Site hacked, and Saitou saves a man shot in the butt

SHQ was hacked, and we hope the site will be normal soon.

In the meanwhile, here's some new data that I've translated, from the
amazing compendium "Shinsengumi Saitou Hajime no Subete".

So, as historians know, the Battle of Bonari Pass was the beginning of the
action that culminated in the Sat-cho army reaching the walls of
Aizu-Wakamatsu. Northern forces put up stiff resistance there but were
eventually routed. One of the unit commanders was Oshima Torao, who was shot
in the rear end (buttocks) as he retreated. Just as Oshima resigned himself
to death, Saitou and the Shinsengumi appeared, and covered the retreat of
Oshima's unit with small-arms fire.

(source: p. 194 of "Saitou Hajime Kanren Jinbutsu Jiten", by Todo Toshihisa,
in "Shinsengumi Saitou Hajime no Subete")

Here's an example of someone who encountered Saitou in the Meiji era without
initially knowing who he was:

Imada Katsuyori was the son of the last armorer of the Aizu domain. In Meiji
27, Katsuyori became a live-in student at the Yamakawa household (former
senior Aizu retainers) in Tokyo. Thus, occasionally he would be there when a
fat, red-faced, sharp old man would come and tell tales of the Shinsengumi.
When Katsuyori asked Yamakawa who this man was, he was told "He was Saitou
Hajime."

(source: same as above)

These little anecdotes really serve to show just how much even in 19th
century Japan, "it's a small world after all"

-M.