the four hitokiri of the bakumatsu were elite swordsmen and assassins who fought to overthrow the shogunate by taking out high profile political figures, and thus were enemies of the shinsengumi. they’ve been depicted in various media, the most famous probably being Kawakami Gensai as Himura Kenshin in Rurouni Kenshin.
[part of a personal project, reimagining the bakumatsu period in a fantasy au where there be ladies & nb folks]
the four hitokiri of the bakumatsu were elite swordsmen and assassins who fought to overthrow the shogunate by taking out high profile political figures, and thus were enemies of the shinsengumi. they’ve been depicted in various media, the most famous probably being Kawakami Gensai as Himura Kenshin in Rurouni Kenshin.
[part of a personal project, reimagining the bakumatsu period in a fantasy au where there be ladies & nb folks]
This is probably the biggest news that’s happened in Bakumatsu-related fandom since I joined fandom. After years of wondering and waiting, Shiba Ryotaro’s Ryoma ga Yuku, his most popular novel and the genesis of the current Ryoma boom, is being translated into English.
Full story on Japan Forward. The first volume is out, three more volumes slated to be translated by 2020. Amazingly, the entire project has been financed by a Japanese fan who wanted to bring the novel and Sakamoto’s story to English readers. So, I hope we can repay his investment by buying the novel he and the translators have worked so hard to bring us.
Volume 1 is available on Amazon as a Kindle digital edition. If you don’t have a Kindle, you can read it on your computer or other device with a free Kindle app. I’ve linked to the U.S. site but it’s available in 100 countries. I got it for $9.99 CDN: a cheap price for a 526 page volume. There’s no hardcopy available at this point in time.
So, if you’re not already scrambling to buy it, let me sell you on the novel. First of all, it’s good. I haven’t had the chance to read the entire volume yet, but I immediately did the scan-through, reading sections and taking a look at the whole story, and it’s really, really good. It’s funny and exciting, covering Sakamoto Ryoma’s early years till he flees Tosa domain without permission. There are a lot more purely fictional escapades and hijinks than in previous shorter translated Shiba Bakumatsu works. This is first and foremost a novel, and a very funny one. Here’s Sakamoto meeting Katsura Kogoro for the first time:
Ryoma felt sorry for Katsura. And he was the sort of man who, when he feels sorry for someone, tends to go too far in what he says: “Oh don’t be so hard on yourself. You see I am a spy.”
Katsura was so surprised to hear this that he could hardly breathe. Here he had cleared the man from the suspicion of being a spy, only to have him proclaim he was a spy and then go on to say, consolingly, “So you don’t need to worry about having done some injury to your domain. Your intuition about me was correct, and you acted just as you should have."
”Is he a simpleton?“ wondered Katsura again.
As you read the story, you can really see how Shiba shaped the way these historical figures are characterized in all forms of fiction today. The novel also has an excellent extensive introduction by historian Henry Smith who explores how the novel came to be written, its historical reliability (mixed), its relationship to Marius Jansen’s English research on Sakamoto, and the Ryoma legacy today.
If you missed it, this was my April Fool’s Day post on this blog here. I hope I didn’t dash anyone’s hope for Shinsengumi photos too badly. Doing April Fool’s Day posts has become a four year running tradition on this blog. I may let things slide and not post for months, but I’ll get out an April Fool’s Day post, damnit.
My other April 1st project was for Ask Historians’ April Fools’ Event. The theme this year was Clickbait, as long as it was historically accurate clickbait and my Bakumatsu contribution was
I have a confession to make. I have not watched Shinsengumi! I firmly believe all my friends who say it is a great series. I know I should watch it, all 49 episodes, plus the short sequel about Hijikata. But well, it’s 49 episodes. And I did watch the first episode once and … let’s not get into my Choshu trash bias. I promise I’ll watch it some day.
However, since it’s Shinsengumi!Day, I’m contributing from my store of random stuff I know about the taiga drama.
1.
During a review of NHK’S budget in 2004, Matsuoka Masuo, the Upper House representative for Yamaguchi Prefecture attacked the NHK’s portrayal of the Shinsengumi, which he called a ‘terrorist group,” labeling the program a “variety show” rather than a historical drama.
- Michael Wert, pg. 153, Meiji Restoration Losers
The context that makes this story hilarious: Yamaguchi = Choshu. Some grudges are never forgotten.
There are more specific data available at the nearby Yagi Residence, which is where Serizawa was assassinated. This old house is remarkable only for the violent events that occurred within its walls and the sword damage to pillars caused during the incident remain to this day. Up until the late 1990s, the Yagi Residence received twenty to forty visitors a day. During the 2004 Shinsengumi! boom, there were 600 to 800 visitors, rising to 1,000 on very busy days. After the drama, visitor numbers tailed off to 100 to 200. But, when repeats of Shinsengumi! or other related dramas are aired, these numbers rise to 300 or 400 (interview with the tour guide, 20 May 2012). These figures indicate how some tourist sites benefit in the long term by becoming better known and more established on heritage tourism itineraries. Shinsengumi! ratcheted up standard visitor levels by three to four times.
3. One result of theShinsengumi!mania was the manga Gintama.
When I was preparing for serialization, my editor told me to hop on the Taiga drama “Shinsengumi!” bandwagon, but the problem with historical fiction is that I’m limited by what I can write because of the historical content. I can’t use current events, and Shimura Ken doesn’t exist, and I can’t even use the phrase “I’m screwed!” This is like clipping the wings of my creative freedom, and I wind up saying “I’m screwed!” Setting this during Bakumatsu and changing the foreigners to aliens, I’ve somehow managed to create a crazy world where I can use historical and current topics. It’s not that I did it on purpose. It just happened. -Sorachi Hideaki,Quick Japan 2009 interview.
Also, according to Sorachi, his plan was to cash in with a Harry Potter clone.
Uh, yeah. So, I’d like to talk nakedly about how Gintama was born. It all started with a single thing my editor Monchicchi Onishi said to me. "You know, next year, Taiga dramais going to do Shinsengumi, right? Well, you could jump on the coattails of that.”
I had been thinking up a manga to be serialized… had it in my head to skim bits from Harry Potter, which I had never even seen, whip it up Japanese-style, and make a killing with a story about some kind of school for demon dispellers.
From the Japanese-English Bilingual Corpus of Wikipedia’s Kyoto Articles . This is a translation from Kawai Kisaburo’s Japanese wiki entry, exactly as it was in 2010. It is taken from PNM00214 in that collection.
For information on the database and how to use it, please check this post.
Just like English wikipedia, none of this information is guaranteed to be accurate. It’s not a current version of the Japanese article either.
An anon sent me an ask:
What is the real story of Kawai Kisaburo? How did he exactly die?
and I realized there isn’t any good information on Kawai Kisaburo in English, so here’s his 2010 Japanese wiki article. Unfortunately, there’s no good answer to this question. Kawaki Kisaburo, the Shinsengumi’s accountant, died of seppuku, and he was sentenced to seppuku for a shortfall in the Shinsengumi’s finances. The article presents a lot of the theories and stories around his death, but most of them are dramatic inventions for storytelling purposes.
The simplest explanation, that he was indeed skimming money for his own use, seems to me most likely, but there’s no way to know the truth now.
The translated sentences used in this service contain English contents which are translated by the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) from Japanese sentences on Wikipedia. My use of these translated sentences is licensed by the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0. Please refer to http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/orhttp://alaginrc.nict.go.jp/WikiCorpus/ for details.
Kisaburo KAWAI
Kisaburo KAWAI (1838 - March 28, 1866) was a Shinsengumi Accountant (a group who guarded Kyoto during the end of Tokugawa Shogunate).
Personality
He was from Takasago City, Harima Province, and his parents’ home was a wealthy Kuramoto (rice wholesaler). His sister, who married into Shoka (mercantile house) in Osaka recommended him to Shinsengumi, which caused Shinpachi NAGAKURA to refer that Kawai was from Osaka.
He played an active role in the accounting of expenses for the group as an accountant, utilizing his skills at arithmetic. Some people believe that he was behind the spear works (military exploits) of other members since he was an accountant. However, some people say that he was as good as the other members since he received rewards for his performance in the Ikedaya Incident; he was active as a ‘fighting accountant.’
In March in 1866, he was made to commit Seppuku (suicide by disembowelment).
Mystery behind his Seppuku (the followings are the assumed reasons)
Because he couldn’t manage to raise the expense for redeeming Miyuki Dayu, the concubine of Isami KONDO (It seems that there is no link between two issues; redeeming Miyuki Dayu was attempted at the different time from Kawai’s purge).
Because he failed account processing under the process of redeeming another geisha other than Miyuki Dayu.
Because he showed his reluctance or gave Kondo critical comments against Kondo’s lavish expenditure for his women as the person responsible for to control expenses of the group, which led to Kawai’s being purged.
Because Kawai misused Shinsengumi’s money for unknown reasons.
The reason which was adopted in the historic drama of NHK (to be described later).
Because Kawai’s plot to carry out a rebellion was identified.
Because he merely used Shinsengumi’s money for himself.
It is unmistakably true that Kawai was purged and died; What happened before Kawai’s death has not yet been identified.
In the historic drama of NHK 'Shinsengumi!’ in 2004, the reason for Kawai’s purge was that he lent Kanryusai TAKEDA, the leader of the fifth group, money for him to buy military science texts without Kondo’s permission.
According to another story, Kawai sent an emissary to his parents’ home to borrow money to cover the money for Shinsengumi to avoid committing Seppuku. At that time, there was a trouble at his parents’ home, by which the money from his parents had been delivered just after Kawai’s Seppuku. His parents, having heard of Kawai’s Seppuku, became extremely angry and had a great tomb built in Mibu-dera Temple to worship their son, apart from the tomb which was built by Shinsengumi.
From the Japanese-English Bilingual Corpus of Wikipedia’s Kyoto Articles . This is a translation from Okita Souji’s Japanese wiki entry, exactly as it was in 2010. It is taken from PNM00891 in that collection.
For information on the database and how to use it, please check this post.
Just like English wikipedia, none of this information is guaranteed to be accurate. It’s not a current version of the Japanese article either.
As these wiki articles go, Okita’s article is pretty good, because it often explains the sources for some of the facts and stories about him. You have to know where a story came from to be able to judge its reliability. The article isn’t well-organized; like many wiki articles, it suffers from too many authors just editing in their revisions and theories wherever they like, but I think you’ll get a lot out of it.
Some notes on the translation. They’ve consistently written “It is believed that ….. but not proven” when the original article’s meaning is that *someone* has such-and-such a theory, not that it’s commonly believed.
Imina is translated as “original name” when “posthumous name” is the more common English translation. And when it states that Okita’s “real name” was Fujiwara, it’s referring to his clan name, literally “honsei” - real name, but doesn’t mean Okita’s a fake name, just that the Okita family were - like many people - descendants of the Fujiwara clan. (As a bonus, if you’re a Gintama fan. Yorinuki Gintama ED4 is full of all sorts of symbols, including this shot of Okita with wisteria, the symbol of the Fujiwara.)
The translated sentences used in this service contain English contents which are translated by the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) from Japanese sentences on Wikipedia. My use of these translated sentences is licensed by the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0. Please refer to http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/orhttp://alaginrc.nict.go.jp/WikiCorpus/ for details.
Soji OKITA (summer, 1842 or 1844 - July 19, 1868) was a member of the Shinsengumi, a special police force in Kyoto, at the end of Edo period (there are two theories about the year of his birth, but no decisive historical materials against either of them have been found. Also, no historical materials confirming his birth date have ever been identified, and all that is known is that he was born in summer). He was the Assistant Vice Commander, captain of the First Corps and a master of kenjutsu sword fighting.
His real family name was Fujiwara.His Imina (original name) was Harumasa and later, Kaneyoshi. His childhood name was Sojiro. He was the eldest son of Katsujiro OKITA, a clansman of Shirakawa Domain in Mutsu Province. He had two older sisters, one of whom, Mitsu OKITA, married Rintaro OKITA, making him the head of the family. Mitsu’s great grand son Tetsuya OKITA (1930-) is a scholar of public administration and an emeritus professor of the department of politics and economics at Meiji University.
Biography
He was born in Shirakawa Domain’s Edo residence (Minato Ward, Tokyo). His father Katsujiro died when he was four years old, and it is thought that his mother also died when he was young. At the age of about nine, he was apprenticed to Shuzo KONDO, who taught the Tennen Rishin-ryu style of martial arts at a dojo in Ichigaya, Edo, and it was here at the Shieikan dojo that he met fellow students Isami KONDO and Toshizo HIJIKATA, who would later be central in the formation of the Shinsengumi.
Even though he was young, he served as the school manager of Tennenrishinryu. Okita’s genius with the sword is said to have been unequalled although his teaching style was rather rough. Later in his life, he softened his teaching style.
He joined the Roshigumi (an organization of masterless samurai) upon its formation in 1863 and left for Kyoto, remaining there with Kondo and forming the Shinsengumi after the group split. Okita’s First Corps was constantly tasked with important missions and, although the Shinsengumi was filled with expert swordsmen, often had the most number of kills, and was involved in the assassinations of Kamo SERIZAWA and Hikojiro UCHIYAMA in October, 1863.
Okita’s first recorded kill was on the evening of May 11, 1863. His opponent was Yoshio TONOUCHI, a member of the Roshigumi’s First Unit, who had come at Hachiro KIYOKAWA’s request.
After the Ikedaya Incident of July 8, 1864, where he was involved in the killings of several members of the anti-Shogunate faction, he collapsed after coughing up blood from tuberculosis (according to many theories) but based on his subsequent involvement in the Shinsengumi, it is unreasonable to think that he developed lung tuberculosis on that day. Instead, there is a theory that he collapsed from heat stroke.
In February 1865, he was sent after Shinsengumi Vice Commander Keisuke YAMANAMI, who had attempted to desert, and arrested him in Kusatsu City, Omi Province. Yamanami committed suicide assisted by Okita. Although Okita seemed to regard Yamanami as an older brother, he barely touched upon Yamanami’s death in a letter he sent home. He was active on the front lines until 1867, after which, unable to take part in the Battle of Toba-Fushimi, he was escorted to Osaka.
(The most widely-accepted theory at present is that he was injured on his way to the Battle of Toba-Fushimi and developed tuberculosis on the boat he was being escorted to Osaka on.) [Me:ok, usually I don’t comment within these articles, but no, this is not true and is contradicted in other bits of the article. Wiki is funny this way.]
After defeat at the Battle of Toba-Fushimi, he sailed back to Edo with other members and although according to several theories he joined the Koyo Chinbutai (the successor to the Shinsengumi), he was forced to drop out halfway. After that, it is thought that Ryojun MATSUMOTO, a retainer of the Shogun, made arrangements for him to hide in a plant shop in Sendagaya, where he died in 1868. Since his date of birth is uncertain, there are several opinions about how old he was when he died, but he is believed to have been between twenty-five and twenty-seven.
The purpose of their attack was to avenge the murder of their leader, Kashitaro ITO, by the Shinsengumi the previous month, but Okita had left for the Fushimi Magistrate’s office and therefore escaped the attempt. In the evening of the same day, Isami KONDO was shot and injured by Abe and the others on his way back from Nijo Castle. In the evening on the same day, Isami KONDO was shot and got injured by Abe and other members when he was back from Nijo-jo Castle.
Two months after Isami KONDO was beheaded, Okita died, unaware of KONDO’s death. The poem he composed on his deathbed reads ‘In the dark, flowers and water cannot be discerned unless they move’. His grave is in Sensho-ji Temple in Motoazabu 3 cho-me, Minato Ward, Tokyo. His Kaimyo (posthumous Buddhist name) given by Sensho-ji Temple is Kenkoinjinyomeido-koji. The inscription on the Okita family grave stone states that he held menkyo-kaiden (a document handed down by a teacher to the student he believes is most capable of carrying on his art) for the Hokushin Itto-ryu school as well as Tennen Rishin-ryuu.
There are three theories about his age when he died: twenty-four according to the Okita family grave stone; twenty-five according to documents held by the Okita family; and twenty-seven, if, as described in Shikanosuke KOJIMA’s “Ryoyushiden”, he was twenty-two when he left for Kyoto.
There are also two opinions about the place where he died, one being Sendagaya and the other Imado (Taito Ward), but at present, it is widely accepted that after staying in Imado to recuperate for a while, he moved to Sendagaya and died there.
Shozan SAKUMA’s son, Keinosuke MIURA, had been made fun of by a fellow Shinsengumi officer. There is a story that a few days later, Hijikata and Okita were playing a game of Go when Miura attacked the officer who had made fun of him from behind and Okita, infuriated by the cowardly attack, grabbed Miura by the collar and, calling him a 'bloody idiot’, pushed his face into the floor until his nose was raw.
Belying his appearance as an able leader of the Ichiban-gumi, he was apparently a cheerful person who was always telling jokes and laughing. It seems he often played with children in his neighborhood. When novelist Ryotaro SHIBA was writing a book featuring the Shinsengumi, he interviewed an old woman who used to play with Okita when she was small. (Taking into account that the interview took place around 1960 and that the Meiji Restoration was in 1868, the woman must have been quite old, but it means that people who actually met Soji OKITA were still alive.)
Although Kanefumi NISHIMURA was known for severely criticizing Kondo, Hijikata and other members of the Shinsengumi, he left no comments on Okita or Keisuke YAMANAMI. This seems to show that Nishimura had no bad feelings towards Yamanami and Okita, and Okita is believed to have been easy-going towards people who were not hostile to the Shinsengumi.
It is believed that just before his death, he tried several times to kill a black cat which often sneaked into the plant shop’s yard but always missed and, realizing his own weakness, he said as follows. Alas, I cannot kill it!’ See! (he said to the old woman who was attending him), I cannot kill it’ (this story is said to have been created by Kan SHIMOZAWA.)
There is also a story that he was worried about Kondo and, up until his death, he repeatedly asked, 'I am wondering how the master (Kondo) has been. Didn’t we receive a letter from him?’ Because people close to him were prohibited from telling him about Kondo’s death, he passed away without learning of it.
There is another anecdote that when Kondo was still alive and visiting Okita in bed before setting out with the Koyo Chinbutai, the usually cheerful Okita on this occasion sobbed loudly.
It is generally thought that Kondo, Hijikata and Okita were very close to each other, with Hijikata and Okita in particular being like brothers, but this is largely the result of novels by Ryotaro SHIBA and Kan SHIMOZAWA. There are no materials to show that Hijikata and Okita were extremely close, although there is a record of Okita writing a letter on behalf of Hijikata.
Juro ABE, who was opposed to the Shinsengumi, said, 'Kondo’s high-caliber disciples, Soji OKITA and Kuwajiro OISHI, are very cruelhearted men and, from the beginning, appear not to have realized even the existence of the state or the Imperial Court’ (“Shidankaisokkiroku”) and attacked them and Izo OKADA for having no ideological background and for being used as “tools to kill people”.
In addition, according to Okita’s students, he was 'extremely harsh and quick-tempered’ and they feared him more than the master, Kondo. The image of Okita gained from anecdotes such as his telling his trainees, 'Don’t kill people with your sword! Kill them with your body!’ and other records differs greatly from the gentle and calm image that is widely known in public.
Okita’s most famous sword technique is the 'Sandantsuki’ (Three Stage Thrust). Starting from the Tennenrishin-ryu stance of 'hiraseigan’, he delivered three thrusts in the time he was heard to take one step forward. It is often presented in novels as his opponent thinking he has been stabbed once when actually, in the blink of an eye, he has been stabbed three times. However, the exact details are unknown.
According to Sen SATO in “Shinsengumi Ibun”, Okita’s sword style was identical to his master, Kondo’s and even his thin, high-pitched yells were very alike. However, it is thought that he had a habit of leaning his body forward and holding his sword with the point slightly lowered, a slightly different posture to Kondo, who pushed his abdomen a little forward in the hiraseigan stance.)
Shinpachi NAGAKURA’s statement that Okita’s technique 'left Toshizo HIJIKATA, Genzaburo INOUE, Heisuke TODO, Keisuke YAMANAMI and the others looking like children playing with bamboo swords. Everyone said that if Okita seriously fought his master, Kondo would lose,’ (“Nagakura Shinpachi Idan,”) is well-known but there are also comments to the same effect from outside the Shinsengumi’s inner circle.
Shikanosuke KOJIMA mentioned before the formation of Shinsengumi (in July 1862) that Okita 'is someone who will definitely reach the level of a master of the sword later in his life’ (“Kojima Nikki”) and Kanefumi NISHIMURA, although critical of the Shinsengumi, called him 'Kondo’s most cherished follower and the best swordsman in his unit’ and 'a genius with the sword’ (“Mibu Roshi Shimatsuki”). Juro ABE, who fought against the Shinsengumi, stated in “Shidankaisokkiroku” that 'As one of Kondo’s students, Soji OKITA is an excellent swordsman’, ’ Soji OKITA and Kamajiro OISHI are young but have shown great skill with the sword on many occasions’ and 'Kamajiro OISHI, Soji OKITA and Genzaburo INOUE have killed people without reason’, all of which shows it would have been extremely dangerous to make enemies of them. The only negative opinion was from Yaichiro CHIBA, a member of the Shinchogumi (the Shinsengumi’s Edo counterpart) and a colleague of Okita’s brother-in-law, who said, 'from our viewpoint, their skills are suitable for mokuroku (a low level)’
Of course, Nagakura’s statement that Yamanami, who had attained 'menkyo-kaiden’ in the Hokushin Itto-ryu, and Todo, who was almost at the mokuroku level, were like children seems extreme, but may imply how superb and outstanding Okita’s skill with the sword was.
In novels, the sword owned by Soji OKITA is depicted as being a 'Kikuichimonji Norimune’ (swords made at the beginning of the thirteenth century). The story gained popularity following its appearance in the novel “Shinsengumi Keppuroku” by Ryotaro SHIBA, who based it on descriptions in biograraphies such as that by Kan SHIMOZAWA, where the sword is described as being 'a thin Kikuichimonji one’. However, despite being a period when Japanese swords were everyday items, Norimune swords were extremely valuable old swords, and it is believed that, from an economical point of view and from the necessity of having to use it often in actual battles, Okita would hardly have been likely to own one, although the matter has hardly been discussed among researchers.
Okita is known to have owned swords made by Kiyomitsu KASHU and Yasusada YAMATO NO KAMI. In addition to the Norimune swords, there were several other thin types of swords with a “Kikuniichi” crest, and it is possible that Okita’s sword may have been one of these. In any event, like the other members of the Shinsengumi, he is likely to have exchanged his swords often during his stay in Kyoto.
Since his appearance in Ryotaro SHIBA’s novels, he has often been depicted in fiction, including novels and TV series, as a handsome young man.Okita's likeness can be seen in a portrait that was painted in 1929 based on a claim by his older sister, Mitsu, that her grandson, Kaname, 'somehow resembles Soji’. There are no descriptions of him being 'a handsome youth’ from members of the Yagi family or from people connected to the Shinsengumi; instead, he is described as having a 'face like a flatfish, though tanned and not unnattractive when laughing’, 'square shoulders’, 'a rounded back’ and being 'very tall.’ (In “Ryoma ni omakase!” (Leave things to Ryoma) and “Getsumeiseiki - Sayonara Shinsengumi”, the depiction of Okita was closer to the above.)
The image that emerges from these descriptions casts doubt on the 'handsome youth’ theory. Ryotaro SHIBA, wanting to enhance the drama (a young man killed by tuberculosis just as his skill with the sword is becoming legendary) in Okita’s life and so made him a handsome young man in his novel “Moeyo Ken”, which was followed by many other works, including the movie “Bakumatsu Junjoden” in which Okita was depicted as beatiful girl. The image of Okita as a handsome young man seems to come from the mistaken notion that the dramatized image of him as “a powerful swordsman and cheerful but, at the same time, sickly and pale” is the generally accepted image. The fact that Okita is always played on the screen by young, good-looking actors is also thought to have had a significant influence on his image.
However, the origin of the 'Soji’s face is like a flatfish’ belief seemed to be a light jokey answer made by a great grand son of Hikogoro SATO when Haruo TANI said a lighthearted joke to him in a TV program, and according to Tani, 'Soji’s face is like a flatfish’ does not mean his face is flat but the two eyes of other family members including his sisters in photos are closely-spaced.
However, Tetsuya OKITA completely rejected this idea. According to him, Soji was described within the Okita family as 'a light-skinned and small man’. For likenesses and pictures, follow the external links.
Following his appearance in Ryotaro SHIBA’s books, Okita is generally often depicted in fiction as a pure and innocent young man. Most works describe him as having a platonic relationship with the daughter of a local doctor, and in actual fact, he seems to have steered clear of women from Karyukai (the geisha district), unlike Kondo and Hijikata.
However, according to the April 22, 1863 entry of his Matsugoro INOUE’s diary, Hijikata, Matsugoro, Genzaburo INOUE and Okita paid for prostitutes at the Yoshidaya in the Kuken-cho area of the Shinmachi courtesan’s district, so it cannot be said that he never played around with women, although when talk turned to a woman he was fond of, he became very serious.
The register of deaths at Koen-ji Temple lists as 'Okita’s relative’ a woman who is thought to have been Okita’s lover. According to the researchers, the woman’s name was Tsune ISHII and she had a daughter. It is believed, but unproven, that the woman gave birth to Okita’s daughter, who was named Kyo. There was another Okita in the Shinsengumi, a man called Jonoshin OKITA, who had been recruited by Hijikata in Edo in 1865, and there is a theory that the 'Okita’ in the register of deaths may be Jonoshin.
There is an old anecdote that a woman (who was apparently a strong-willed and spirited person) working in the Shieikan dojo asked Okita to marry her but he turned down her proposal, saying 'I am still an apprentice’ (the woman attempted suicide, possibly because of his rejection, and later married another man after being introduced by Kondo). It is believed that this woman was Ko IWATA, who is thought to have been Shuhei KONDO’s fiancée.
He is also thought to have been close to a girl called Kin, the daughter of the Satomo Inn on Aburakoji Street.
Works of fiction always have Soji OKITA coughing up blood and collapsing during the fighting in the Ikedaya Incident. However, as mentioned above, this anecdote is not supported by researchers. Reasons include the fact that the description of Okita’s coughing up blood only appears in Kan SHIMOZAWA’s “Shinsen-gumi Shimatsuki”; Okita participated in the hunt for the remnants of the Choshu forces (see “Akebonotei Jiken”, the Akebonotei Incident); and there is a record (“Koshi sensoki” Kanefumi NISHIMURA) of him joining Isami KONDO, Saizo HIJIKATA, Kanryusai TAKEDA and Shinpachi NAGAKURA in the Kinmon Incident the following month, and if his tuberculosis was advanced enough to cause him to cough up blood, they would not have dared to let him go.
There is another anecdote that after the Shinsengumi’s group medical examination in around 1866, the shogunate’s doctor, Ryojun MATSUMOTO, left a note that 'one of the members had pulmonary tuberculosis’, and it is thought that the man may have been Soji OKITA.
In 1867, the disease seems to have progressed enough that people around him noticed it; Shikanosuke KOJIMA in “Ryoyu jitsuroku” said he contracted it in March; according to Kanefumi NISHIMURA’s “Mibu Roshi Shimatsuki”, he was seriously ill around September when the quarters were moved to Fudodo Village; and in a letter to Kondo dated October 13, Kojima wrote that he was worried about Okita’s worsening condition. Given the above, when Okita’s health condition worsened so critical that he could not bear fighting was from autumn to winter in 1867. It is also thought that his intense exercise might have been an added burden on his lungs and aggravated his illness.
The scenes of Okita spitting blood and falling unconscious at the Ikedaya in works such as “Shinsengumi Shimatsuki” seem to have originated in Shinpachi NAGAKURA’s “Shinsengumi Tenmatsuki”, which, while not mentioning spitting blood, does describe Okita falling unconscious. He may have suffered a light and temporary heat stroke following the intense battle, which took place on a humid and extremely hot day in early summer, and it is thought that his condition did not raise any questions about his lungs for those close to him, including Kondo and Nagakura.
From the Japanese-English Bilingual Corpus of Wikipedia’s Kyoto Articles . This is a translation from the Ezo Republic’s Japanese wiki entry, exactly as it was in 2010. It is taken from HST00891 in that collection.
For information on the database and how to use it, please check this post.
Just like English wikipedia, none of this information is guaranteed to be accurate. It’s not a current version of the Japanese article either.
This article is really interesting but also a real mess of a translation. If you want to read the whole thing and understand some of its mangled English, I’d suggest first reading the entire Ezo Republic article on English Wikipedia for context.
However, if you just want to find out how many votes Hijikata Toshizo got in the Ezo election for president, or the exact structure of the Ezo military (including which battalion Iba Hachirou commanded), scroll down past the confusing bad translations. This article is a treasure.
The translated sentences used in this service contain English contents which are translated by the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) from Japanese sentences on Wikipedia. My use of these translated sentences is licensed by the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0. Please refer to http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/orhttp://alaginrc.nict.go.jp/WikiCorpus/ for details.
Ezo Republic
The Ezo republic that was built in January 1869 was a familiar name of the Ezo Island Government, a political power belonging to Sabaku-ha which existed for a short time in Ezochi (inhabited area of Ainu) (Hokkaido). It ruined due to the end of the Battle of Hakodate on May 18, 1869.
Summary
In 1867 in the late Edo period, the Edo bakufu ruined due to the Taisei Hokan conducted by the 15th Seii Taishogun, Yoshinobu TOKUGAWA, then through the mediation of Tetsutaro YAMAOKA, the bloodless surrender of Edo Castle was decided at a meeting of Takamori SAIGO, a general officer of the grand government general, and Kaishu KATSU, president of the Tokugawa family’s army.
Takeaki ENOMOTO, the Vice-President of Navy, who made sure that Yoshinobu TOKUGAWA left the capital for Shizuoka, went away form Edo for Ezo leading eight military ships on Kaiyomaru as a flagship from off Shinagawa on August 19, 1868, for the purpose of rescue of former retainers of shogun and protection of Hokuhen. On the way, in Sendai, he merged the remnants of Denshutai (Edo shogunate’s army) which was put to rout in the Aizu War, Old Shinsengumi and Shogitai, then reached Kitakami and Morimachi (Hokkaido) where he suppressed each region, captured Goryokaku, got the Prefectural Governor, Kinnaru SHIMIZUDANI, on the run and put the whole Ezo Island under his control.
The person who used the term Ezo ‘Republic’ for the first time was a foreigner. It was Adams, a diplomat of the British Legation, who accompanied the Captain of Anglo-French warship and met ENOMOTO in Nonvember 1868. In the book 'History of Japan’ he wrote in 1874, he introduced Hakodate Seicho as a “Republic”, and after that, the people who used his expression got the majority. This political power is also just called Hakodate Government, but this naming is not appropriate because it did never aim at a sovereign independence nor defending local authority. ENOMOTO and others did not called it 'Ezo Republic’, nor declared it was an independent sovereign state. There is also another theory that states that it should be called 'the territory of a group of surviving retainers of the Ezo Tokugawa Shogun Family’, considering their purpose and the circumstances.
It is often said that 'the Enomoto Government’ was admitted as 'Authorities De Facto’ by foreign countries, and here is the actual background. On November 4, 1868 after the Enomoto’s army occupied Hakodate, the British warship Satellite and the French warship Venius entered the Hakodate port together with Adams, Secretary of British Legation, on board, following the directive of Harry Parkes, British Minister. At this time, a salute was fired at Benten Daiba to welcome the both worships, but they ignored it.
On November 5, the British and French consuls stationed on the spot and the captains of the two warships held a meeting, and at this this, the two captains were highly evaluating the Enomoto’s Army. After a while, Naoyuki NAGAI, a Hakodate bugyo administering the Hakodate port, came over and asked them to wait for a while until Enomoto came back from his business trip to Matsumae. NAGAI had a lot of experience of diplomacy, and his attitude gave a good impression to not only the British and French consuls but also the captains of the British and French warships. During the meeting, Enomoto Fleet’s flagship Kaiyomaru fired a twenty-one-gun salute to welcome the visit of guests. The American, Russian and Prussian consuls looked at this and made a courtesy call on Kaiyomaru without going to the British and French warships.
On November 8, Enomoto met the British and French consuls and the captains of the British and French warships. The claims of the British and French side were severe, but he could do nothing but accept it taking into account of the public law. After the meeting, Enomoto demanded a memorandom, and the captains of British and French warships accepted it. A few days later, they sent Enomoto a memorandam shown below.
We maintain neutrarity about this domestic issue. We do not approve any privileges as a 'warring group’. We approve it as Authorities De Facto.
That means, it was actually nothing but a mamorandam made freely by the captains of the British and French warshipsl, who had a good impression on Enomoto and ignored the intention of their countries (although the use of the terms as above was carefully avoided in the directive made by the British Minister Harry Parkes.) An elementary mistake was made despite the presence of Secretary Adams.
But, once Enomoto read it, he was delighted saying 'This is a useful description. We can take it in any way’. He thought about this memorandam as follows. In the diplomatic terms, 'strict neutrarity’ can be used only in case of 'outside neutrarity’, and in case of 'domestic issue’, it means 'nonintervention of domestic affairs’ (that means, it is strange to say 'strict neutrarity’ for 'domestic affairs’).
A 'warring group’ can be used in case of attempting separation and independence from Japan or overthrow of the government, therefore, any use of the force for a demand such as taking away someone’s land is not serious and is not applable (Enomoto had no intention to attempt 'separation and independence’ from Japan nor 'overthrow of the government’, so his group did not need to be certified as a 'warring group’.)
Authorities De Facto’ means the one which has completed occupation, settled down sufficiently and nearly formed a country. In this case, it had not got there yet, so probably they used these terms because of not getting used to the terms and their good impression on Hakodate that made them careless about it.
The first 'public bid’ in Japan took place in order to organize Ezo Island Government.
Furthermore, it was separated into two groups, 'Army group’ and 'Navy group’, and the 'Army group’ was further divided into small groups such as 'Shogitai’ and 'Sho-shogitai (small Shogitai)’, therefore, the entire army was not a monolithic organization. Because of this, the first 'public bid’ in Japan was decided to take place modeling after the oversea political system such as America. The persons who took part in the vote were the leaders (commissioned officers) and the higher ranking officials of the Old Bakufu Deserters’ Army, and noncomissioned officers and soldiers were excluded, and of course, Hakodate residents did not take part in it, neither.
On December 15, 1868, the first 'bid (election)’ of Japan took place when the New Government was established.
The details of 856 votes at total were as follows.
As it is shown, Takeaki ENOMOTO obtained the largest number of votes. However, it was less than 20% of the entire votes, not a majority, and the votes were dispersed to each group. Referring to the results of the 'bid’, primary cabinet members were selected as follows.
President, Takeaki ENOMOTO Vice-President, Taro MATSUDAIRA Navy Bugyo, Ikunosuke ARAI Army Bugyo, Keisuke OTORI Army Bugyo Nami, Toshizo HIJIKATA Hakodate Bugyo, Naoyuki NAGAI Hakodate Bugyo Nami, Saburosuke NAKAJIMA Esashi Bugyo, Shirojiro MATSUOKA Esashi Bugyo Nami, Masanoshin KOSUGI Matsumae Bugyo, Katsutaro HITOMI Reclamation Bugyo, Tarozaemon SAWA Accounting Bugyo, Michiaki ENOMOTO (Tsushima) Accounting Bugyo, Rokushiro KAWAMURA Head of warship, Gengo KAGA Head of infantry, Sakuzaemon FURUYA Trial Chief of Army and Navy, Shigekata TAKENAKA Trial Chief of Army and Navy, Nobuo IMAI
Not all of the candidates who gained the votes could become the cabinet members, and the poll was not entirely reflected on the selection. Thus, they could make a form of government, but the financial situtation deteriorated, and the war funds they had raised were running short. So, Michiaki ENOMOTO, Accounting Bugyo who had ever been in charge of fund raising at the Old Bakufu, and Taro MATSUDAIRA, Vice-President, counterfeited money for circulation, and they became notorious for 'Deserter’s money’ for this reason,
Furthermore, they even did bad things, such as demanding unreasonable commissions to stall keepers at fairs, pestering hush money in exchange of tolerating gambles, imposing tax on prostitutes and collecting passage fee from women and children at the gates set up in the city, all of which provoked residents’ antipathy. When the financial situation finally got to the deadend, the leaders of the Old Bakufu planned to collect money and valuables from wealthy merchants in Hakodate, but Toshizo HIJIKATA was strongly againt it, and the plan was turned down. However, residents’ antipathy to the Old Bakufu was increasing, and some of them joined the 'Yuguntai’, a guerrilla standing on the new government side, or worked as spies for the new government army.
The Old Bakufu was separated into Army and Navy taking the organization as follows.
For your information, rejiman (“列士満” (レジマン)) means 'Regiment’ in French, and Japanese phonetic-equivalent characters were used.
Army
(Army Bugyo: Keisuke OTORI, Army Bugyo Nami: Toshizo HIJIKATA)
The First Regiment: the First Battalion (Mitsutaro TAKIGAWA, four platoons, Troop of Denshu commissioned officers, Shoshogi-tai, Shinboku-tai), the Second Battalion (Hachiro IBA, seven platoons, Commando unit, Shinsengumi, Shogitai).
The Second Regiment (Koshichiro HONDA): the First Battalion (Shojiro OKAWA, four platoons, Denshu Infantry), the Second Battalion (Shirojiro MATSUOKA, five platoons, Ichiren-tai).
The Third Regiment: the First Battalion (Saemon KASUGA, four platoons, Kasuga-tai), the Second Battalion (Juntaro HOSHI, four platoons, Gakuhei-tai).
The Fourth Regiment (Sakuzaemon FURUYA): the First Battalion (Kakushinsai NAGAI, five platoons, Shoho-tai), the Second Battalion (Shintaro AMANO, five platoons, Shoto-tai).
Kaiyomaru (Tarozaemon SAWA, sank off Esashi in November 1868) Kaitenmaru (Gengo KOKA, later Seikichi NEZU, self-burned at the Hakodate port in May 1869) Takaomaru (Kenzo OGASAWARA, self-burned at the Kunohe port in March 1869) Banryumaru (Bankichi MATSUOKA, self-burned at the Hakodate port in May 1869) Chiyogatamaru (Hirosaku MORIMOTO, aground at the Hakodate port in April 1869) Shinsokumaru (Shinzo NISHIKAWA, sank off Esashi in November 1868) Transport Ship : Oemaru, Chogeimaru, Hoomaru, Nagasakimaru, Mikahomaru, Kaishunmaru
About ten soldiers including Assistant Chief Jules Brunet, Captain of Artillery Unit, deserted French Military Advisory Team which was giving a military drill to Bakufu Denshutai (Edo shogunate’s army) at Ota Jinya (regional government office) in Yokohama City from 1867, and abandoned the French national army to join the Ezo Government. Jules Brunet was appointed as assistant of Keisuke OTORI Army Bugyo, and four 'brigades’ were led by french commanders, Arthur Fortant, Jean Marlin, Andre Cazeneuve and François Bouffier. The French soldiers who got involved escaped to a French ship being at anchor off Hakodate calling for protection before the fall of the Goryokaku.
For communication to the French soldiers, Masachika TAJIMA who had learned French at Yokohama Futsugo Denshu Sho (French school under direct control of Bakufu) and others were in charge of interpreters. Keisuke OTORI left favorable comments in his Nanki Kiko, saying, Brunet is 'still young but quite smart’, Cazeneuve is 'very brave and often showed a great performance in the military advance to Matsumae’.
Alright people, I want to get to the bottom of this.
Whybesideshewhoshouldnotbenamedand all that popularity (even though other people are just as popular :P) isRyoma that cursed of a topic?
Since I’m afraid I’m the tumblr exemplar of this trope, here’s my answer.
Sakamoto Ryoma is famous for things that he didn’t do, ideas he didn’t have, and his real beliefs and deeds are overlooked.
This is not entirely uncommon in the Bakumatsu Pantheon of Saints. Unlike the popular conceptions:
- The Shinsengumi weren’t noble honourable samurai.
- Takasugi Shinsaku was a samurai snob who didn’t found the Kiheitai to make everyone equal.
- Yoshida Shoin wasn’t an innocent martyr. He had to work pretty hard to get the shogunate to execute him.
- Matsudaira Katamori and the Aizu faction were not hardcore loyalists to the shogunate.
- Katsu Kaishu was NOT THE ONLY MAN IN JAPAN WHO UNDERSTOOD THE NEED FOR MODERNIZATION.
Ok, that last one’s related to the Sakamoto myth. But what I feel sets Sakamoto apart in this world of legend, exaggeration, and forgetting inconvenient facts, is the uttersmugness of Sakamoto’s fictionalization. It’s not just that he’s popular and gets into other stories, when he does get into a story, he is The Only Man Who Can See Past the Factionalism and Fighting to The True Unity of Japan. He isn’t partisan, he’s friendly to everyone, he can see the good on all sides, and stands above all the other characters who are locked in their traditional old disputes.
In the most extreme cases, he’s lauded as a pacifist. This bit from Hakuouki Shinkai really got my goat.
He didn’t ever say this even IN THE GAME. I actually ended up really liking Sakamoto’s Hakouki route, because it did address his actual actions as a gun runner and architect of the Satcho military coalition. But this idea of a pacifist saint is so pervasive that the author or translator (don’t know who is responsible) in the exact same route wrote that sentence above without blinking.
Real Sakamoto is great. Fictional Sakamoto can be a pain in the ass, and he’s EVERYWHERE.
Compared to Shinsengumi though….which one do you feel is more realisticly adapted? Just curious. I don’t know that much about Ryoma, but I do feel like at least some Shinsengumi adaptations do try to be darker (if that makes sense?)
Absolutely the Shinsengumi. Even the fluffiest Shinsengumi adaptations do make reference to them being scary, ruthless in pursuing their goals etc. That may be pushed to the side and off-screen, but it’s NOTHING compared to how Ryoma’s character can be gutted.
I’ll give you an example.Ryomaden, the NHK taiga drama about Sakamoto Ryoma’s life actually cut one of the greatest Sakamoto Ryoma moments because it didn’t fit their peaceful image of him. It’s the moment in Sakamoto Ryoma’s life where he goes to assassinate Bakufu official, Katsu Kaishu, and is instead won over by Katsu’s arguments, admits to planning to kill him, then gets a job offer from Katsu.
This isn’t a legend that’s not documented. It was written down independently by both Katsu Kaishu and Matsudaira Shungaku, the daimyo who warned Katsu about the plan, with the advice that Sakamoto could probably be won over if Katsu talked to him. It’s likely it wasn’t the most well-conceived plan, Sakamoto seems like he may have been already planning to see what Katsu could say for his views, but it happened, and it’s GLORIOUS. It shows off Sakamoto at his most quixotic, headstrong, passionate, but ready to make a change when he recognizes he’s wrong.
Ryomaden instead has Sakamoto go for a job interview because Katsu sounds awesome to him. THAT is the Ryoma curse.
Alright people, I want to get to the bottom of this.
Whybesideshewhoshouldnotbenamedand all that popularity (even though other people are just as popular :P) isRyoma that cursed of a topic?
Since I’m afraid I’m the tumblr exemplar of this trope, here’s my answer.
Sakamoto Ryoma is famous for things that he didn’t do, ideas he didn’t have, and his real beliefs and deeds are overlooked.
This is not entirely uncommon in the Bakumatsu Pantheon of Saints. Unlike the popular conceptions:
- The Shinsengumi weren’t noble honourable samurai.
- Takasugi Shinsaku was a samurai snob who didn’t found the Kiheitai to make everyone equal.
- Yoshida Shoin wasn’t an innocent martyr. He had to work pretty hard to get the shogunate to execute him.
- Matsudaira Katamori and the Aizu faction were not hardcore loyalists to the shogunate.
- Katsu Kaishu was NOT THE ONLY MAN IN JAPAN WHO UNDERSTOOD THE NEED FOR MODERNIZATION.
Ok, that last one’s related to the Sakamoto myth. But what I feel sets Sakamoto apart in this world of legend, exaggeration, and forgetting inconvenient facts, is the uttersmugness of Sakamoto’s fictionalization. It’s not just that he’s popular and gets into other stories, when he does get into a story, he is The Only Man Who Can See Past the Factionalism and Fighting to The True Unity of Japan. He isn’t partisan, he’s friendly to everyone, he can see the good on all sides, and stands above all the other characters who are locked in their traditional old disputes.
In the most extreme cases, he’s lauded as a pacifist. This bit from Hakuouki Shinkai really got my goat.
He didn’t ever say this even IN THE GAME. I actually ended up really liking Sakamoto’s Hakouki route, because it did address his actual actions as a gun runner and architect of the Satcho military coalition. But this idea of a pacifist saint is so pervasive that the author or translator (don’t know who is responsible) in the exact same route wrote that sentence above without blinking.
Real Sakamoto is great. Fictional Sakamoto can be a pain in the ass, and he’s EVERYWHERE.
This post began with a conversation about Hakuouki and its distant relationship to accurate history.
@saitohajime: like i doooooon think they were vampires
*significant pause *
Me: ok, so oddly enough … have you ever heard of the blood-tax riots in the early Meiji period?
where the rumour started that the Meiji govt. was taking away recruits, and draining their blood
When I first read about the blood-tax riots, my mind immediately flew to Hakuouki. Reading the following, I asked myself about the Hakuouki writers, Did they know about this? It’s just way too similar to be a coincidence, right?
There were other cunning ways in which supernatural signifiers were manipulated to generate action among commoners in the countryside. Protest organizers often played on common fears and folk beliefs to coalesce the complaints and frustrations of commoners into riots against the policies of both the authorities of the bakumatsuperiod and their early Meiji successors. Since Perry’s arrival in 1853, the increased news, presence, and fear of foreigners in Japan—especially among xenophobic commoners—created conditions that were ripe for the strategic use of bakemono to exploit a general fear of strangers.
“Bakemono” (lit. changing thing) was an umbrella term for all sorts of yokai or unidentified supernatural creatures.
One such example of the exploitation of folk beliefs to counter new policies of the Restorers involved connecting military conscription to folk tales concerning the appearance and subsequent murder of a “stranger” (ijin) in the village community: whereas Komatsu links the spread throughout the country side of these so-called ijingoroshi (stranger-killing) stories to the outside introduction of a capitalistic monied economy to the village community during the mid-Tokugawa period, in Meiji the image of theijin was put to other uses.“
After being repeatedly tortured by government police, Fudeyasu Shigetaro, the ringleader of the 1873 Okayama "blood-tax riots” (ketsu-zei ikki), confessed to having exploited false rumors circulating around Okayama concerning the military conscription order that had been issued that year. In his account it was revealed that the people in the region had spread stories that those conscripted would be taken away by a “person in white” and have their blood drained. To avoid this fate, it was imperative to kill such a stranger if he or she appeared in the village. Just before the riot broke out, Fudeyasu purposely had a person dressed in white wander through the villages in the area to incite the uprising. The government and newspapers attributed the riots to a misunderstanding of the word ketsuzei(blood-tax) in reference to military conscription. Kawamura, however, presents evidence that the Okayama blood-tax riot, as well as those in Tottori, Kagawa, and other areas, arose from a much more broadly based sentiment against government collaboration with foreigners in the program of civilization and enlightenment. Ketsutori(blood-taking) was not the only word commoners used to signify the object of fear associated with military conscription;aburatori (fat- or marrow-taking) and kotori (child-taking) were also used. According to one contemporary article critical of the official explanation for the riots, the idea of blood-taking (or fat-taking or child-taking) circulated among the populace well before the 1873 conscription order, usually in association with Western foreigners who, since the end of the Tokugawa period, had been believed to “take the lifeblood of children and refine medicines with it, mix the fresh blood of pregnant women and drink it in medicines, and also coat electrical wires with the blood of virgins.”
The blood-drinking Westerner was an old misconception among the Japanese dating back to their first encounter in the fifteenth century with Christian ritual that professed the drinking of wine transubstantiated into Christ’s blood. Consequently, the drinking of any red wine, unfamiliar to the average Japanese, became associated with blood-drinking foreigners. Kawamura interprets the mention of medicines and electrical wires in early Meiji allusions to blood-sucking strangers as an emblem of bunmei kaika, a movement that entailed the introduction of foreigners, many of whom truly appeared as monsters to the common folk. The modern blood tests and inoculations given during the health examinations of new military conscripts could only intensify the unease already felt toward government officials, themselves strangers to local areas, who hobnobbed with strangers of an even higher order.
In all three of the blood-tax riots—in Okayama, Tottori, and Kagawa — that Kawamura documents, news that “the blood extractor” or a “suspicious-looking stranger” had been seen in the area circulated just before the riots avalanched. In the case of Okayama, the population seemed particularly primed for the ruse that Fudeyasu pulled to incite the riot. Within a year before the incident, a foreigner employed by the Ministry of Industry toured the mines in the area, and it was reported in a local newspaper that people “saw him drinking beer and red wine, and were suspicious of this.” In all other areas too, real foreigners figured in the events leading up to the riots, giving the protesters a concrete target. It was not simply a misunderstanding of the word “blood-tax” that motivated them. The blood-sucking stranger and the civilization and enlightenment that he came to represent in the Meiji context was the real object of attack in these communities that had developed their own scapegoats to maintain the integrity of inner communal order against threats from the outer world. To many village folk, the new rulers of Meiji Japan, by associating with monsters, had themselves become monsters. In other words, at the same time the state began striving to cast folk knowledge as a demon-enemy to be avoided, the folk was striving to cast state knowledge as a demon-enemy to be expelled. This predicament marked the very real supernatural dimension within the conditions of conflict over the minds and bodies of a diverse Japanese folk as they were being turned into a modern Japanese citizenry.
What really strikes me about this isn’t just that there are blood-sucking monsters in Hakuouki, but that Hakuouki’s furies are absolutely concrete symbols of Japan’s new embrace of Western militarization. Theochimizu comes from the West, is supposedly made from blood, and both the shogunate and the Imperial army consort with and create more of these monsters created by theochimizu. The victims in Hakuouki are both the soldiers experimented on and the civilians who fall prey to them.
The Hakuouki writers are history nerds. I think they knew, and wove these historical-legendary themes into their story.
So, next time someone asks “What do vampires have to do with the Meiji Restoration?” The answer is, “A lot.”
Otose was absolutely lovely in the Taiga dramas, so I was excited to see a whole plaque on her at the Ryoma museum in Kochi. (I’m not positive about this translation, so please correct me if I got something wrong!)
寺田屋お登勢 Terayadaya Otose 京都伏見の船宿「寺田屋」の女将 文政１２年（１８２９）ー明治１０年（１８７７）享年４９歳 Mistress of the Teradaya boathouse in Fushimi from Bunsei 12 (1829) to Meiji 10 (1877). Died at age 49.
近江国大津（滋賀県大津市）出身。 Born in Outsu, Oumi Province (Present day Outsu City, Shiga Prefecture).
寺田屋６代目の伊助に嫁き、病弱 な主人に代わって家業を切り盛りした. Married to the sixth Teradaya (proprietor) Isuke, she succeeded her husband, who had a weak constitution, in the family business of serving food.
人からの頼まれごとには献身的に世話をした。 She was dedicated to assisting people. (?)
伊助は元治元年（１８６４）に亡くなったが、再婚せずに寺田屋を守った。 Isuke died in Genji 1 (1864) but she protected the Teradaya by not remarrying.
龍馬は慶応元年(1865) 夏頃、薩摩藩の紹介で 出入りし、その頃知り合っていたお龍を登勢に預けた。 Because Ryoma was in and out consulting with Satsuma-han in the summer of Keiou 1 (1865), he entrusted Oryo, who he also met in this period, to Otose.
翌 慶応２年１月２３日に龍馬はここで伏見奉行 配下の捕り方に襲われ、 大けがをした。 Later, on January 23, Keiou 2, Ryoma was attacked there by the police, subordinates of the Fushimi Magistrate, and seriously injured.
イメージ。。。龍馬はこの女将にずいぶん世話になり、また慕っていた。 Image…Ryoma, indebted to the proprietress, still missed her.
この写真は腰かけて、撮影したのだと思うか、宙に浮いたように 腰掛けが消されている. We think she sat to be photographed but the bench is erased and she appears to be floating in space.
女傑 で名高いだけあって, 主人亡き後の宿を守るべく, 気合の入った雰囲気を漂わせている. As might be expected from a celebrated heroine, the fighting spirit she showed protecting the inn after the death of her husband was in the air.
お登勢は龍馬の面倒を見ながら, その実, 龍馬の人懐こさにホットすることもあったのだろう。 While Otose was caring for Ryoma, in fact, Ryoma probably carried quite a warm friendliness towards her.
If you want to read about another heroine of this battle, you can check out my article on Nakano Takeko.
In autumn 1868 the domain of Aizu, Japan, was under attack by the imperial troops. Women within the castle actively took part in the defense.
They prepared ammunition, cooked meals, nursed the wounded, but also risked their lives in extinguishing the fires and rushed to cover the enemy canon balls with wet mats before they exploded. Young girls also collected the enemy ammunition for the defenders to reuse it. A 60 years old woman went out of the castle to retrieve food, but encountered an enemy soldier on the way. She stabbed him with her dagger and safely went back to the castle. A female bodyguard unit also protected Matsudaira Teruhime, the lord’s sister.
Some of them also fought. A contemporary witness depicts them as ready to don their white kimono and fight naginata in hand. An observer also said that they shared all the men’s burden, took on watches and shouldered a rifle if needed.
Among them was Yamamoto Yaeko (1845-1932), who distinguished herself through her leadership and her skills with firearms, though she wasn’t the only woman to use them in the defense. She was the daughter of an artillery instructor and her brother Kakuma had taught her to use firearms. She was particularly competent, being able to use recent models like the Spencer rifle and had also learned to fight with a naginata.
On October 8, Yaeko began to take part in night sorties. She had asked another female defender, Takagi Tokio, to cut her hair short like a male samurai. Armed with her Spencer rifle, she was dressed like a man and had two swords at her belt. She also commanded the men in charge of one of the cannons and didn’t abandon her post, even as cannon balls rained on the castle.
In spite of this fierce resistance, Aizu surrender on November 5, 1868. In an ultimate gesture of defiance, Teruhime ordered the women to clean the whole castle in order to humiliate the enemy as soon as they would set a foot in it and to show that the Aizu spirit was still unbroken.
When the castle fell, Yaeko was made prisoner with the men. After being freed, she divorced from her first husband went to Kyoto to find her brother Kakuma. There, she met and married Nijima Jô, converted to Christianity and helped him to found Doshisha university. She later became a nurse for the Red Cross and served as such during the Russo-Japanese war in 1905. Another woman who fought in Aizu’s defense,Yamakawa Futaba, also became a promoter of women’s education.
(Yamamoto Yaeko in her later years, c.1929)
Today, a statue of Yamamoto Yaeko can be seen in Aizu. There’s also a TV-show based on her life: Yae no Sakura.
Here’s the link to my Ko-Fi if you want to support me.
Bibliography:
Shiba Gorô, Remembering Aizu: the testament of Shiba Gorô
“Samurai warrior queens” documentary
Wright Diana E., “Female combatants and Japan’s Meiji restauration: the case of Aizu”
All items are in Singapore Dollar (SGD), mailed via tracked airmail. Please note that mailing to you is additional. PayPal is accepted for international buyers.
For USA/Europe/Canada parcels, tracked mailing will start from SGD$11.90 (250g) and non-tracked mailing will start from SGD$8.30 (250g). For other countries, please dm for info!
Random items will be delivered to you sealed in blind packs (meaning it will be a random character).
Available - Part 4 (In order of picture)
ETA: TBC
Payment Deadline: TBC
Be my Princess
・Random Namecard SGD$5.50/ea
・Random Can Badge SGD$8/ea
・Individual Wired Keyholder SGD$18.50/ea
・Individual Big Acrylic Stand SGD$32.50/ea
Be my Princess Eternal Kiss
・Individual Big Acrylic Stand SGD$32.50/ea
・Postcard Set (11-pc) SGD$22/set
・Random Namecard SGD$5.50/ea
・Random Can Badge SGD$8/ea
Anidol / Love Palace / Bakumatsu
Drop a DM for prices if you’re keen on these titles!
