Shinsengumi Investigation Journal Found

This might be old news, but I just found it as I was going through old
email in my inbox, and thought people here might find it interesting.
It comes from Hillsborough's Fall 2005 issue of his email
magazine/newsletter:


A so-called Shinsengumi Investigation Journal has recently been found.
The document, written between May and October 1865, is more aptly
called a memorandum than a journal. It is believed to have been
recorded by Shinsengumi officer Yamazaki Susumu, whose name appears on
the front and back covers. Although it cannot be confirmed that the
document was actually written by Yamazaki, the Hino City Furusato
Museum, in Hino City, Tokyo, has issued a statement that "it was
definitely written by someone who knew much about the inner-affairs of
the Shinsengumi."

The document measures 7.6 cm x 16.5 cm and consists of 42 pages, some
of which have been torn out. The contents include a copy of infantry
training records and a list of 148 Shinsengumi corpsmen ­ beginning
with the slightly elevated names of Kondo Isami and Hijikata Toshizo.
(Okita Soji, Nagakura Shinpachi, Inoue Genzaburo and Todo Heisuke
follow in that order. Harada Sanosuke and Saito Hajime appear as
numbers 7 and 8. Yamazaki Susumu¹s name is 12th on the list.) Above
each name is a number between 1 and 8, indicating the number of the
squad that the man belonged to. Near some of the names are written the
words "seppuku" and "deserted" ­ and even the date (June 21) that two
of the men disemboweled themselves ­ adding to the value of the
document as an on-the-scene report. Although there exist several
valuable written and oral memoirs of former Shinsengumi corpsmen,
including Nagakura Shinpachi, Shimada Kai and Shinohara Yasunoshin,
the "Yamazaki Journal" is one of few remaining documents written
during the actual time period. It is also important as an indication
of the rank of the corpsmen and the Shinsengumi organization in
mid-1865, although it differs slightly from another list of the same
period recorded by Shimada.


Yamazaki Susumu, believed to have been an expert with a wooden staff,
served as a spy for the Shinsengumi. He was involved in the arrest of
anti-Tokugawa activist Furudaka Shuntaro in June 1864, leading to the
notorious Ikeda¹ya Incident, a turning point in the revolution.

The current owner of the document claims to be a descendent of an
Osaka merchant family with ties to Kondo Isami. The document was
exhibited at the Hino City Furusato Museum (Hinoshi Furusato
Hakubutuskan) in November and December of 2004.


[Sources: Asahi Shimbun, November 13, 2004; Hinoshi Furusato
Hakubutuskan Web site]

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

> It comes from Hillsborough's Fall 2005 issue of his email
> magazine/newsletter:
>

Sorry, make that "Spring 2005", not fall.

"The current owner of the document claims to be a descendent of an
Osaka merchant family with ties to Kondo Isami. "

Who are they?
Kounoike group?

Anyway, Hino Furusato Museum has not announced any update since then.

Shikisoku