“Since Sakamoto was no good for the Bakufu or the Imperial Court…, I thought we had to kill him.” Imai Nobuo, formerly of Bakufu security force Mimawarigumi, speaking years after the fact.

“The Assassination of Sakamoto Ryoma” is the title of Part III of my forthcoming Samurai Assassins: “Dark Murder” and the Meiji Restoration, 1853-1868, to be published by McFarland in spring 2017.