Shinsengumi

  The Shinsengumi (Japanese: 新選組 or 新撰組) were a special police force of the late shogunate period.

Historical Background

  After Japan opened up to the West in the 1860s following U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry's visits in 1853, sentiment towards the Tokugawa shogunate grew negative while citizens longed for return to power of the emperor.

  In 1863, the Roshigumi (浪士組), a group of 234 masterless samurai (rōnin), was founded by Kiyokawa Hachirō to act as the protectors of the Tokugawa shogun in Kyoto.

Historical Facts

  Kiyokawa Hachirō formed the Rōshigumi with funding from the Tokugawa regime. However, his goal was to gather rōnin to work with the imperialists. In response, thirteen members of the Rōshigumi became the thirteen founding members of the Shinsengumi, while other members loyal to the Tokugawa government returned to Edo and formed the Shinchogumi (a special police force in Edo.)

  The Shinsengumi members were originally also known as the Miburō (壬生浪), meaning "ronin of Mibu", Mibu being the town where they were stationed. However, the reputation of the Shinsengumi became tarnished quite early on, and their nickname soon changed to "Wolves of Mibu" (壬生狼, pronounced the same). Shinsengumi could be translated to "Newly Selected Corps" (Shinsen means "new chosen (ones)," while "gumi" translates to "group," "team," or "squad.")

  The original Commanders of the Shinsengumi were Serizawa Kamo, Kondō Isami, and Niimi Nishiki. At first, the group was composed of three major factions: Serizawa's group, Kondo's group, and Tomouchi's group (members below). However, Tomouchi and Lesato were assassinated shortly after its foundation.

Serizawa's faction: Serizawa Kamo Niimi Nishiki Hirayama Gorou Hirama Juusuke Noguchi Kenji Araya Shingorou Saeki Matasaburou

Kondo's faction: Kondo Isami Hijikata Toshizo Inoue Genzaburō Okita Souji Nagakura Shinpachi Saito Hajime Harada Sanosuke Todo Heisuke Yamanami Keisuke

Tomouchi's faction: Tomouchi Yoshio Lesato Jirou Abiru Aisaburo Negishi Yuuzan

  After the elimination of Tomouchi Yoshio and his third faction, the group was composed of just two factions: Serizawa's Mito group and Kondō Isami's Shiekan members, both based in the Mibu neighborhood of Kyoto. The group submitted a letter to the Aizu clan requesting permission to police Kyoto, and to counteract revolutionaries who supported the emperor against the Tokugawa shogunate. Their request was granted.

  On September 30th (lunar calendar August 18), the Chōshū clan were forced out of the Imperial court by the Tokugawa regime, the Aizu clan and the Satsuma clan. All members of the Mibu Rōshigumi were sent to aid Aizu and help keep Chōshū out of the imperial court by guarding its gates. This caused a power shift in the political arena in Kyoto, from the extreme anti-Tokugawa Chōshū forces to the pro-Tokugawa Aizu forces. The new name "Shinsengumi" was said to have been given to the group by either the Imperial Court or Matsudaira Katamori (the daimyo of the Aizu clan) for their job in guarding the gates.

  The Shinsengumi's greatest enemies were the imperialist-supporting ronin samurai of the Mori clan of Chōshū (and later, former ally Shimazu Clan of Satsuma.)

  Ironically, the reckless actions of Serizawa and Niimi, done in the name of the Shinsengumi, caused the group to be feared in Kyoto when their job was to keep the peace. On October 19, 1863, Niimi Nishiki, who was demoted to sub-commander due to a fight with wrestlers, was forced to commit seppuku by Hijikata and Yamanami. Less than two weeks later, Serizawa was assassinated by Kondō's faction under Matsudaira Katamori's order.

  The Ikedaya Affair of 1864, in which they prevented the burning of Kyoto, made the Shinsengumi famous overnight; they had a surge of recruits.

  The Shinsengumi remained loyal to the Tokugawa bakufu, and when the latter collapsed, they were driven out of Kyoto. They fought to the very end. Isami Kondō was captured and beheaded by the Meiji government. Generally, the death of Toshizō Hijikata on June 20 (lunar calendar May 11), 1869 is seen as marking the end of the Shinsengumi.

  A few core members, such as Nagakura Shinpachi and Saito Hajime, survived the demise of the group.

Members of the group

  At its peak, the Shinsengumi had about 300 members. They were the first samurai group of the Tokugawa era to allow those from non-samurai classes like farmers and merchants to join. Previously, Japan had had a strict class hierarchy system. Many joined the group due to the desire to become samurai and be involved in political affairs. However, it is a misconception that most of the Shinsengumi members were from non-samurai classes. Out of 106 Shinsengumi members (among a total of 302 members at the time), there were eighty seven samurai, eight farmers, three merchants, three medical doctors, three priests, and two craftsmen. Quite a few leaders, such as Yamanami, Okita, Nagakura, and Harada, were born samurai.

  =Post-Ikedaya Shinsengumi hierarchy=
   Commander: Kondō Isami, fourth master of the Tennen Rishin Ryū
   General Secretary(Vice Commander): Yamanami Keisuke
   Vice Commander: Hijikata Toshizō
   Military Advisor: Ito Kashitarō

Troop Captains:

1. Okita Sōji
2. Nagakura Shinpachi
3. Saitō Hajime
4. Matsubara Chūji
5. Takeda Kanryūsai
6. Inoue Genzaburō
7. Tani Sanjūrō
8. Tōdō Heisuke
9. Suzuki Mikisaburō
10. Harada Sanosuke

Spies: Shimada Kai, Yamazaki Susumu

Shinsengumi Regulations

  The code of the Shinsengumi Regulations was most likely to have been written by Hijikata Toshizō

The code included five articles, prohibiting the following:

1. Deviating from the samurai code (Bushido 武士道)
2. Leaving the Shinsengumi
3. Raising money privately
4. Taking part in others' litigation
5. Engaging in private fights

The penalty for breaking any rule was seppuku(切腹). In addition, the Shinsengumi had these regulations:

1. If the leader of a unit is mortally wounded in a fight, all the members of the unit must fight and die on the spot.
2. Even in a fight where the death toll is high, it is not allowed to retrieve the bodies of the dead, except the corpse of the leader of the unit.

  The most prominent of which is this: "If a Shinsengumi member engages in a fight with a stranger, be it on duty or not, if he is wounded and can't kill the enemy, allowing him to run away, even in case of a wound in the back, seppuku is ordered."

  Hijikata forced them to follow extremely strict rules to make the group reflect bushido (or samurai) ideals, and to create fear within the group so that they would absolutely obey the orders of Hijikata and Kondo. These rules are a major reason why they rose to be such a strong, feared force consisting of hundreds of expert swordsmen, each endowed with official sanction and an unflinching readiness to kill.

  Quite a few members were forced to commit seppuku for breaking the rules, or were killed for being spies.

The Uniform

  The members of the Shinsengumi were highly visible in battle due to their distinctive uniforms. Following the orders of Shinsengumi captain Serizawa Kamo, the standard uniform consisted of the haori and hakama over a kimono, with a white cord called a tasuki crossed over the chest and tied in the back. The function of the tasuki is to prevent the sleeves of the kimono from interfering with moving the arms. The uniqueness of the uniform was most evident in the haori, which was colored asagiiro (浅葱色, generally light blue, but can also be light yellow). The haori sleeves were trimmed with "white mountain stripes", resulting in a very flashy outfit, quite unlike the usual browns, blacks, and greys found in warrior clothing. In the midst of a fight, the uniforms of the Shinsengumi provided not only a means of easy identification, but also a highly visible threat towards the enemy.



Based on the article "Shinaengumi" from Wikipedia
"Text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License."