Thanks for the url addresses.
> I cannot seem to get an individual page url for the
> http://www.tamahito.com/
> site for some reason. It's the last link on the bottom of the first
> page about
> Hijikata that takes you to the page I was trying to decipher. The passage
> about Tamejirou inspiring him to write haiku is right under the
> picture of the
> bamboo plant. It's the same passage that talks about someone jumping
> into the
> river.
Yes it's said that Tamejiro was a kind of dilettante who liked making
Haiku and Tanka very much and no doubt Toshizo's haiku hobby is the
influence of the older brother.
And one day on the way home from the brothel at Fuchu of Musashi, the
river Tama rose and Tamejiro should have stopped there.
But suddenly he took of his clothes to wrap them around his head, and
dove into the water. Then he swam using an overhand stroke and went back
to the riverbank of Ishida village like that.
> Below that is the one that mentions Daisaku and seems to be saying
> something
> about him making the Shinsengumi sign. I cannot find where I saw that
> one of
> the brothers looked after the dojo now though. Must be a long-lost
> website.
Daisaku who is adopted by Kasuya family, likes making poetry and excels
for the calligraphy. The great sign of the Shinsengumi HQ at Mibu might
be written by him.
> The passage about Hijikata taking "plain food" at Hakodate is at the
> bottom
> of the http://www.toshizo.com/name/toshizo.html page.
At Hakodate, Toshizo contented to take plain food and kept the women
away from him. (the link of the same line which gives the reflection
about the homosexuality and the practice of adoption is interesting too...)
> The passage that says something about him going off alone in a corner to
> drink is on http://www.toshizo.com/name/tohito.html It appears to be the
> testimony of a journalist of some sort? It's one of the longer notes.
This one is the testimony of Genichiro Kikuchi who has known the people
of Shieikan and who become a journalist in Meiji era.
But the part about Hijikata's attitude when the other are drinking is
the comment added by the web mistress it seems.( so the source is not
mentioned) and it's said that Toshizo often drinks alone leaning against
a pillar and only looks with smirk the other fellows making noises.
> I was wrong about where I saw the note about his temper. It's on this
> page:
> http://www.h3.dion.ne.jp/~ash-gate/fukuchyo-2.htm I think it's some
> official
> (possibly named Kato?) who was the one who made the comment.
This one is Hiroyuki Kato's testimony ( he was the professor of the
western study school of Bakufu) about Hijikata.
He said, Hijikata was a very calm man who keeps cool in the face of
trouble but once he got angry he went wilder than Kondo.
For Bakufu, Kondo was easier to deal with and Hijikata was difficult.
>
> And the mention of the "sogami hairdo" (I am still not sure if the
> translator
> worded that properly) is on
> http://g1342122.at.infoseek.co.jp/bakumatu-fubou.htm It's in the
> section on Hijikata and says something about him following
> Kondou or something and what they were wearing I think? Cannot really
> make heads
> or tails what that one is trying to say...
The link doesn't work but I think I figure out what they talk about.
"sogami hairdo" means (In correct Japanese) "Souhatsu" hairstyle.
We may wonder watching costume film of Bakumatsu, why some men
have shoved head and the other are not.( without Sakayaki, shoved
hairstyle)
Such a long hairstyle without shoving the front is called "souhatsu".
The photo of Kondo and many other have this hairstyle because souhatsu
has become "a la mode" in Bakumatsu period. That was a sort of
performance symbolizing they are so concerned by the future of Japan
that they haven't even the time to shove their head.
( can be compared little bit those hippie of 70's having long hair as
the symbol of defiance)
> Here's a link to one of the pages on mizosoba I was looking at:
> http://www.ne.jp/asahi/kumagaisan/flowers/mizosoba.html
>
> It mentions the "splinter", but it has something else interesting too. It
> says something at the end about the fruit of the plant? Are there two
> different
> plants called "mizosoba"?
>
Yes it's said Mizosoba has some sharp splinters at the stem.
The common name of mizosoba is come from mizo( gutter) and soba(
buckwheat). Because its fruit and leaf look like buckwheat and in the
time of famine, people cultivated this plant to make sobagaki( a kind of
gnocchi made by buckwheat) with the fruits.
I hope those answers make sense.
Tama