Nakano Takeko's pen name

Was looking through old information I had saved from www.bakusin.com, and I
found this interesting tidbit: if I'm understanding the Japanese correctly,
Nakano Takeko's haiku pen name was "Kotake".

--M.

I have begun work on what I hope will be my senior thesis-- a biography of
Matsudaira Katamori. Discovered some details almost as soon as I began my
research this morning, so I thought I'd share it with you all. It really
changed how I look at the whole situation.

Anyway, I just read in "Shinsengumi Saitou Hajime no Subete" (history book)
that the whole
reason why Aizu was called to Kyoto (and why Shinsengumi and Mimawarigumi
were formed) was literally for riot control. The assassinations got SO bad
that the Shoshidai and the Machi-bugyosho (city magistrate, almost like the
police department) couldn't handle it. So the Shogunate got Aizu to go there
and restore order. Katamori-sama got the order in the 8th month of Bunkyu 2
(1862), and arrived in Kyoto in the 12th month, which translates to roughly
January 1863, I believe. They were able to restore order, but what really
helped Aizu was the Roushitai showing up in early 1863, and Kondou and co.
deciding they were going to stay and fight for the Shogunate. Hence the
rapid Aizu support.

What's more, I think we should also keep in mind that Aizu regarded
Shinsengumi as sort of "spare parts"-- Katamori-sama wanted a way of taking
care of the dissident roushi (unemployed rebel samurai), so what he did was
fight fire with fire by using his OWN set of roushi, which was none other
than the Mibu-roushigumi (aka Shinsengumi).

--M.

--- In SHQ@yahoogroups.com, "Hirotada Tokugawa"
wrote:

> that the whole
> reason why Aizu was called to Kyoto (and why Shinsengumi and

Mimawarigumi

> were formed) was literally for riot control.

-----------------------------------------
"The Kidotai: Mobile Task Force of Japan"
by R.Y. Thornton THE POLICE CHIEF v 38 July 1971

page 72
"On occasion the Kidotai have used a single weak central force
(scarecrow battalion) which is assigned to guard a fixed installation
such as the United States Embassy or the Prime Minister's residence
as a holding unit, while keeping other units *out*of*sight* until
called to perform the pincers or enveloping forces. This is
sometimes referred to as the Manaita or cutting board tactic. In
essence this means that the defensive or holding unit is acting as
the cutting block to receive the brunt of the attack in front of the
installation, while the pincers forces, having much greater strength,
perform the decisive maneuver against the attacking force. There has
been some difficulty in convincing the members of the defensive
manaita unit that they should be the force assigned to bear the brunt
of the vicious attack and even retreat in the face of overwhelming
attack by the rioters, and then have the glory go to the pincers or
flank attackers (kyogeki) who deliver the coup de grace.

An important tactic is to capture as rapidly as possible the
leaders...Kidotai has learned through years of experience that the
strongest element of a riot group is the front line or point of the
group and that the weakest is the rear"

*I would also like to add that students also love to use distractions
such as attacking one building...and another group attacking the main
target (e.g. important building on a university campus)

*like the Shinsengumi vs. Ishin...Kidotai are usually the same exact
age group as the students they suppress

*kidotai do not carry guns which greatly reduce the number of
injuries on both sides of the conflict

This is not entirely off-topic because
1) I read a really long time ago (using a translator ofcourse) of
Shinsengumi "death squads" which lured out the enemy, once their true
numbers are revealed then back up is called *if this is innaccurate
please correct me* ....I think that it would be to the advantage of
the Tokugawa to capture the brains of any meeting e.g. as seen in the
Raid on Ikedaya

2) pincer movements used to give the enemy a false sense of
confidence and the subsequent trap has been used throughout history
in [many] conflicts...the Imperial troops in the Seinan War used this
tactic ALOT every text I read about the war will mention this fact

I'm interested in riot police because in my city....we have really
huge Halloween parties with THOUSANDS of drunken students (from out
of state ofcourse) who hang out in the downtown area who trash
stores and start huge bonfires and the police cannot deal with the
problem (these are not organized students)...our riot police is
basically 10-20 armored cops in a line who use tear gas RIGHT
AWAY....rioters are not afraid of cops on horses either...injuries
and complaints always follow this yearly *celebration*