Shinsengumi History: Ikedaya Affair!

[Mibu-Ro[Okita]]

So the Shinsengumi were police working for the shogun, not the emperor. The emperor at the time had how much influence at this age?

1. Correct

2. The emperor had been shoved aside in an earlier era, (not sure which though ) and the shogunate, or bakufu, were in control, meaning that the emperor had no power at the time.

[WolfofMibu]

I am also a big fan of Rurouni Kenshin, and Samurai X. what i did not know was that Katsura was involved in ikedaya since he did not appear there in the movie.

Like i said Saito Hajime is my favorite historical character. Thanks for all the info everyone. I will have to go somewhere to find a copy of the Shinsengumi movie.

I have one other question. Does anyone know if Saito Hajime was involved with Ikedaya.


Sidenote: For all of you Shinsengumi and Saito Hajime fans, do not listen to Rurouni Kenshin about his style of fighting. There is no such move as the Gatoutsu. He used that Katata move in kendo today. Apparently it was his favorite attack. He was a master of Itto Ryu Swordsmanship.

If anyone can answer my question i will take any responses.

Thanks, WolfofMibu

[Mibu-Ro[Okita]]

hey wolf, all the info i have on saito is on page 1 i think!

[WolfofMibu]

sorry, i must have skipped over that one. i just read it now. thank you it was very infromative. I quite like rurouni kenshin and samurai x. It is a very interesting and great show. I just wish they would have animated the real third season called the revenge arc. i have only seen enishi in the samurai x series and some manga clips on the internet but not much else. he seems pretty cool to me though. Thanks for all your help okita. hope to be talking about the Shinsengumi again later.

[Mibu-Ro[Okita]]

anytime. stupid sentence has to be 10 characters long.

[TylerY]

Wow another Shinsengumi thread. Anyone who is a fan of the group should watch the TV series. It does a really good job of the origins of the group. The show starts 10 years before the formation of the Shinsengumi and follows the lives of young Kondo Isami and Hijikata Toshizo. It's got some really good history in it if you're interested in that.

After the Ikedaya thing, the whole mood of the thing changes though. Everything gets all dreary and sad because of the Yamanami incident and Okita's health problems. But it seems pretty good so far (I'm only on episode 40 myself).

For whatever it's worth, I'm planning on getting a Shinsengumi haori lol

[Optomitrist]

I thought you guys might like this.


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=5920787824

[GoldenShinai]

O_O thats........................................so... ................................................FR EAKING COOL!

[Kingofmyrrh]

The shinsengumi do seem popular, but it's worth remembering that they were frequently criticized for cowardice - attacking single opponents in great numbers. If you can find someone who's interested enough to do the translation, there were a series of articles in kendo nihon last year on each of the main figures. I didn't really read them, but I definitely recall Okita, Nagakura, and Kondo, although there were certainly a good few more. Outside of the realm of entertainment, it seems that Nagakura was regarded as the best swordsman, although how they found this out and what significance it holds is pretty much lost on me. I watched a few episodes of the series when I was in Japan, but the hideous acting and horrendous swordsmanship meant that I really couldn't stomach it. Having your lead character played by a member of a boyband doesn't exactly inspire confidence...

[Mibu-Ro[Okita]]

Yeah, upon further research I have discovered that in a survey that went through japan, they were asked who the best swordsman of the shinsengumi was, this survey was passed through a bunch of history students and the answer was a three way tie,

Nagakura Shinpachi
Souji Okita
Hajime Saitou

But I like all three of them so it's okay.

[Sepiraph]

Here are the biographies of two important figures from the same period as the Shinsengumi.

Katsu Kaishu
http://swordforum.com/articles/japan...atsukaishu.php

Sakamoto Ryoma
http://swordforum.com/articles/japan...moto-ryoma.php

Hopefully in the future, the author (Romulus Hillsborough) will write about members of the Shinsengumi.

p.s. My favourite member is Okita.

[WolfofMibu]

I just wanted to say that this is a good thread. Good job for starting it okita. Thanks everyone for replying to my questions and giving me some info i didnt know. thanks again


Wolfofmibu

[Hisham]

1. Correct

2. The emperor had been shoved aside in an earlier era, (not sure which though ) and the shogunate, or bakufu, were in control, meaning that the emperor had no power at the time.

If i'm not mistaken the emperor was shoved aside by the Taira clan after the Genpei war which made the military people equal and to some extent superior to the civilian side of the government (the nobles),thus the shogunate was born in 1160.
You might know about the tale of the Heike, a novel about that period.

BTW great posting guys.
PS:This civilian side against military side seems to have always been an issue which confucian societies had to deal with, i guess it's only in Japan where the military side won opposit China for instance.

[Mibu-Ro[Okita]]

here is/are a cool pic/s of shinsengumi, but they are only fanart, I really like the "Red Miburo" energy drink, I wonder where I can get some.

http://www.shinsengumihq.com/fanartRedMiburo.jpg

http://www.shinsengumihq.com/artbf.htm

Okita

[Andou]

Ah. The Shinsengumi...I've done a lot of research and such on them. They were skillfull swordsmen, but the truth is that sometimes, yes, they did fight in unfair matches or odds. More relevant was the Ikeda Ya Affair. This ordeal was pretty intense based on accounts of...well practically everything that ever depicted it. I believe (I may be wrong on this...so...if you have any information I'd apprecate it, including corrections) that they were raiding 2 inns at once. However, the one that took the larger force proved to be the wrong one. Kondo and Okita (I think...this is where I'm a little hazy) were the only 2 units that raided the Ikeda Ya and it took a good amount of time for Hijikata and the rest of the Shinsengumi to get the news and provide support. All in all I think it was 2 hours of intense fighting mostly indoors which was the turning point in the Shinsengumi's familiarity.