In Saito's own words?

OK, so I was going through some of the posts over on the Miburo site
and I came across something rather interesting. Someone mentioned
that there was a rumor Saito wrote a biography about himself.
However, they did not know if it had ever been published. Does anyone
have anymore information about this? I sort of doubt it exists, but
oh if it did!

-MissBehavin

Miburo site---you mean our old yahoo group right?
This is mentioned on www.3-hajime.com that he wrote a "dream diary"
according to babelfish (located in the puzzles section) and gave it to
a relative however it has never been found. It goes in the rumor or
folktale section...but it wouldn't surprise me if he did because other
former members of the Shinsengumi wrote their accounts to. Besides
Nagakura SHinpachi, Nobori Nakajima also wrote a record. They lived so
intensely and I'm sure they needed to think about what they were doing
etc. If it did exist he must've given it someone who would take care
of it...somewhere out there...

my own speculation (so it is worthless:P):
1) it wouldn't just be about the Shinsengumi it would be about
swordsmanship and some of his spiritual beliefs as well...this is
based on my overall opinion from reading stuff on the 2 Japanese sites
and other messageboards...
a. from how he died he must've practiced meditation throughout his
life...and on 3-hajime.com it kinda details that he sat like this
throughout the night...took some time and lots of will power that
isn't mustered at the last moments of your life but through lifelong
cultivation.
b. If he did indeed practice Mugai Ryu kenjutsu then he would attempt
to study/realize its spiritual dimension based on Buddhism...many
"ryus" are heavily mixed with either
Shintoism/Buddhism/Zen/Confucianism (all or three but the older the
school the more Shinto it is)...the more advanced your martial arts
level so to speak the more abstract you get (abstract can also mean
trying to realize the most simple basic tenets of your art though).

--- In SHQ@yahoogroups.com, "warg3791" wrote:
> OK, so I was going through some of the posts over on the Miburo site
> and I came across something rather interesting. Someone mentioned
> that there was a rumor Saito wrote a biography about himself.
> However, they did not know if it had ever been published. Does anyone
> have anymore information about this? I sort of doubt it exists, but
> oh if it did!
>
> -MissBehavin

This biography, if it exists, is probably locked in the same vault as the dream diary. -_- The post where I saw this was talking specifically about books that had written about the Shinsengumi and Saito, and then mentioned that he was supposed to have wrote his own account. I wonder if they could have heard that same rumor about the dream diary and misunderstood? I didn't think about that possibility before.

About the Seiza thing. That reminds me of a story about Rob Roy MacGregor of Scotland. He had his family help him off his death bed so he could meet an old foe who dropped by in a way that wouldn't seem "weak". Perhaps that was part of what Saito was trying to accomplish? He wanted to meet death in a way that befitted a samurai? I don't mean this as a contradiction of what you're saying. I think it goes hand in hand with it rather. Just a thought.