Misc. Facts

Page: http://okiso.huming.com/sinsengumi/history_tfss.htm
Root site: http://sinsengumi.yeah.net

The site is in Chinese. That page in particular seems to be history
article focusing on Hijikata. You can try to stick it in an online
translator, but the results will probably be pretty ugly. X_x
Fortunately, I was able to get my mother to do some translating for
me. =3
The following is a collection of notes from the partially translated
page (deciphered from my unreadable notes taken while she was
translating). I'm not sure about some of the dates (the Roushitai
formed in 1863, not 1862, right?), and I'm sure some of this is
already common information, but there may be something new. ^^;

-- Hijikata Toshizou b. 1835, d. 1869
-- his father died before he was born
-- his mother died when he was five
-- lived with his sister and her husband
-- worked at a cloth-merchants' place (?), quit becuse of a problem
with women
-- then worked at a kimono sellers and a medecine store (medecine
peddler?)
-- his sister-in-law had some tie with kendo
-- his brother-in-law introduced him to the Tennen Rishin Ryuu
-- At Shieikan, he was like brothers with Kondou, Okita, and Inoue,
but was closest to Kondou
-- friends from other schools: Nagakura, Toudou, Harada, and Yamanami
-- 1862 (correct date?) joined Roushitai
-- his personality changed a lot; he used to be kind and friendly,
but became severe/strict

-- the five principles/rules (most of you know these already, so I'll
skip those)
-- total of 18 disobeyed (not sure if this was at a specific time, or
overall)
-- of the 18, 10 committed seppuku, 8 were beheaded
-- 5 were spies, 3 were part of conspiracies, 3 escaped, 2 were
slackers (?), 2 quarreled over money, 1 was very violent, 1 had
problems with a female, 7 were unidentified (?)

-- during Serizawa's assassination, five were killed and one escaped

-- 1964 Masuya/Furutaka captured and tortured by Hijikata
-- put 5-inch long nails on his feet and put candles on the nails so
that the melting wax fell on the foot

There were also some notes on the page asking readers to consider of
Hijikata was being too mean (?) and if the laws of the Shinsengumi
were just (?).

-- (Masuya)...(Hijikata) put 5-inch long nails on his feet and put candles on the nails so that the melting wax fell on the foot

I watched this part of PMK and I could only imagine what really happened in real life. The poor guy.. he deserved it anyway.



There were also some notes on the page asking readers to consider of Hijikata was being too mean (?) and if the laws of the Shinsengumi
were just (?).

Tells about his story then suddenly questions his principles and motives? Anou... ^^;; that's odd. He was harsh, but for good reason. He was only trying to instill discipline amongst his comrades using the principles that their own people have made. Those were dangerous times, the country was on the brink of collapse. Sometimes leniency will only breed more trouble than what they already have in their hands. There may have been a few bad apples, but I think Hijikata-san only did what he did because he didn't want any more worms.


Well, that's just my two cents ^^





K.

------------

"Sashimukau kokoro wa kiyoki mizukagami." ~ Hijikata Toshizou
(The heart facing mine is a clear reflecting pool.)

"Ugokaneba yami ni hedatsu ya hana to mizu." ~ Okita Souji
(If they don't move, they'll be separated by darkness: the flower and the water..)




Kaneyoshi
http://www.livejournal.com/~kaneyoshi



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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Part of my ongoing joint Aizu-Shinsengumi research...so far, I've been able
to find the following in terms of relations, both blood and marital, of
Saitou Hajime/Tokio and Aizu retainers.

Saitou, through Tokio, was inlaw to the following families:

1. Saigou (Saigou Tanomo, chief retainer).
2. Numazawa (heirless family that Tatsuo was adopted into) Page 68 of Shiba
Goro's book references a "Numasawa Einosuke"...
3. Sagawa (Sagawa Kanbei, domain elder who died at Mt. Aso in the Seinan
War)
4. Kimoto/Kinomoto, presumably another Aizu retainer.

By way of Saigou, he is also connected to the Iinuma, the family of the lone
survivor of the fragment of the Byakkotai that committed suicide on
Iimori-yama (Iinuma Sadakichi). Iinuma Tokei fought alongside Saigou Tanomo
at the Battle of Shirakawa (as in the movie "Byakkotai"), and if the film is
correct, kept Saigou from committing seppuku.

HOWEVER, not all Byakkotai died on Iimori-yama. There was a larger group of
them, and they were either killed in the battle or survived, like Yamakawa
Kenjiro and Shiba Shiro, the brother of Shiba Goro.

Which brings me to my next point. The commander of the Byakkotai was Hinata
Naiki...and Shiba Goro's mother comes from the Hinata family. Shiba is also
related to the Arakawa by way of his uncle Shiba Seisuke-- and Arakawa was
the family of Arakawa Katsushige, who wrote a book about Aizu in the Boshin
that Sec looked at some time ago.

Other familial connections, this time amongst the Edo-based retainers:

Nakano (family of Takeko) and Hirata (other Joshitai member) were connected
to Akaoka (naginata teacher) because they'd both each given a daughter to
him in adoption. Nakano Heinai was the leader of the Shujakutai, the group
of men aged 18-35 who "engaged in actual combat" (Shiba, p. 45), and his
son, Nakano Toyonori, at age 19, was a member.

Now back to reading!

--M.

Oh, and I forgot to add a couple more links from the Wright article:

Hirata Kocho married Toda Emon, former Aizu samurai who became a prefectural
police officer in nearby Yamagata prefecture. Nakano Yuuko married a man of
unknown background called Gamo Seiichiro, presumably an Aizu retainer. And
finally, Yoda (Yorita) Kikuko married Mizushima Atsushi, son of a former
low-rank Aizu retainer living in Hakodate.

And like Tokio, Kikuko's sister Makiko accompanied her and became a Hokkaido
Girls' School teacher and a "house mother"!

-M.