Masuya , Ueno War, and TB

Ok, I ran across an anime site that had info about the shop the
Shinsengumi raided just before the Ikedaya incident and the Ueno War.
It also had an odd fact about TB. It's not much mind you and a lot of
folks might have already run across this. Also, I'm not even sure
their information is accurate. The Ueno War thing seemed pretty
interesting to me though, because I've never run across ANYTHING on
it before, other than the name. Probably I'm the only dummy here who
didn't know this. -_-

The site in question is:
http://www.koyagi.com/ACPages/ACmain.html


Masuya - That was the name of the store the Shinsengumi raided as we
all know. The merchant who ran it called himself "Kiemon", but he was
really a Choshu samurai named Kotaka Shuntaro. The Shinsengumi found
out about him supposedly by following one of Miyabe Teizo's servants
back to the place. (He was staying there at the time.) Of course they
captured the owner and tortured him and weapons found hidden in the
shop. But here's what confused me. Both from the RK OVA and the
PeaceMaker anime, I thought that the incident at the Ikedaya took
place either later that same day or the next day? It says here that
it took place "less than a week later"? This implies to me that at
least a couple days passed. Anyone care to clarify or object to this?

Ueno War - I knew that the group known as the Shogitai (the group
that Harado joined) were defeated in the Ueno War. Until now that's
all I could find out. I couldn't even come up with a date. (Some of
you scholars have been holding out with the info, haven't you?)
According to this site, they formed in March of 1868 and served as an
informal police force in Edo. They were headquartered in the temple
of Kanei-ji in Ueno. The city was surrendered, but they refused to
stop resisting the Imperialists and were defeated in a battle that
took place on July 4, 1868. Much of the temple was destroyed in the
fighting. Some survivors then went on to fight in Hokkaido. Of
course, Harada is generally thought to have died in that battle.

Ketsukaku - The name for TB in Japan. The site said that Shinto
tradition thought it was a polluting diease. Both the sufferer and
their family were stigmatized by it and even today people who had
someone with it in their family history have a harder time getting
married. Anyone know anyting about this claim?

-MissBehavin (It may be wrong, but at least you won't need to use the
evil Babelfish to be mislead!)

--- In SHQ@yahoogroups.com, "warg3791" wrote:

> Ketsukaku - The name for TB in Japan. The site said that Shinto
> tradition thought it was a polluting diease. Both the sufferer and
> their family were stigmatized by it and even today people who had
> someone with it in their family history have a harder time getting
> married. Anyone know anyting about this claim?
>
> -MissBehavin (It may be wrong, but at least you won't need to use the
> evil Babelfish to be mislead!)

***But I thought that people back then believed -all- diseases were
somehow brought on by the gods somehow...I wonder if the Shinsengumi
wanted to keep Okita's condition a secret.

In a message dated 4/24/2004 9:48:40 AM Eastern Daylight Time, secretarytocapt3@... writes:

> ***But I thought that people back then believed -all- diseases were
> somehow brought on by the gods somehow...I wonder if the
> Shinsengumi
> wanted to keep Okita's condition a secret.

I'm not certain. I haven't run across enough about Shinto beliefs yet. Sounds like an interesting religion from what I do know about it,though.

As far as why the Shinsengumi kept Okita's condition secret goes, I always thought it had more to do with them being afraid the group would be demoralized if they found out their strongest member had a fatal illness. This just adds a new twist to it. Maybe they were afraid some of their followers would think it was a sign the Shinsengumi were angering the kami or something? Knowing how forward-thinking Hijikata was, I can't see him giving in to superstitions. He had a very practical reason for hiding Okita's condition I'm sure, but that doesn't mean he didn't recognize what the knowledge might lead others to think.

But what about the other stuff? Was the site correct about the raid at the Masuya and the Ueno War do you think?

-MissBehavin

Shintoism is very difficult to study because it was synthesized with
Buddhism (for example many Japanese people today will not deny that
they "believe" in both Shintoism -and- Buddhism but they may not
"practice" either). Shintoism is big on purification for example the
marking of sacred areas and the significance of water but that is
merely the beginning. All shrines have official purification
ceremonies on their special festival days

I think it is impossible to prevent the Shinsengumi from being
demoralized when news got out about Okita's condition. I can imagine
that they were concerned about it leaking to the general public
because the Ishin Shishi could definately "spin" it to encourage their
followers that the Shinsengumi were not so invincible.

The website you brought up is awesome (I added it to the website
database back on Miburo Yahoo Groups).

The text resource it used are well accepted (Ikedaya info)
Hillsborough, Romulus. Ryoma: Life of a Renaissance Samurai [but]
(Ueno War) Japan : An Illustrated Encyclopedia p.1643 is a very
general resource which can hardly explain the intricacies of what is
considered to be a minor conflict.

Tiffany/secretarytocapt3
who is waiting for more knowledgeable people to come forth otherwise
we'll have to send the fish after them!