I HEARD OF THE SHINSENGUMI
3nodding !!! My favorite anime character Kenshin fights Saito, a member of the Shinsengumi. In the Rurouni Kenshin manga it says they were a real historical group (it's full of historical acuratenss.) I'd suggest checking Kenshin out.
Anywayz, here's a little somethin somethin about them thrown in with some Kenshin timeline stuff goin on
3nodding :
After the arrival of Commodore Perry, Japan was thrown into chaos and fear. Many samurais, especially those of lower ranks, began to doubt the power of the Shogunate in defending the country against foreign powers, especially when they had seen the armed blackships. The slogan "Sonno-Joi" (Rever the emperor, dispel the barbarians) was winning more and more support, such that samurais desert their hans to come to Kyoto to join the revolutionary movements. (In those days deserting your hand can be one of the most condemned sins - once you desert, you can never return to it, on pain of death.) Such roshis (masterless samurais, but not ronins and definitely not rurounis
smile ) increased in Kyoto, causing more and more disturbances at the capital. In those early days of unsatisfied feelings, most of the roshis still did not have a clear idea of what movement or who they should follow. All they knew was that they were impatient and eager to do something to defend Japan. There were myriads of schools of thought - Sonno-joi, open up the country to learn from the gaijin and in turn attact them using the same technologies, support the Bakufu - as Watsuki once remarked, it was an era where 100 people may hold 100 different arguments and you can't say who's wrong. It's one factor which makes this era as tumultuous and interesting as it is. The Bakufu decided that it would be to their advantage if they took such roshis without any stand yet into their service, rather than letting them roam about the capital. Hence, Roshi-tais (bands of wave samurais) were formed and roshis enlisted under respective Bakufu samurais, where the "entry requirements" were one's sword skills (kenjutsu matches, something like an exam, were held.) This happened in 1863 or 3rd Year of Bunkyuu, one year after Kaoru's birth. (Right, shift the scenes for a while...) Now in the district of Tama near Edo, there was a kenjutsu dojo, the Shieikan, practising the Tennen Rishin Ryuu. The master was one Kondou Isami, and among the students are Hijikata Toshizou, Okita Souji and Inoue Genzaburou. These four were like brothers, with Okita as the youngest and also the strongest. There were also many frequenters at the dojo who take their meals there (like Sano frequenting the Kamiya Dojo), among them Yamanami Seisuke, Harada Sanosuke and Nagakura Shinpachi. When Kondou and Hijikata heard of the formation of Roshitais in Kyoto and being the patriotic hunks that they were, they went to Kyoto with a few other disciples of Tennen Rishin Ryuu (including all of the above named), leaving the dojo in the care of Hijikata's elder brother.
In Kyoto, they were enlisted under Kiyokawa Hachirou, after passing the "entry requirement exams". 13 roshis, including Kondou and Co, were appointed "Kyoto Defenders" by Matsudaira Katamori, the Daimyo of Aizu. Now, although Kiyokawa acted in public like a pro-Bakufu, he was actually on the other side. What he wanted to do was to gather a troupe of roshis in the name of the Bakufu, BUT to train these roshis to be Ishin Shishis - ironic, isn't it? He had planned with the other Shishis to attack the gaijin settlement at Yokohama, setting fire to the buildings and killing the foreigners, so that the Bakufu's foreign diplomacy, as well as their image, would plummet as low as it could get. The Shogunate had news of this, however, and they sent assassins to elimainate Kiyokawa on 13/4, 3rd year of Bunkyuu, before their plan could be carried out. After that, Kondou and co. insisted on supporting the Shogunate, and they set up the Shinsengumi, with 13 members. (Actually there are other developments before this happened, but then it was so complicated that I've given up trying to figure it out. Help, anyone?) It was then that the kanji "Makoto" was chosen as the group flag. There were some arguments on this: Kondou insisted on "Makoto", while Serizawa on "Ryu" (Dragon). (from one historical novel) The first committee was as follows:
Joint Captains: Serizawa Kamo(character model for Shishio), Kondou Isami, Niimi Nishigi Vice Captains: Hijikata Toshizo (character model for Aoshi), Yamanami Keisuke At this point, several new members joined in, including
Saitou Hajime.
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