When Matsudaira Katamori, daimyo of Aizu, arrived in Kyoto to assume the newly created post of Kyoto protectorate (京都守護職/Kyoto Shugoshoku) in the closing days of 1862, there were people in the Imperial capital who did not even know that Aizu existed, Yamakawa Hiroshi, formerly a senior minister to Katamori, reports in his history of the Kyoto protectorate. In his new post Matsudaira Katamori became the master of the Shinsengumi.

[Yamakawa Hiroshi’s book (京都守護職始末/Kyoto Shugoshoku Shimatsu) was published in 1911. This photo of Matsudaira Katamori is used in Samurai Assassins, courtesy of the National Diet Library, Japan. Matsudaira Katamori is also featured in Shinsengumi: The Shogun’s Last Samurai Corps.]

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