Updates Fujita Goro +Tokio Bio after 1868 + Nagakura Documentary

According to http://www.1to5.net/saito/index.html
The Fujita family has donated the original photo(s) of their ancestor
to a location in Aizu for display.
You may insert the message posted
http://www.1to5.net/cgi-bin/sai/bbs/apeboard_plus.cgi
into http://www.nifty.com/globalgate
I am *assuming this is meant to coincide with this SAturday's (9/24)
events at Aizu. Which include:
1) Shinsengumi parades/cosplay
2) "Who wants to be SAitou contest" (no detail on how to win this contest)
* The event will have Shinsengumi club members from all over Japan in
attendance and ofcourse the Aizu chapter will be doing alot of the work

It is not clear which photograph, or if these are *new* photos.
Perhaps it is the photo printed in a magazine earlier this year of a
very old Fujita Goro at Tsuyoshi's (second son) wedding/engagement.
---------------------------------------------
Goro's time at Aomori (Northern Japan) after the defeat of the Aizu
domain still remains a mystery. To read the sketchy details we have
and see a timeline go to the "FILES" section and open the "SAitou"
folder. All we know is that he and his first wife Yaso lived in two
households: The Kurasawa family and another family.

The Kurasawa home and the area in Aomori where many Aizu immigrants
lived is explored at this webpage
http://www16.plala.or.jp/fusigitabi/
There is 2 pages of info and photos specifically on Saitou here:
http://www16.plala.or.jp/fusigitabi/saitou.html (scroll to bottom to
go to the 2nd page)

The Kurasawa family is related to Takagi Tokio.
Tokio was adopted into the Kurasawa family! The very high possibility
remains that Mr. Fujita met Tokio while still married to Yaso.
But why was Tokio adopted---her own father was a senior inspector for
Aizu.
The answer seems to have been posted here:
http://8907.teacup.com/yazikita/bbs
Again, no text is cited so we don't know where the info is coming from
but it seems that both of Tokio's parents "died of illness", leaving
her without an older male relative to protect her or her younger
brother Goro (later known as Takagi Morinusuke).
---------------------------------------------
I have been told by one of volunteer translators that Takagi
Morinusuke, later a Public Prosecutor or Chief Prosecutor should be
very "researchable" as he handled many important cases at Fukushima
and Hakodate. He was famous and would've appeared in Meiji Era
newspapers. Unfortunately many newspapers during the Meiji era are
not digitalized---you cannot "search" for names---you have to manually
search page by page in newspapers or try to find a specific case
Morinusuke prosecuted and "follow along".

Why would Takagi Morinusuke be possibly important in terms of Fujita
Goro's biography? We know that his sons studied kenjutsu with Uncle
Goro---clearly he was close with the Takagi family. If his sons wrote
down anecdotal stories about their studies with Uncle Goro---then you
have some valuable information.
---------------------------------------------
Tokio's Bio *before* 1868
This is based on a question and speculation by a Japanese fan (however
the reasoning is very sound).
"If the Takagi family was based in Edo---wouldn't Tokio have been
raised in the Matsudaira household? More specifically the official
Aizu mansion in Edo?"
The poster, who seems to have an outstanding command of historical
minutia, is giving information which corroborates with the biography
of Matsudaira Katamori's own granddaughter (Princess Chichibu). That
is the children of retainers are raised in the household of the
daimyo, in fact children of SERVANTS were also raised in a similar
fashion. All of this makes sense. Young Sada, Tokio, would need the
education and familiarity with etiquette needed to later work with
Teruhime.
---------------------------------------------
Several months ago, many TV stations aired a documentary on Nagakura
Shinpachi made by one of his descendants in the media industry.
This documentary recently won or atleast was nominated for a
prestigious award.
---------------------------------------------
Coming Soon to SHQ.com....
An info sheet on Shimada Kai !

By any chance do you know what the name of that documentary of Nagakura was? Or any other minor detail like who aired it, who produced it, and other stuff like that? This sounds like something intresting to watch. Thank you ^_________^

-Bunneh


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

Several months ago, many TV stations aired a documentary on Nagakura
Shinpachi made by one of his descendants in the media industry.
This documentary recently won or atleast was nominated for a
prestigious award.















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Please insert
http://tinyurl.com/dpu4e
into http://www.nifty.com/globalgate

Look for "New Selection Group: Message from Nagakura Shinpachi"

It originally aired on Hokkaido Cultural Broadcastingin (HCB)
and made by a Mr. Sugimura

It does not ~seem~ to be on sale because many fans taped it.

Use http://www.nifty.com/globalgate
http://www.aizu.com/ryokan/fudoutaki/blog/
is a blog run by the owner of a hot springs in Aizu
If you flip back through the archives you will read some neat little
things like "Sagawa Kanbei's descendant will be in the historical
parade and ride this horse {pic of horse}" and he posts -ALOT- of
cosplay stuff

and neat details like "when I was a kid I used to swim in such and
such a pond which---Hijikata used" and stuff like that

He is a long time fan of Saitou Hajime and he found out that one of
his ancestors was related to the Takagi family
He also has ties with Shinsengumi clubs all over Japan---to attract
people to his business---he had a mural of Hijikata completed on the
side of the hotel.

Note: "HE" yes HE is the very very very rare older gentleman who is a
Shinsengumi fan

[For the HIJIKATA fans]
You have to go to the month of September to see photos of Hijikata's
descendants who visited Aizu

Ok, I tried to make this simple...to see totally different pics of
KOJI (NHK Hijikata)
please
visithttp://www.aizu.com/ryokan/fudoutaki/blog/archives/2005/09/index.h
tml
scroll down to 9/25 and 9/24

[For the NAGAKURA fans]
http://www.aizu.com/ryokan/fudoutaki/blog/archives/2005/10/index.html
scroll down to 10/11 to see pics of Nagakura's descendants visiting
the Fujita family grave

[Fujita Goro]
lastly
The new photo of Fujita Goro, second son Tsuyoshi, daughter in law
(and likely in there Tokio I figure) taken in 1914 was printed in a
magazine and Tama had scanned the image for us a while back

you are NOT allowed to take photos of the museum exhibits (located in
the reconstructed flying crane castle of Aizu)---however this fan just
couldn't help himself (^_^) (the Aizu museum police should stumble on
his blog any day now...)

look for 5/1 entry...keep scrolling past yet MORE pics of Koji
http://www.aizu.com/ryokan/fudoutaki/blog/archives/2005/05/index.html

the publication of the photo in the magazine led to some interesting
discussions on japanese boards regarding whether or not it was a
collage (very common practice in big group photos back then)
clearly from this sharper image you can tell that it was not a collage
{I had also forwarded this to someone who has studied western 19th
century photography and she agrees that it is NOT a collage}

since he took the photo of the photo---I wish he wouuld've just went
ahead and gotten images of other items in the Fujita Goro/Saitou
Hajime display case (calligraphy by Yamakawa Kenjiro) Kenjiro's
calligraphy is very unique and I have samples to compare with

another example of fans breaking the rules
the lot where the Fujita family residence once stood (other pages say
that since it is private property one shouldn't take pics)--again they
could not help themselves
http://denji102.geo.kyushu-
u.ac.jp/denji/student/obana/shinsen/hongo/hongo.html
just a coincedence that nearby there is a business? which has a sign
that says "Saitou Hajime"

[Extras]
Jo Odagiri as Saitou fanart
http://rekishilink01.fc2web.com/wall/img/kt/wall_saito02i_ktn.gif

different cover for a Saitou book
http://www.php.co.jp/bookstore/detail.php?
id=50301&tsd=1101514115&SID=d08a76e3f2c562cd6b500f9089f4084c

--- In SHQ@yahoogroups.com, "secretary" wrote:
>
> According to http://www.1to5.net/saito/index.html
> The Fujita family has donated the original photo(s) of their ancestor
> to a location in Aizu for display.
> You may insert the message posted
> http://www.1to5.net/cgi-bin/sai/bbs/apeboard_plus.cgi
> into http://www.nifty.com/globalgate

I think some people might enjoy this--

The newspaper "The North-China Herald," in its article on 25 Sept. 1868
("The Albion at Neegata"), describes Henry Schnell-- the Prussian gun runner
who became a senior councilor serving Matsudaira Katamori.

Apparently, he wore a kimono top, silk haori, red obi, either 2 Japanese
swords or one European cavalry saber, had his hair combed back from the
forehead, and wore trousers and long boots. Everyone bowed whenever they saw
him, and he was always accompanied by officials and a retinue.

I am SURE he crossed paths with Hijikata Toshizo.

Anyway, this might present somewhat of an interesting challenge to those of
you wanting to study or draw clothing of that era. I know I intend to do a
drawing of him in that outfit ASAP-- sounds delightfully eclectic!

-M.

P.S. But I think Hijikata in his suit looks cooler. :)

Also check out his doings in the US at



I think that the first picture is supposed to depict him in the
attire you described.

He is also the inspiration for the character 'Herr Schnell' in the
book 'The Samurai of Gold Hill' by Yoskiko Uchida (not sure of the
spelling). This book was published about 20 years aga and was
targeted at young adults. It was pretty good. Several of the
characters are based on historical figures. I think that Matsudaira
makes an appearance, but I do not remember if the Shinsengumi do.

--- In SHQ@yahoogroups.com, "Hirotada Tokugawa"
wrote:

>
> I think some people might enjoy this--
>
> The newspaper "The North-China Herald," in its article on 25 Sept.

1868

> ("The Albion at Neegata"), describes Henry Schnell-- the Prussian

gun runner

> who became a senior councilor serving Matsudaira Katamori.
>
> Apparently, he wore a kimono top, silk haori, red obi, either 2

Japanese

> swords or one European cavalry saber, had his hair combed back from

the

> forehead, and wore trousers and long boots. Everyone bowed whenever

they saw

> him, and he was always accompanied by officials and a retinue.
>
> I am SURE he crossed paths with Hijikata Toshizo.
>
> Anyway, this might present somewhat of an interesting challenge to

those of

> you wanting to study or draw clothing of that era. I know I intend

to do a

> drawing of him in that outfit ASAP-- sounds delightfully eclectic!
>
> -M.
>
> P.S. But I think Hijikata in his suit looks cooler. :)
>

Oops...thats

--- In SHQ@yahoogroups.com, "happywanderer_2" wrote:
>
> Also check out his doings in the US at
>
>
>
> I think that the first picture is supposed to depict him in the
> attire you described.
>
> He is also the inspiration for the character 'Herr Schnell' in the
> book 'The Samurai of Gold Hill' by Yoskiko Uchida (not sure of the
> spelling). This book was published about 20 years aga and was
> targeted at young adults. It was pretty good. Several of the
> characters are based on historical figures. I think that
Matsudaira
> makes an appearance, but I do not remember if the Shinsengumi do.
>
> --- In SHQ@yahoogroups.com, "Hirotada Tokugawa"
> wrote:
> >
> > I think some people might enjoy this--
> >
> > The newspaper "The North-China Herald," in its article on 25
Sept.
> 1868
> > ("The Albion at Neegata"), describes Henry Schnell-- the Prussian
> gun runner
> > who became a senior councilor serving Matsudaira Katamori.
> >
> > Apparently, he wore a kimono top, silk haori, red obi, either 2
> Japanese
> > swords or one European cavalry saber, had his hair combed back
from
> the
> > forehead, and wore trousers and long boots. Everyone bowed
whenever
> they saw
> > him, and he was always accompanied by officials and a retinue.
> >
> > I am SURE he crossed paths with Hijikata Toshizo.
> >
> > Anyway, this might present somewhat of an interesting challenge
to
> those of
> > you wanting to study or draw clothing of that era. I know I
intend
> to do a
> > drawing of him in that outfit ASAP-- sounds delightfully eclectic!
> >
> > -M.
> >
> > P.S. But I think Hijikata in his suit looks cooler. :)
> >
>

I also have this weird feeling that Schnell acquired Hijikata's suit for
him.

-M.

Yeah, yeah, the trousers tucked into the boots sort of sounds like
the description of Herr Schnell.

I suppose this is a potential inspiration for some fiction: the Vice-
commander's new clothes....the use of buttons and wearing
boots....western underwear. The NHK drama had a scene about this
that was pretty cute.

How do you measure a samurai's inseams without getting yourself stuck
with a sharp object that is not a straight pin?....and all the while
Ito hovers about wearing a tape measure like a feather boa....


--- In SHQ@yahoogroups.com, "Hirotada Tokugawa"
wrote:

>
> I also have this weird feeling that Schnell acquired Hijikata's

suit for

> him.
>
> -M.
>