Toba-Fushimi Anniversary

For those of you who haven't checked you Shinsengumi calender lately,
the anniversary of Toba-Fushimi is coming up this Thursday, Jan 27.
This would be Jan. 3 by the lunar calendar that was in place at the
time.

As I recall, what little info we have about the Shinsengumi's
involvement places them in Fushimi during the battle. Captain Inoue
Genzaburo (one of the original Shieikan members of the group and
supposedly close friend of both Kondo and Hijikata) was shot and
killed during the battle. I've read that he followed Hijikata's
orders without being daunted during the fighting. Also killed was
Yamazaki Susumu. Injured earlier, he could not swim to safety when
his boat sank during the retreat.

During the battle, Hijikata tried to charge the Satsuma guns and was
forced back. He said afterwards that the "age of the sword and spear
had already passed". (He was leading this fight because Kondo had
recently been injured in an attempt on his life by the remaining
members of Ito's group.) Nagakura and Saito fought at the rear during
the retreat. Saito must have taken a small injury of some sort, since
he went for medical treatment a few days afterwards. It was also at
this time that Shimada Kai had to help Nagakura over an earthen bank
or fence he could not get over alone. LOL

Following info on the battle from Mark Ravina's The Last Samurai-

The fight began in the evening when Satsuma opened it's cannons up on
the Bakufu forces at Toba. Satsuma had 900 men there facing the
Tokugawa's 2,500 men. At Fushimi, the Bakufu forces had some 3,000
troops (including Aizu and Shinsengumi) against 500 Satsuma, 725
Choshu, and 200 Tosa. The Bakufu forces were not only larger, but
they had some of the best trained troops in Japan. (The shogun's
French-trained infantry for instance.)

On at least two occassions, Aizu troops rushed the Satsuma and Choshu
troops and forced them to flee despite their inferior weapons.
However, there were many problems that undermined the Bakufu's
efforts: No real leadership and no particular strategy, troops always
in the wrong places at the wrong time, poor morale, and failure of
reinforcements to deploy when ordered among other things.

One of the biggest blows came at the end, when it became clear the
Bakufu could lose. Tsu domain's artillery forces, during a critical
engagement on 1/6 (1/30), switched sides. Instead of shelling
approaching imperial troops, they began attacking Aizu forces.
Yoshinobu flees Osaka for Edo upon recieving the news, realizing the
battle is lost.


-MissB

OK, so get this-- I'm in Japanese class, focusing on grammar, and it hits
me. TSU han, the one that switched sides, was ruled by none other than
Toudou Daigaku no Kami Takakiyo, who was the half-brother of none other than
our own TOUDOU HEISUKE...

Wow.

--M.

In a message dated 1/25/2005 1:44:36 PM Eastern Standard Time,
patriot014@... writes:
OK, so get this-- I'm in Japanese class, focusing on grammar, and it hits
me. TSU han, the one that switched sides, was ruled by none other than
Toudou Daigaku no Kami Takakiyo, who was the half-brother of none other than
our own TOUDOU HEISUKE...

Wow.

--M.
Them Toudou boys... Always getting into trouble. LOL I honestly forgot that
Heisuke was supposed to be from there.

-MissB


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