I’ve mentioned that Japan’s National Diet Library’s online database is a treasure trove of primary sources of Bakumatsu-Meiji Restoration history. These include 加太邦憲自歴譜 (Kabuto Kuninori Jirekifu), the autobiography of Kuwana samurai Kabuto Kuninori, published posthumously in 1928, three years after his death.

Kabuto was in Kyoto on and off during the last three or four years of the Bakufu. The daimyo of Kuwana, Matsudaira Sadaaki, inspector of the Imperial Court and nobles, (Kyoto Shoshidai), was the younger brother of the daimyo of Aizu, Matsudaira Katamori, protector of Kyoto (Kyoto Shugoshoku), who oversaw the Shinsengumi. Kabuto’s book is yet another valuable primary source in my research on the Shinsengumi.