The Agony and the Ecstasy (of Writing): Katsu Kaishu vs. Shinsengumi Commander Kondo Isami

Posted on December 25, 2019 by Romlus Hillsborough

Writing is a lonely occupation. The writer (at least this one) never knows if his words will matter or move. For instance, today I finished the opening section of the chapter for my next Shinsengumi book immediately preceding the chapter on the infamous attack on the Ikedaya through which the Shinsengumi gained historic immortality. It is a comparative analysis of the thinking of Katsu Kaishu and Shinsengumi Commander Kondo Isami—though I have never encountered such an analysis in the literature of the era. When I finished writing this section, I was quite satisfied.

Again, thank you all for your continuous support and encouragement.

Think big! Create! Persevere!—and feel with the mind.

[The photo of Katsu Kaishu (left) appears in Samurai Revolution courtesy of Yokohama Archives of History. (Katsu Kaishu is the “shogun’s last samurai” of Samurai Revolution.) The photo of Kondo Isami appears in Shinsengumi: The Shogun’s Last Samurai Corps, courtesy of the descendants of Sato Hikogoro and Hino-shi-Furusato Hakubutsukan.]

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“Ryoma: Life of a Renaissance Samurai” – The 20th Anniversary (14)

Posted on December 18, 2019 by Romlus Hillsborough

It was 20 years ago this month, December 3, 1999, that a group of us visited Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi at his official residence in Tokyo. Mr. Obuchi was a famous admirer of Sakamoto Ryoma. Our group included five distinguished Japanese gentlemen, all with a unique relationship to Sakamoto Ryoma: Saichiro Miyaji and Kiyoharu Omino, both eminent Ryoma biographers; Dr. Kanetoshi Tamura, then-chairman of the Tokyo Ryoma Society; Kunitake Hashimoto, the “godfather” of Ryoma societies around Japan; and Yasuhiko Shingu, a descendent of Shingu Umanosuke, an original member of Ryoma’s famed Kaientai (Naval Auxiliary Corps), precursor to Mitsubishi.

During the meeting I asked the prime minister to speak about Ryoma and hand out copies of my recently published book at the Group of Eight Summit, which he was scheduled to host in Okinawa the following summer. When the prime minister graciously agreed, I thought that Ryoma was on his way to international stardom. A few months later Mr. Obuchi suffered a stroke from which he never recovered.

A Note On the Assassination of Sakamoto Ryoma: “…actually I did it.” Imai Nobuo

Posted on December 15, 2019 by Romlus Hillsborough

Last week (December 10) marked the 152^ndanniversary of Sakamoto Ryoma’s assassination on the 15^thday of the Eleventh Month of the year on the old Japanese calendar corresponding to 1867. Ryoma and another Tosa man, Nakaoka Shintaro, were hit at the former’s hideout in Kyoto—the house of a purveyor of soy called the Omiya, located in Kawaramachi just across the street from Tosa’s Kyoto headquarters. The most likely suspects were KondoIsami, Hijikata Toshizo, et al of the Shinsengumi. But the actual killers were several men of the Mimawarigumi, another Bakufu police corps in Kyoto. One of them, Imai Nobuo, confessed to the authorities in 1870 that he and others had acted under orders from their commander, Sasaki Tadasaburo, who was also involved. But Imai claimed that he had not had a hand in the actual killings, since he and two others had been downstairs guarding the place while the others went upstairs, where they attacked Ryoma and Nakaoka. Ryoma’s assassination is the subject of Part III of Samurai Assassins. Following is a slightly edited excerpt (without footnotes):

The contents of Imai’s testimony to the government were not publicized until 1912. Therefore, for decades it was generally believed that Ryoma and Nakaoka had been killed by the Shinsengumi. That myth was dispelled in May 1900 with the publication of a magazine article entitled “Sakamoto Ryoma Satsugaisha” (“Sakamoto Ryoma’s Killers”), based on an interview with Imai. In the interview, Imai reiterated information from his testimony. But he also contradicted his testimony,with some clarifications, including the shocking opening statement: “It is generally believed that at the time of the Restoration Sakamoto Ryoma and Nakaoka Shintaro were killed by Kondo Isami and Hijikata Toshizo. History says so and that’s what most people thought at the time. But actually I did it.”

[The photo of Imai Nobu appears in Samurai Assassins, courtesy of Ryozen Museum of History.]

A Note On the Assassination of Ii Naosuké

Posted on December 6, 2019 by Romlus Hillsborough

The artwork on the cover of Samurai Assassins depicts Arimura Jizaemon of Satsuma as he is about to deliver the coup de grâce to the shogun’s regent, Ii Naosuké, in the famous Incident Outside Sakurada Gate, at Edo Castle in the Third Month of the Japanese calendar year corresponding to 1860. Ii’s assassination, which kicked off the revolution, was the beginning of the end of the Tokugawa Bakufu.

Osaragi Jiro, in Tennō no Seiki (天皇の世紀), a masterpiece of Bakumatsu-Meiji Restoration history to which I referred in writing this scene, paints a different picture than the one shown on the cover. As I wrote in Samurai Assassins, after Naosuké had been stabbed twice while still in his sedan,

“Arimura tore open the door, grabbed Ii Naosuké by the back of the neck, and pulled him out. He struck the regent with his sword on the top of the head; and as Ii fell forward and tried to get up, Arimura beheaded him.”