Shinsengumi: It was a police troup,whose served the Shogun in the ends of the Bakufu Period,comanded by the militar charge of Kyoto
Formation:the main members were born in Tama,near Edo (Tokyo) and had a mission of protect the Kyoto province because of the Monarchy servants' individualism.
All of them wore a light blue uniform,detailed in white and carried a scarlet flag with a symbol to show their faith to other people.
In stead of their intends to help the country,many persons,scared about the group, called them as "Miburou" (Mibu Wolves).
They were defeated by the modern fire guns. In other hand,probably they were the last,biggest and strongest group of samurais in the japanese story.
History:
(context)
Most of japanese people didn't like to have contact with other countries,because they wanted to mantain the culture tradition from almost 300 years ago,in the Tokugawa Period.
Little by little,the Kyoto shogun wanted to open the doors to the foriegners to learn their technologies,improve it,and use it against them.
But there where some persons who didin't like this idea,like samurais from Chooshu and Satsuma and decided to do a revolution intending to take the shogun off and return to Imperialism. They were called Isshin Shishis (the lions of revolution).There were also other groups of samurais withous lords arriving in Kyoto from many locations from Japan,forming groups to help their country,called Roushitais,whose fought in Shogun's favor.
(Shinsengumi)
In tama district,there was a dojo (sword art school) called Shieikan where were practiced the Tennen Risshin Ryuu Style.The taecher was Kondou Isami.The students who had stood out were Hijikata Toshizou,Okita Souji and Inoue Genzaburou. These four mans lived like brothers and had many friends who visited them. Among them,Toudou Heisuke,Nagakura Shimpach and Harada Sanosuke.
When they knew what was happening in Kyoto,they decided to travel to the capital,leaving the dojo in Hijikata's little brother's care.After passing the adimission tests,they where nominated "the Kyoto defenders" by the Aizu Daimyo (boss),forming the Shinsengumi,with 13 members.They chose the symbol "makoto"(faith) as the group's slogan.
In other hand,Serizawa Kamo,the first leader of the group, insisted in Ryuu (Dragon. He was the teacher of Shintou Munen Ryuu and was famous for using an iron fan to fight, for frequent Whorehouses,kill people by own pleasure,get drnuk...,using his leader position as an excuse.
Then Kyoto residents started to calling the Shinsengumi as "Miburou" (Mibu wolves),despising them.
Hijikata and Kondou got fed up with him and his assistent,Niimi Nishiki,when they took with them a prostitute inside their accomodation and set fire to a hotel when the group traveled in a mission to Osaka,blaming Kondou for the disregard.
Fortunately,Hijikata got evidences to incriminate Niimi,ordering him to commit Seppuku.
After,Inoue,Okita,Yamanami,Toudou and Harada executed Serizawa and Hijikata made a "cleaning" in the group: members have come and gone,usually by Seppuku and beheading.
Many incidents have happened until 1868,in the Bosshin war,which marked the end of the group.
In Toba and Fushimi Battle,many members have died,like Inoue and Yamazaki.Kondou was arrasted unfairly and executed in April,Okita was a tuberculous victim,passing away,in May.Nagakura and Harada had left the group after a disagreement with Hijikata.Saitou fought until the war end,changing his name to Fujita goro,becoming a policeman.
Nagakura returned to Hokkaido,changing his name to "Toshimura Yoshie becoming kendo instructor in a jail and wrote a Shinsengumi biography.
Hijikata made a Independent republic in Hokkaido,but in the last battle of the Bosshin War,he was killed by fireguns in 1869.
His death marked the end of Shinsengumi's Story
Shinsengumi 5 laws:
•Don't divert the Bushido (Samurai way)
•Don't leave the group
•Don't eran money for own benefit
•Don't involve yourself in thierdies acts
•It's prohibited to involve yourself in fights of your own interests
*one of this rules broken,the member obligatorily have to commit Seppuku
Main members:
•Kondou Isami (leader)
•Serizawa Kamo (leader,before Kondou)
•Niimi Nishiki (assistent)
•Itou Kashitarou (Assistent)
•Hijikata Toshizou (Vice-leader)
•Yamanami Keisuke (Vice-leader)
•Okita Souji (1st division captain)
•Nagakura Shinpachi(2nd division captain)
•Saitou Hajime (3rd division captain)
•Matsubara Tadashi(4th division captain)
•Takeda Kanryuusai (5th division captain)
•Inoue Genzaburou(6th division captain)
•Tani Sanjuurou(7th division captain)
•Toudou Heisuke(8th division captain)
•Suzuki Mikisaburou(9th division captain)
•Harada Sanosuke(10th division captain)
•Shimada Kai (spy)
•Yamazaki Susumu (spy)
