Included on these shelves are forty of the most important books on the Bakumatsu era (“end of the shogunate,” 1853 – 1868) that I’ve referred to in my writing over the years (but by no means all of them).
Think big! Create!
Add to the above, the following major piece of Bakumatsu historical literature: the biography of the last shogun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu, by Shibusawa Eiichi, a former samurai in service of the Bakufu, along with three volumes of related materials from Tokyo University Press.
Included on this shelf are some of the most important books by or about Katsu Kaishū that I’ve referred to in my writing over the years.
Think big! Create!
S
Included on this shelf are some of the most important books about Sakamoto Ryōma that I’ve referred to in my writing over the years.
Think big! Create!
S
The 150th anniversary of the assassination of Sakamoto Ryōma is being widely observed this month. On Keiō 3/11/22 (1867), seven days after Ryōma’s assassination, officials of his native Tosa Han issued a formal indictment to the Bakufu accusing the Shingsengumi of the crime. “Four days later,” I wrote in Samurai Assassins, “the Bakufu questioned [Shinsengumi Commander] Kondō Isami. But it was a mere formality. Earlier in the year all Shinsengumi men had been given hatamoto status [hatamoto being vassals of the shōgun], and its commander had direct access to the shōgun. When Kondō testified that the Shinsengumi had nothing to do with the assassinations [including that of Ryōma’s cohort Nakaoka Shintarō], the matter was settled as far as the Bakufu was concerned.” And, in fact, the Shinsengumi had nothing to do with the incident.
I’m often curious about other writers’ libraries.
Here are some of the books I’ve been using to write my next book about Shinsengumi – for anyone who might be interested.
Coming along slowly but surely….
