This post is an orientation to our lovely headquarters, please adhere
by our rules and don't even ***think about stealing other people's
fundoshi just because you were too lazy to wash yours (this is
actually the Shinsengumi's secret unmentionable rule).
We are an open community so I am not writing to you NOT as the owner
of the list. EVERYONE is welcome (see no duels for admission) thus no
one exercises authority in rejecting posts or deem any questions to be
unimportant. I just wanted to give an overview of our increasingly
VAST data warehouse.
NOTE: if you do no receive a reply to your question it is because
1) some of us are at work/school or both
2) we just don't know how to answer
3) we don't have access to the net...so never assume that because we
don't post right away we don't care --- that is not the case at all
DO however type in keywords to search the Messages
This mailing list is specifically devoted to the Shinsengumi but many
other related topics can be discussed at
http://www.shinsengumimb.com
Examples of topics at the Messageboard (MB) are: Aizu, the Meiji Era
and Movies. We also encourage people who are knowledgeable about the
Shishi (Ishin shishi) to join us and share their knowledge.
*those topics are all in one way or another related to the
Shinsengumi. The Seinan War for instance was fought by the political
forces during the Boshin War and there was even a unit of soldiers
comprised of former members of the Shinsengumi (Fujita Goro was not in
this group). The Aizu domain as a political entity was the direct
employer of the Shinsengumi and can become a basis for your own
understanding in appreciating how feudal domains *work.
the MB is very flexible in terms of editing/deleting posts and
replies, more importantly you can quickly find posts by marking the
forum read or unread. A makoto symbol will appear next to the forum
which has a new post since your last visit. You must be a member to
post but you may browse the information as a guest. You must also
LOGIN to use the mark forum read feature
Over time many members have branched off into relate and relevant
fields such as the Sekihoutai (which comprised of former members of
the Shinsengumi)
http://www.geocities.com/sekisinhokoku/
The reason why we each gravitate to different topics is ofcourse due
to personal taste and the simple lack of English resources on the
Shinsengumi. I myself have a university library at my disposal
however I have to work *AROUND* the topic to find info...and the info
is pretty interesting. I don't know Japanese hence my strategy of
working with *side topics. Many western scholars have neglected the
Bakumatsu and have preferred instead to focus on the Meiji Era. Only
recently have researchers begun to study the Meiji Era critically.
Those interested in the era leading up to the Bakumatsu should join
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/edojidai/
Original art or fanfic can be posted at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SHQ_Spy_Division/
and a compilation of Shinsengumi in works of fiction or historical
studies are located at
http://www.shinsengumidb.com
our main site which will provide a more polished presentation of our
work is at
http://www.shinsengumihq.com
(we are always looking for contributions) simply *contact the email at
the site
Again if someone has more to add to my super long post please do! WE
don't want our new friends to feel lost (^_^)
Your loyal retainer
secretarytocapt3