Here's a poser...

I wonder which side Suzuki fought on during the Seinan if he moved from the Shinsengumi to Satsuma protection? Some possible scenarios:

1) he didn't join the police force until after the Seinan (wasn't it discussed here that many of Saigou's Satsuma samurai joined after the Seinan?) and fought with Satsuma forces against the Meiji;

2) he had as much reason for vengeance as Saitou, only his reasons were directed at Saigou (who, until someone comes forth with evidence against it, I maintain played a part in the destruction of Sagara and the Sekihoutai), and therefore he fought as part of the Meiji forces against Satsuma;

3) he'd left old animosities behind him (as Saitou *might* have done as well) and gave his support to the Meiji government for the security of Japan;

4) he stayed out of it completely for personal and/or philosophical reasons (I don't think anything is mentioned of his being involved in the Seinan on the one site we have).

Any thoughts? Any information that might point us to the truth?

phil (determined to have Miki remembered along with the others)




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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

--- In SHQ@yahoogroups.com, spiritus saitou wrote:

> I wonder which side Suzuki fought on during the Seinan if he moved

from the Shinsengumi to Satsuma protection? Some possible scenarios:

>
> 1) he didn't join the police force until after the Seinan (wasn't it

discussed here that many of Saigou's Satsuma samurai joined after the
Seinan?) and fought with Satsuma forces against the Meiji;

(I think it became REALLY popular to join the police dept. after
Seinan...as mentioned in "Remembering Aizu" because everyone needed jobs)

> 2) he had as much reason for vengeance as Saitou, only his reasons

were directed at Saigou (who, until someone comes forth with evidence
against it, I maintain played a part in the destruction of Sagara and
the Sekihoutai), and therefore he fought as part of the Meiji forces
against Satsuma;

In the bigger picture...the Seihoutai uprising was sooo brief...I
imagine him changing his name a few times and signing up as a minor
officer and no one would be suspicious...*in S.H.'s case he was
already a police officer and the police were a branch of the military
so technically speaking he had to go

*if Suzuki was already part of the police dept. then he would be in
the same situation as S.H.---if not then he would have to volunteer
and I'm sure the gov. was happy to have volunteers (what needs to be
checked out is if some kind of draft was implemented)

> 3) he'd left old animosities behind him (as Saitou *might* have done

as well) and gave his support to the Meiji government for the security
of Japan;

Note: since I believe that actions speak louder than words...and
Suzuki did donate money to build hospitals he was the kind of the
person who seemed to be in tune with the suffering around him. After
all these wars I imagine there were plenty of injured/maimed people so
he saw the need for hospitals...he and I believe Saitou may not have
seen themselves as being "Meiji dogs" (as Shishio would put it) but
public servants.

I wonder why S.H./Suzuki didn't join the military. Perhaps you got
paid more being a policeman/inspector? Or because of their experience
in the Shinsengumi they felt their skills were more effective when
concentrated in a local area (like modern police they were assigned to
districts/wards) while the military is on a national scale.

> 4) he stayed out of it completely for personal and/or philosophical

reasons (I don't think anything is mentioned of his being involved in
the Seinan on the one site we have).

The babelfish didn't say anything about Seinan (or garbled military
conflict to suggest the Seinan/Satsuma rebellion)...very often the
fish says "taking to the field" in regards to participating in a battle.

Any information that might point us to the truth?

>

NOne of the Shinsengumi sites which strive to be comprehensive mention
him...the site I found was the only one...the best bet is root arond
the big sites and read their message boards