Shinsengumi, during Aizu's effort to take Shirakawa in 1868, was posted to
Shirasaka Barrier outside Shirakawa, in an effort to repulse the Imperial
Japanese Army's offensive (see pp. 310-311 of Yamakawa Kenjiro's book "Aizu
Boshin Senshi"). Yamakawa Kenjiro notes that at this point, it was under the
command of Yamaguchi Jiro-- also known as Saitou Hajime. While this briefly
repelled the Imperial army, the local population betrayed the Allied armies
of the north and forced them to retreat. Chief among these traitors was the
village headman of Shirasaka Village, named Odaira Hachiro, who had guided
the Imperial forces in this battle.
Enter Aizu retainer Tanabe Gunji. In 1868, Tanabe Gunji was young-- 18 years
of age. He survived the war and went, together with other Aizu samurai, to
exile in Tonami, in the far north of the main Japanese island of Honshu.
During his exile he heard of what this Odaira Hachiro had done. Unable to
leave matters at that, he slipped out of Tonami, and after a month on the
road, arrived in Shirakawa.
In a scene that must have been quite horrific, Gunji found Hachiro and
killed him. After doing so, he immediately committed suicide. (His grave is
to be found in the cemetery for Aizu samurai at Matsunami, in Shirakawa
City) (see
http://baragaki.fc2web.com/aizukanjinbutsu/jintanabe.htm for a
brief biography of Tanabe)
This begs the question......if the village headman in question was the
headman of Shirasaka....could he have heard of the betrayal from Saitou
Hajime, who had been at Shirasaka and was in Tonami at the same time that
Gunji was?
Though we may never know for sure, it's certainly worth some consideration.
-M.
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