on December 13, 1867. Their bodies were left there for 3 days before they were buried first in Kōen-ji, Kyoto. Later they were moved and interred in Kaikō-ji, Kyoto. According to Nagakura Shinpachi's ''Shinsengumi Tenmatsuki'', Kondō had wished to spare Tōdō's life. However, Tōdō was killed by a new member, Miura Tsunesaburō, who did not know the circumstances.

Background

Shinsengumi period

Death

Notes

Further reading