Choshu

I was wondering if anyone knows of anything about a uniform for the
Choshu Ishin Shishi. Somehow I have the feeling that there wasn't
really a Choshu uniform and they just wore whatever, but I need
confirmation on this.
Any information would be greatly apreciated.
--A-chan

You're right. Up till the time Western uniforms were used in the Boshin war,
there wasn't anything even remotely close to a uniform for Choshu. Up till
the time Satsuma joined in, the Choshu people operating in Kyoto were
essentially operating independently, so they were very cash-strapped (like
Shinsengumi), and thus were likely to wear just their average street
clothes-- kimono, hakama, and the like. Outside of the realm of Western
uniforms, the only thing remotely close to a uniform with traditional
Japanese clothes would be a haori with the crest of Mori (lord of Choshu) on
it, which looked like this: http://www.samurai-archives.com/kamon/mori.jpg
But even then, wearing the lord's crest would only really be allowed to
high-ranked samurai, I believe.

Let me know if there's anything you need clarified.

-M.

At 06:08 PM 4/9/2005, you wrote:

>I was wondering if anyone knows of anything about a uniform for the
>Choshu Ishin Shishi. Somehow I have the feeling that there wasn't
>really a Choshu uniform and they just wore whatever, but I need
>confirmation on this.
>Any information would be greatly apreciated.

A-chan.
Going back and looking at some things - the "Choshu Ishin Shishi" were compromised of many smaller militias headed by various groups of various compositions of samurai, peasantry, townsfolk, etc.. The most famous are the militia formed by Shinsaku Takasugi (Kihitei, second Kihitei and Yugekitai) were compromised of both samurai and peasantry. (There were one or two remarks about militia formed primarily by extremist samurai like the Giyutai or Shugitai. I'm not sure whether they would have had any unifying element whatsoever, other than sleeve markers indicating their status. ) I'm skeptical that any such uniform existed to unify all the various militia.

However -- this random info from Albert Craig's "Choshu in the Meiji Restoration," might interest you.

"Among the Choshu forces were youths of fifteen or sixteen wearing headbands of white silk and carrying Western rifles." (page 207: referring to troops in Kyoto during the Satsuma Aizu coup in 1863)

This may be coincidence, but at the end of the RK OVA, Shinsaku Takasugi and his men are shown wearing white headbands. [The end of the OVA, however with Takasugi's collapse due to TB would be 1867.]

S



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