Introduce member of Shinsengumi

 

Isami Kondou's profile

 

Kondo Isami was a chief of the Shinsen-gumi, an armed special security team in Kyoto during the

late shogunate period. He was born in a farmer family in Tama near Edo. His life was driven by

the desire to be a samurai during the Edo period when there was a strict hierarchy of the class

system which makes it difficult for him to be accepted as a samurai because he was born in the

farmer class.

In January 1868, at the Battle of Toba-Fushimi, he returned to Edo, and fought against the force

dispatched by the Imperial Court but lost the battle. After surrendering, he was caught on April 25

and his neck was displayed in Sanjo beach of Kyoto. He was beheaded and he was not allowed to

perform seppuku as a samurai for being born a farmer.

 

 

 

 

Toshizo Hijikata's profile

 

 

 

Hijikata was born in 1835 in present-day HinoD He and Kondo Isami formed Shinsengumi.

The group grew to have 140 men, which included farmers and merchants whose livelihood was

threatened if the Tokugawa Shogunate was overthrown. The laws set up by Shinsengumi

within Kyoto were strictly enforced and Hijikata was known to be harsh in enforcing them

with his sword, the Kanesada, hence his nickname: "The Demon of the Shinsengumi".

On May 11, 1869, he was killed while in combat on horseback by a bullet that shattered

his lower back. It is unknown where he was buried,

but a memorial gravestone stands near Itabashi Station in Tokyo, next to Kondo Isami.

 

 

 

 

 

Soji Okita's profile

 

Born in Harumasa Sojiro in 1844 from a samurai family, he was trained at the age of nine with

Kondo Isami, a master of the Tennen Rishin Ryu. He proved to be a genius swordsman, and was

a teacher of kenjutsu at 18. Okita is usually considered one of the most talented and strongest

out of the Shinsen-gumi, along with Saito Hajime and Nagakura Shinpachi. There was a rumor

that his tuberculosis was discovered when he fainted during the Ikedaya Affair, but some sources

say that he contracted the disease long after that. He died of tuberculosis at the age of 25,

on May 30th after the Boshin War.

 

 

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