Hijikata sings!

Okay so I don't know if the real Hijikata sang but I just got to see
episode 20 of the NHK Shinsengumi and Serizawa cheezed some important
person off to the point that they were going to leave the gathering
Kondou threw for them. To lighten up the situation Kondou prods Hijikata
into singing some popular song of the day while he (Kondou) and Inoue
Genzaboru do some dance. Nagakura and Harada join in the dance too
(Harada taking yet another chance to show of his fundoshi--bright yellow
this time). I'm guessing it was a popular song of the day because two of
the little kamuro girls in attendance wit their mistress sang along with
part of it.

Anyway, that boy can sing!!! It's a catchy little tune too, I just wish
the darn vcr was working properly to have taped it.

In other events, Yamanami, Todou and Saitou & Okita were in charge in
signing up new recruits. One guy was a total boob and Todou knocked him
out with a small tap tot eh head. The next guy that came took Saitou on
_Barehanded_ and won!!!!! Saitou was crushed and quickly went off to
sulk alone. Apparently the boob knows the hand to hand combat guy which
would explain his lack of sword skills if he's also a judo specialist.

Forgive me for not being able to name them as they spoke so fast and I
don't have subtitles here since I get the show on satellite direct from
NHK..


--
Barbara Sheridan

http://www.barbarasheridan.net

I'm assuming fundoshi will be making a huge comeback in Japan due to
this series.
One of the Japanese sites does mention jiujitsu teachers in the
Shinsengumi which makes sense in terms of restraining people you need
to take in alive for questioning.
Perhaps this is where Saitou will take up his jiujitsu seriously--note
hist. Saitou's Sekiguchi style. So did Saitou fight the guy with a
wooden sword and the guy was bare-handed? But many guys back then had
to study both, since childhood, ofcourse people had their preferences.
This is what makes the Shinsengumi so interesting...the guys came from
all over the country and brought with them their skills...martial arts
mayhem galore in the Shinsengumi dojo I'm sure...I wonder if Romulus
Hillsborough worked with any experts to cover this issue.
Well, if Hijikata could write poetry who knows what other hidden
talents he may have possessed.

--- In SHQ@yahoogroups.com, Barbara Sheridan wrote:
The next guy that came took Saitou on
> _Barehanded_ and won!!!!! Saitou was crushed and quickly went off to
> sulk alone. Apparently the boob knows the hand to hand combat guy which
> would explain his lack of sword skills if he's also a judo specialist.

secretary wrote:

>I'm assuming fundoshi will be making a huge comeback in Japan due to
>this series.>>
>

Brightly colored fundoshi no less first it was Kondou’s orange when he
got married (the official family crested fundoshi worn on special
occasions apparently) and Harada's red and yellow

< wooden sword and the guy was bare-handed?>>

Yes! And it happened to fast I'm not sure how the guy did it but he knocked the sword away and it ended up with him getting Saitou in a headlock from behind. It looked like the type position where he could have snapped his neck had he been so inclined.

Highly impressive stuff.



--
Barbara Sheridan

http://www.barbarasheridan.net

Barb mentioned the jiujitsu guy in the recent episode of the NHk Taiga
beating poor Saitou. It got me thinking abou the Sekiguti/Sekiguchi
jiujitsu S.H. believed to have practiced. On one of the posts at
3-hajime.com

fish says...
"Saito one Sekiguti style [jiujitsu lineage/style] softly had
completed technique, because the history charge supporting is not
clear, assertion is not possible, but because it is the information
where the Akama Cipango [Akama Shizuko] child person is procured from
the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, as for the possibility it is
high with you think. Because Tadasi Matsubara softly seems that is
softly the master of technique of the extent which serves the
technique teacher head afterwards, being taken after, is not strange,
don't you think?"

so the info is from the TMPD. The Sekiguti style was mentioned on the
S.H.'s chart http://g1342122.at.infoseek.co.jp/
And I think the guy in the NHK drama was Tadasi Matsubara--master of
his style(?) his name pops up in other threads regarding the drama.
Indeed the guys in the Shinsengumi were skilled as is ...and due to
the varied demographics of the group they continued to broaden their
martial knowledge obviously. I just found it pretty neat how Akama S.
was able to find this shred of info.