Essay Challenge W/ Prize

S "As for the role of the Shinsengumi in the deaths of Ito, Takeda and
Yamanami, I am not sure that fans of the taiga or anime depictions
will like what is presented here. It certainly isn't the noble version
of history that the taiga tries to portray."

The Taiga drama is definately just an inspirational drama. I know what
S is talking about, "noble version of history" is really just a dream.
Perhaps that is the value of fiction, to allow people to define on
their own what is "good" which may be difficult if nearly impossible
to find in reality. So in the end perhaps we just internalize what is
heroism and look to ourselves for that ideal.

First the prize: Brand new copy of Romulus Hillsborough's book
shipped right to your door from Amazon. Or, one brand new Shinsengumi
related dvd. ***see bottom for other possible prize

How to win: write the most awesome, compelling essay to justify the
pragmatics of attacking Aizu you have to be a 110% hardcore advocate
for the Imperialists. Nobody is going to shred your argument---however
they must be sound/logical/organized and backed up with atleast 5
textual sources (no websites/online encyclopedias). Your essay will
be donated to shinsengumihq.com but will remain your property under
your name. file will be posted as a adobe pdf.

As it stands, the northern alliance was actually the last stronghold
for the bakufu. Enomoto had other plans.

Reason: The most ideal way of studying this era is to examine it in
"teams". EAch team handles a domain such as Tosa, Satsuma, Choshu,
Aizu, Imperial FAmily, Shogunate and freeby foreign powers. EAch team
should be an advocate for his or her domain and use only the reasons
or "evidence" available to people at that time. Get in a room and
argue it out.

Unfortunatley, we're just a bunch of fans---we don't have all day to
study all sides of the issue. But we know that more than one side
needs to be studied.

Hence, this contest is a "shortcut" for just compiling facts.

Length of paper---as long or short as you want. We just want the
facts. If your paper ends up being 50% the philosophical motivations
of the Imperialists then you need to look more carefully at the
historical details. Short sentences are good.

Note: you must be careful in citing your sources, use footnotes and a
bibliography using MLA format----paraphrasing someone else's words too
closely also constitutes plagiarism.

Deadline NOvember 18

If the essay is SO truly jaw-droppingly awesome to convert a
Shinsengumi fan to the side of the imperialists then you may win a
Shinsengumi haori made in Japan.

This is an exercise in going to the "other side".

secretarytocapt3(a)hotmail.com

"Reason: The most ideal way of studying this era is
to examine it in"teams". EAch team handles a domain
such as Tosa, Satsuma, Choshu, Aizu, Imperial FAmily,
Shogunate and freeby foreign powers. EAch team
should be an advocate for his or her domain and use
only the reasons or "evidence" available to people at
that time. Get in a room and argue it out."
-secretary

Wait a min... This part confused me a bit. Do you
mean that this is this up (or will go up) on the
message boards for us to gather & share more info?
It might just be me... but I just really didn't get
this part.



__________________________________
Yahoo! Mail - PC Magazine Editors' Choice 2005
http://mail.yahoo.com

--- In SHQ@yahoogroups.com, Bunny ^_^ wrote:

> "Reason: The most ideal way of studying this era is
> to examine it in"teams". "
> -secretary

Bunny

> It might just be me... but I just really didn't get
> this part.

No, it's me. (^_^) I'm sorry.
What I meant is---in an ideal situation, studying this era in teams
would be the best way to learn. A book written by authors, each a
specialist in his or her field would be the ultimate book. It is
simply too much for one academic to handle this ENTIRE CONFLICT alone.

So that was just an idea.

What will happen in such a learning setting is...
Loyalists "you, Aizu, don't you get it? The Shogun abdicated already
you lost now go bye bye."
Aizu "yes we know that but how come you are gathering forces to march
against us? We are negotiating with you and also writing letters--can
you hold your troops back?"

But such a dialogue can even be backed up with actual documents:
Matsudaira Katamori
"The recent...turn of events is ultimately due to my incompetence...I
have disgraced myself completely...while in Edo, I had hoped to take
immediate action that would redress the situation. But the shogun was
occupied with his own affairs , and so I decided to return to Aizu for
the time being. We have now been told that the government has ordered
several domains to punish Aizu with military force. If their troops
advance to our borders, we have no choice but to make full
preparations for war." (p.40 Shiba Goro's REMEMBERING AIZU)

Aizu here there and everywhere. Hillsborough uses Nagakura's work
alot, so you will read of Nagakura and Harada wanting to head to
Aizu---however Kondou and Hijikata infected with the "germ of
self-importance" would not allow that unless the two submitted
themselves as vassals.

What participants will realize and experience in a controlled
historical RPG are the passions and political reasonings behind each
side of the conflict. You will then understand why people gambled
their lives for their cause. However, RPGs are often taken
"personally" and learning may not occur. RPGs also take a huge amount
of time. A transcript of such a group effort may be a valuable source
for people who are not inclined to read the standard 2-5 pound texts
on the collapse of the Shogunate.

We no longer have a messageboard. http://www.shinsengumiMB.com points
to this mailing list. We previously had a messageboard (at a cost)
however it is gone now. Other fans can take the initiative and work
on this. http://www.red-bird.org kindly offered board space, and this
site is studying Choshu.

Or people can build their own websites which are more professional
than what Hillsborough has offered in this groundbreaking book.
He may have been reacting to the unrestrained glorification of the
Shinsengumi which was at its peak while he was writing this book.
Hence his sweeping label "the most notorious band of killers in
Japanese history." (Hillsborough 33). Wow, even if the Shinsengumi
[tried] they may not even been able to compete with the record of some
other groups of killers in more recent Japanese history.
-----------------------------------------
Timeline now in a better format and will have more info soon
http://www.shinsengumihq.com/ShinsengumiBakumatsuTimeline.htm
-----------------------------------------
In constructing the narrative of Hijikata's move to Hakodate
Hillsborough does NOT use YOUNG JAPAN by Black (this book has been
used by nearly all major works on the Bakumatsu)
If you want to read about Ueno/Shogitai (Harada), Aizu, and Hakodate
download https://mywebspace.wisc.edu/tnamwong/web/YoungJapanEnomoto.pdf
(1.35 mb) You will then realize why no one wanted to be Enomoto's pen
pal XD
-----------------------------------------
For fans of Takagi/Fujita Tokio
http://www.shinsengumihq.com/TakagiTokioinfo.htm
Click on "timeline", go to the year ***1906 and click on the link
which will take you to a description of the interior of the school and
dorm.
Tokyo was a "dorm mother" she would've been very familiar with the
structure described.
*Yes, Mr. Fujita Goro was still working at the school in 1906