Coming Soon Shinsengumi Book by Romulus Hillsborough

A week ago I emailed the Ridgebackpress and I received a reply from
Mr. Hillsborough saying that the consensus is that the Mimawarigumi
killed Ryoma Sakamoto however many theories -still- abound. I emailed
a question knowing that answer in the back of my mind...I did so
because if theories are still out there then websites should state
that rather than saying X killed X and not mention that there could be
more than one possibility.

Mr. Hillsborough says that he wrote a book on the Shinsengumi and it
will be released this fall...he will also address the above mentioned
issue in the
book.

Woo hoo! This is is English right?

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

-ENGLISH-

(one of my replies has not posted)

--- In SHQ@yahoogroups.com, "Jon Mesina" wrote:
> Woo hoo! This is is English right?
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

See Kodachiko's post 3347 on the Miburo List

--- In SHQ@yahoogroups.com, "Tiffany" wrote:
> A week ago I emailed the Ridgebackpress and I received a reply from
> Mr. Hillsborough saying that the consensus is that the Mimawarigumi
> killed Ryoma Sakamoto however many theories -still- abound. I emailed
> a question knowing that answer in the back of my mind...I did so
> because if theories are still out there then websites should state
> that rather than saying X killed X and not mention that there could be
> more than one possibility.
>
> Mr. Hillsborough says that he wrote a book on the Shinsengumi and it
> will be released this fall...he will also address the above mentioned
> issue in the
> book.

--- In SHQ@yahoogroups.com, "Tiffany" wrote:

>I did so because if theories are still out there then
>websites should state that rather than saying X
>killed X and not mention that there could be more
>than one possibility.

Tiffany, I am no expert at this, but I know how they come up with
another theory on who killed Ryoma Sakamoto. This is based on the
idea that if the any members of Mimawarigumi and Shinsengumi were
involved then it wouldn't have been a secret and just official police
business. There wouldn't be a reason to cover it up or be secret
about it. I just thought I would mention this...take it for whatever
it is worth...

This is taken from Mitsuo Kure's Samurai book:

"Who was responsible for the killing of Ryoma? Under the Kyoto
shugo there were two police organizations, the Shinsengumi and
Mimawarigumi. When Matsudaira Katamori, the lord of Aizu, was
appointed as shugo his soldiers were based at the Komyoji Temple. The
Mimawarigumi stayed at a branch temple of the Komyoji and executed
their duties around the temples of the city. Ryoma was regarded as a
criminal because he had killed one of the police raiders with his
revolver during the attack on him at the Teradaya inn; so it would
not be strange if he was a police target. According to the memoir of
Teshirogi Suguemon, an inspector of the Shinsengumi who served under
Matsudaira Katamori, it was Katamori who ordered Ryoma's
assassination, and Suguemon is a credible source. But if Ryoma was a
criminal why did the Mimawarigumi resort to assassination? Legitimate
police activity did not have to be kept secret.

If it was not a simple matter of police revenge, then who profited
most from Ryoma's death? The answer must be that the men who
wanted to unleash military violence against the bakufu broke from the
spell of the most influential voice speaking against the civil
war."

(Samurai: An Illustrated History, Kure, p. 139)

Kevin

-k- that's some really good info. If you want to you can start a
thread under www.shinsengumimb.com under the History forum-Tokugawa if
you'd like:)

want to hear -another- theory...this one came up on a Japanese
messageboard...Satsuma clan killed him...

--- In SHQ@yahoogroups.com, "k_closson2001" wrote:
> --- In SHQ@yahoogroups.com, "Tiffany" wrote:
> >I did so because if theories are still out there then
> >websites should state that rather than saying X
> >killed X and not mention that there could be more
> >than one possibility.
>
> Tiffany, I am no expert at this, but I know how they come up with
> another theory on who killed Ryoma Sakamoto. This is based on the
> idea that if the any members of Mimawarigumi and Shinsengumi were
> involved then it wouldn't have been a secret and just official police
> business. There wouldn't be a reason to cover it up or be secret
> about it. I just thought I would mention this...take it for whatever
> it is worth...
>
> This is taken from Mitsuo Kure's Samurai book:
>
> "Who was responsible for the killing of Ryoma? Under the Kyoto
> shugo there were two police organizations, the Shinsengumi and
> Mimawarigumi. When Matsudaira Katamori, the lord of Aizu, was
> appointed as shugo his soldiers were based at the Komyoji Temple. The
> Mimawarigumi stayed at a branch temple of the Komyoji and executed
> their duties around the temples of the city. Ryoma was regarded as a
> criminal because he had killed one of the police raiders with his
> revolver during the attack on him at the Teradaya inn; so it would
> not be strange if he was a police target. According to the memoir of
> Teshirogi Suguemon, an inspector of the Shinsengumi who served under
> Matsudaira Katamori, it was Katamori who ordered Ryoma's
> assassination, and Suguemon is a credible source. But if Ryoma was a
> criminal why did the Mimawarigumi resort to assassination? Legitimate
> police activity did not have to be kept secret.
>
> If it was not a simple matter of police revenge, then who profited
> most from Ryoma's death? The answer must be that the men who
> wanted to unleash military violence against the bakufu broke from the
> spell of the most influential voice speaking against the civil
> war."
>
> (Samurai: An Illustrated History, Kure, p. 139)
>
> Kevin

--- In SHQ@yahoogroups.com, "Tiffany" wrote:

>want to hear -another- theory...this one came up on a Japanese
>messageboard...Satsuma clan killed him...

Right, I think that is what that author I quoted was implying. That
it was either Satsuma or Choshu clan and any other person that wanted
to war against the Shogun. Ryoma seemed to be the person that was
preventing that. The movies I have about Ryoma tend to take this
theory, but that is fiction of course. I read someone talking about
the Peacemaker Manga on Ryoma's death, but I won't spoil that one.
I'll post something on this on the other board eventually.

Thanks,

Kevin

according to samuraiflix.com the movie THE AMBITIOUS is all about
this assasination. I want to see it because it starts Tatsuya Nakadai:)

--- In SHQ@yahoogroups.com, "k_closson2001" wrote:
> --- In SHQ@yahoogroups.com, "Tiffany" wrote:
> >want to hear -another- theory...this one came up on a Japanese
> >messageboard...Satsuma clan killed him...
>
> Right, I think that is what that author I quoted was implying. That
> it was either Satsuma or Choshu clan and any other person that wanted
> to war against the Shogun. Ryoma seemed to be the person that was
> preventing that. The movies I have about Ryoma tend to take this
> theory, but that is fiction of course. I read someone talking about
> the Peacemaker Manga on Ryoma's death, but I won't spoil that one.
> I'll post something on this on the other board eventually.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Kevin