Romulus Hillsborough

I've heard generally negative comments about Romulus Hillsborough's
book on the Shinsengumi, and was wondering if the issue is poor
scholarship (i.e. incorrect, misquoted, or just plain bad info), or if
it is just not well written, Is it a reliable historical reference? Or
are there just issues with the conclusions he draws? I'm starting to
read up on the Shinsengumi with a few Japanese books on the way via
amazon.co.jp, but it is always nice to get a foundation in my native
language. I checked the archives here, and it seems that people tend
to dislike it, but I'd probably have to read every post to get the
full picture, so I hope you don't mind me cheating with a direct question.

My review of the book http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SHQ/message/2573

--- In SHQ@yahoogroups.com, "Kitsuno" wrote:
>
> I've heard generally negative comments about Romulus Hillsborough's
> book on the Shinsengumi, and was wondering if the issue is poor
> scholarship (i.e. incorrect, misquoted, or just plain bad info), or
if

*at this time we cannot double check his work without gathering all
the books he used and then placing them side by side with what is
presented in Eng. That would take alot of money and time due to the
need of assembling a team of translators. So I cannot really say his
information is bad. However in terms of *scholarship* the book
approaches the topic by using themes. Instead of the cause and effect
of historical circumstances he for instance highlights the ambitions
of the Shinsengumi.


> it is just not well written, Is it a reliable historical reference?
Or
> are there just issues with the conclusions he draws?


*Personally I think his work is very immature due to the sarcasm he
constantly uses to describe the Shinsengumi. If he wanted to write a
text on history such a tone is entirely inappropriate. I think he did
not use the most recent nor best sources...as Hillsborough
knows..there are MANY books on the Shinsengumi

for example: http://www.shinsengumihq.com/bibliography2.htm
you will see books which have collected letters written by the
Shinsengumi

Hillsborough should have used those books to create a more complete
narrative

the author also noted that his book is not 100% "historical" because
as he fairly noted---writing such a book on the Shinsengumi would be
incredibly difficult

Maybe he should add that his heroes, the Ishin Shishi were 100%
responsible for "revising" Japan's history and suppressing what
the "other side" (losers) had to say---THAT IS WHY IT IS HARD TO WRITE
A BOOK ON THE SHINSENGUMI. Alot of info has been lost, destroyed or
still hidden. Even some descendents of the Shinsengumi today feel
inconvenienced to discuss their ancestors.

I'm starting to
> read up on the Shinsengumi with a few Japanese books on the way via
> amazon.co.jp, but it is always nice to get a foundation in my native
> language. I checked the archives here, and it seems that people tend
> to dislike it, but I'd probably have to read every post to get the
> full picture, so I hope you don't mind me cheating with a direct
question.

I think many of us dislike it not because Hillsborough holds a
different opinion on the Shinsengumi. For me personally, I was
angered by the fact that

1) he was writing the FIRST BOOK IN ENGLISH on the Shinsengumi---
technically it makes his text "groundbreaking". Rather than providing
a straight up text which is both neutral in tone and helpful in
establishing a foundation for future serious research he comes across
as a bitter man annoyed by the popularity of the Shinsengumi. I
would've been eternally grateful if he was a bit civil in his text.
And imagine how much money he can make if he followed up with an
attempted biography of let's say Okita? The man shot himself in the
foot IMHO.

2) He abused that golden opportunity of being the first western author
to introduce the group in text by using the Shinsengumi to prove his
own personal view that the restoration was glorious and led by
infallible idealists who were not filled with personal ambition, greed
or "propensity to kill" ---we know this to be innaccurate.

Hillsborough is a blatant Ishin "worshipper" and fanboy who thinks
that he is ripping the mask off the Shinsengumi HEROES.

Unfortunately, Hillsborough is not aware of the fact that even
Shinsengumi fans have a mature view of the miburo and their record.

We know they were not perfect.

We get it.

Hillsborough should put his journalism background to use and
investigate his own "heroes" and what foundation they laid for Japan!

A Japan which was neither democratic, nor enlightened.

1868 was the restoration of feudalism.

If he feels that the Shinsengumi were just the dogs of the
bakufu...why did he write a book on them? If they held historical
significance why did he simplify their narrative so much?

Because the Shinsengumi were/are a hot topic and he wanted a piece of
the pie.

secretarytocapt3 (incredibly hormonal today)

P.S. Shinsengumihq.com has quoted Hillsborough's book extensively.
We have fans who did find the book very useful and therefore we have
not posted harsh criticism of his work anywhere on our site.
I respect HIllsborough for some "effort" and the fact that he has
studied Japanese for 15 years.

In fact our home page recommends the book because gosh darnit there is
no other book to overshadow his text.

we tried our best to be fair and direct people to what is "out there"
without making our personal opinion a deciding factor.

I agree with secretarytocapt3.

In addition, even though Hillsborough noted that his book is not 100% "historical", he
should not have referred to Shimozawa Kan's "Shinsengumi Shimatsuki" repeatedly without
mentioning it being a historical novel based on a lot of historical data (especially regarding
the accounts that have already been concluded to be fictional.)

I'm glad I bought Hillsborough's book though.

~Seven

--- In SHQ@yahoogroups.com, "secretary" wrote:
>
> My review of the book http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SHQ/message/2573
>
>
> --- In SHQ@yahoogroups.com, "Kitsuno" wrote:
> >
> > I've heard generally negative comments about Romulus Hillsborough's
> > book on the Shinsengumi, and was wondering if the issue is poor
> > scholarship (i.e. incorrect, misquoted, or just plain bad info), or
> if
>
> *at this time we cannot double check his work without gathering all
> the books he used and then placing them side by side with what is
> presented in Eng. That would take alot of money and time due to the
> need of assembling a team of translators. So I cannot really say his
> information is bad. However in terms of *scholarship* the book
> approaches the topic by using themes. Instead of the cause and effect
> of historical circumstances he for instance highlights the ambitions
> of the Shinsengumi.
>
>
> > it is just not well written, Is it a reliable historical reference?
> Or
> > are there just issues with the conclusions he draws?
>
>
> *Personally I think his work is very immature due to the sarcasm he
> constantly uses to describe the Shinsengumi. If he wanted to write a
> text on history such a tone is entirely inappropriate. I think he did
> not use the most recent nor best sources...as Hillsborough
> knows..there are MANY books on the Shinsengumi
>
> for example: http://www.shinsengumihq.com/bibliography2.htm
> you will see books which have collected letters written by the
> Shinsengumi
>
> Hillsborough should have used those books to create a more complete
> narrative
>
> the author also noted that his book is not 100% "historical" because
> as he fairly noted---writing such a book on the Shinsengumi would be
> incredibly difficult
>
> Maybe he should add that his heroes, the Ishin Shishi were 100%
> responsible for "revising" Japan's history and suppressing what
> the "other side" (losers) had to say---THAT IS WHY IT IS HARD TO WRITE
> A BOOK ON THE SHINSENGUMI. Alot of info has been lost, destroyed or
> still hidden. Even some descendents of the Shinsengumi today feel
> inconvenienced to discuss their ancestors.
>
> I'm starting to
> > read up on the Shinsengumi with a few Japanese books on the way via
> > amazon.co.jp, but it is always nice to get a foundation in my native
> > language. I checked the archives here, and it seems that people tend
> > to dislike it, but I'd probably have to read every post to get the
> > full picture, so I hope you don't mind me cheating with a direct
> question.
>
> I think many of us dislike it not because Hillsborough holds a
> different opinion on the Shinsengumi. For me personally, I was
> angered by the fact that
>
> 1) he was writing the FIRST BOOK IN ENGLISH on the Shinsengumi---
> technically it makes his text "groundbreaking". Rather than providing
> a straight up text which is both neutral in tone and helpful in
> establishing a foundation for future serious research he comes across
> as a bitter man annoyed by the popularity of the Shinsengumi. I
> would've been eternally grateful if he was a bit civil in his text.
> And imagine how much money he can make if he followed up with an
> attempted biography of let's say Okita? The man shot himself in the
> foot IMHO.
>
> 2) He abused that golden opportunity of being the first western author
> to introduce the group in text by using the Shinsengumi to prove his
> own personal view that the restoration was glorious and led by
> infallible idealists who were not filled with personal ambition, greed
> or "propensity to kill" ---we know this to be innaccurate.
>
> Hillsborough is a blatant Ishin "worshipper" and fanboy who thinks
> that he is ripping the mask off the Shinsengumi HEROES.
>
> Unfortunately, Hillsborough is not aware of the fact that even
> Shinsengumi fans have a mature view of the miburo and their record.
>
> We know they were not perfect.
>
> We get it.
>
> Hillsborough should put his journalism background to use and
> investigate his own "heroes" and what foundation they laid for Japan!
>
> A Japan which was neither democratic, nor enlightened.
>
> 1868 was the restoration of feudalism.
>
> If he feels that the Shinsengumi were just the dogs of the
> bakufu...why did he write a book on them? If they held historical
> significance why did he simplify their narrative so much?
>
> Because the Shinsengumi were/are a hot topic and he wanted a piece of
> the pie.
>
> secretarytocapt3 (incredibly hormonal today)
>
> P.S. Shinsengumihq.com has quoted Hillsborough's book extensively.
> We have fans who did find the book very useful and therefore we have
> not posted harsh criticism of his work anywhere on our site.
> I respect HIllsborough for some "effort" and the fact that he has
> studied Japanese for 15 years.
>
> In fact our home page recommends the book because gosh darnit there is
> no other book to overshadow his text.
>
> we tried our best to be fair and direct people to what is "out there"
> without making our personal opinion a deciding factor.
>

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

>
> My review of the book http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SHQ/message/2573
>
>
>

Thanks for the feedback. My biggest aggrivation with English
histories of events in Japanese history is one mentioned in your
review - not enough footnotes or discussions in text of other
possibilities or conflicting reports/documents - almost like the
historian writing the book either 1. doesn't want to take away from
their own POV, 2.Doesn't want to bother, 3.Doesn't realize there are
conflicting documents, or 4.Is just lazy. The Evil Turnbull is the
worst offender in this sort of thing (I won't get into the countless
other issues I have with that guy's "work", although I'll give him the
only credit I can, that he has probably done more to get people
interested in the subject that the academic rice-counters).

Also, I have the same problem a lot of people have in general - the
scholars of Japanese history in the West are forced to publish books
on the kokudaka output of XYZ province or the "intellectual history"
(which is a fancy word for writing long run on sentences with words
only found in the dusty pages of long out of print Olde English
dictionaries with an aversion to common adjectives) otherwise they
just won't get published. I'm still waiting for a Carl Sagan of
Japanese history to make things interesting. Usually I gather a few
rare useful articles from the Journal of Japanese Studies or the
Monumenta Niponica (I did see the journal list SHINSENGUMI IN ACADEMIC
JOURNALS, so I'll be getting those articles soon), but then since
nothing of much interest has been published since Sansom, so I pretty
much stick to reading Japanese history books. It's a shame, too, since
the things I read in Japanese are far more colorful and interesting
than anything found in English.

End Rant :-P

I just picked up the Gakken Shinsengumi book put out in 2003, and the
Gakken books to this point have always had good information and lots
of interesting "extras" - this one has about 100 shinsengumi
biographies, maps of various battles, a map of areas where important
members were assasinated, and all sorts of other goodies.

I checked Hillsborough's book on Amazon.com - shouldn't someone here
write a more unbiased review? Only one review out of 4 there seems to
be at all critical.