A BIG thank you to Tama for the following:
Shinohara did, in fact participate in the assassination of
Takeda.
It's said also Shinohara and Takeda had been good friends. So
Takeda trusted Shinohara. [and why he took that after dinner walk with him,
ne?]
That was written by Kenbun Nishimura, the guardian samurai of
Nishihonganji
temple. In NHK he was the man for whom Kawai told his story
before dying
-----------------
There was a former Satsuma samurai called Toyama Yahei who committed
murder and was banished from Satsuma clan.. He ask Kondo to join
Shinsengumi.
Kondo was leery of the guy but Itou supported this Toyama and
convinced Kondo to accept him.
Itou then made Toyama be something of a spy and to report to Satsuma
clan what Kondo was doing.
Through Toyama, Itou met Okubo. He met often with him and participated
to other meetings to overthrow Bakufu. [Not sure if this was just with
Okubo or with other high Ishin figures, my guess is it was]
In his diary Itou wrote that everything went as he expected. Except
after leaving the Shinsengumi he couldn't find a suitable place to stay....
--------------------------------------
Itou was promoted to the court rank of Ju-goi on November 18 ( his death
anniversary) Taisho 7 (1918) "Ju" means "Vice" and the rank comes just
after Sho-go-i.
Jugo-i rank, it's lower than Sagara's, but we don't know why. It comes
just after Shogo-i which is Sagara's.. Itou was enshrined in Yasukuni
Shrine and became a kami on April ( no mention for the date) Showa 4 (
1929) [same shrine as Sagara]
--------------------------------------------------
Note about court ranks
The "Ikai" or court rank system has been existed since 1400 years ago in
Japan.
There are miner changing of the system but since Taisho era, the court
rank has had the number 1 to 8 and each rank number has its "vice"
therefore 16 ranks in total.
So it has "Sho-ichi (1)- i " at the summit and "Ju-ichi-i" comes next,
then Sho-ni(2)-i , Ju-ni-i and so forth. (sho-go-i means 5th)
Those rank are given to the people contributed to the country and except
Imperial family and Korean royal family.
Sometimes, the promotion is posthumous and the highest rank
"Sho-ichi-i"has never been given before one's death.
This rank always exists but after W.W.II the promotion became
posthumous only.
From
http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~BH3H-SMJY/rekisi/ikai.htm Tama gives
us some Isihn leaders and their court rank.
Shoichi-i: (the highest) Iwakura Tomomi
Ju-ichi-i: Okubo Toshimichi, Tokugawa Yoshinobu, (It isn't mentioned in
this site but also Kido Takayoshi/Katsura Kogoro is here)
Sho-san(3)-i : Saigo Takamori
Sho-yon(4)-i: Sakamoto Ryoma, Nakaoka Shintaro, Yoshida Shouin, Ii Naosuke
--
Barbara Sheridan
http://www.barbarasheridan.net
The Blog--
http://barbarasheridan.blogspot.com/