So like I said on the message board, I'm going through several sources and
putting together as thorough a biography of Nagakura as I can possibly find.
I haven't gotten very far yet, but here's what I know:
--Shinpachi was known as Eikichi or Eiji during his childhood.
--He was born in the Matsumae clan's "kami-yashiki" (upper residence) in
Edo. Seems that every daimyo had three residences in Edo-- upper, middle,
and lower. Good way to keep them poor, I suppose, and thus leave them with
no money to spend on revolt, unless you have domains with trade surpluses
like Choshuu and Satsuma...
--Shinpachi's father, Nagakura Kanji, was a retainer of the Matsumae clan,
with a 150 koku stipend. He was a true product of the Edo era-- part of the
sub-culture of samurai who lived their entire lives in Edo, but were
retainers of a domain they'd never seen and probably never would.
--Nagakura's father spelled the family name with the "naga" meaning "long",
but Shinpachi spelled it with the "naga" from the word for "eternity".
--Nagakura got his start in kenjutsu earlier than Okita. Okita started at
age 9 in Tennen Rishin Ryuu-- BUT Nagakura entered Okada Juusuke Toshisada's
Shintou Munen Ryuu dojo at age 8.
--Nagakura's birthday is the 11th day of the fourth month of Tenpo 10. By
our calendar, that's May 11, 1839 (so we JUST missed it! lol)
More soon.
--M.
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