Sasaki Takayuki (aka Sasaki Sanshirō) was a Tosa Loyalist Party member under Takechi Hanpeita and friend of Sakamoto Ryoma. His memoir was published in 1915 (Taisho 4). I happily found this gem last week in one of the used bookstores in Jinbocho, Tokyo.
[皇国は属殊にして外国の風に似ず、] 唯恩義と廉恥を以って衆心を維持し、. . . . .
“We sustain the hearts and minds of our people only through obligation and justice, and integrity and shame . . . .” Katsu Kaishu
Katsu Kaishu is “the shogun’s last samurai” of my Samurai Revolution. He is one of the most fascinating men in an age of fascinating men.
For those who are not familiar with him, here’s a short piece I did for Tokyo Journal years ago.
[This photo of Katsu Kaishu, taken just before the surrender of Edo Castle in the spring of 1868, is used in Samurai Revolution, courtesy of Yokohama Archives of History.]
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I’ve been rewriting the complicated and complex story of the Shinsengumi’s attack on the Ikedaya in the summer of 1864: at once fascinating and enthralling – and (depending on presentation) dramatic!
“Think big! Create! Persevere!”
Some “light reading” on a Sunday afternoon.
The official chronicle of Emperor Kōmei (Kōmei Tennō-ki, published 1906 by Imperial Household Ministry), volume 187, opens with the attack on outlaws in Kyoto by Bakufu security forces on the fifth day of the Sixth Month of the Japanese calendrical year that corresponds to 1864. The obvious is not stated in the heading: i.e., no mention of the names Shinsengumi or Ikedaya.
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