Shinsengumi History: Ikedaya Affair!

**Goyaman** · 7th May 2005, 04:33 PM

If you visit Kyoto now, there's a Pachinko parlor on the site of the Ikedaya; but at least the city of Kyoto *does* have a marker noting the site...

**kaneyoshi** · 16th July 2005, 06:01 AM

Okita Souji is/was arguably the best swordsman in the shinsengumi, according to records he is a very handsome person, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis, which in that time was an uncurrable disease. During the Ikedaya raid he began to cough up blood and fainted, however, he survived, He joined Isami Kondous Tennen Rishin Ryu dojo at age 9 and was an accomplished swordsman by the age of 15.

Anou... yes, I would agree that while Okita-san is arguably the best in the Shinsengumi, the only other one he was -very close- at par with was Saitoh-san. It was a documented fact that if they were to fight each other, neither of them would survive.

And about him being "handsome"... anou... from what I've been told, he was rather "fish-faced" just as much as Saitoh-san was compared to a "folding screen". This information came from interviews conducted with family members by other Shinsengumi enthusiasts who managed to get ahold of his descendants (nieces, nephews, grandnieces and nephews most probably). Then again we'll never really, really know, ne? There's not one picture of him anywhere, and the one other picture that's been floating around on the net turned out to be a hoax: a photomanip of some actor someone cooked up. ^^;;

Regardless, the image of PMK's Okita has taken a permanent residence in my mind so...

What really happened during the Ikeda-ya incident, however, is still under much debate. Some say he did cough up that much blood and fainted, and some say it's too early for that because the incident happened waaaay before he died. And during those times, TB killed considerably a lot faster because it was practically an unknown disease. Poor Souji had to die all alone because nobody knew except for Hijikata-san and Kondo-san. He's buried in Sensoji Temple at Asakusa.

...and started teaching at--18, methinks?

**Naginatagirl** · 16th July 2005, 07:56 AM

^_____________________________^

Okay, so the Shinsengumi were cool and all, but don't go overboard; they were still just people. Having said that.....*cough* I'm a huge fan and currently have all the eps of the NHK Shinsengumi drama. ...*cough*

If you're interested in the Shinsengumi I highly suggest watching it as it starts before the Shinsengumi were formed and takes you through all the events until the end. Including the Ikedaya Incident. It portrays Kondo Isami as an honest guy trying to follow his ideals. (Though in my research I've also found that he was viewed by some as arrogant and cold, so his real personality is a bit of a historical question. So watch it if you're interested, but keep in mind that it is T.V. and was made for the Japanese public.) Hijikata...what can be said about him? HE is the reason I first became interested in the Shinsengumi.

You can find the drama here: http://www.d-addicts.com/forum/torrents.php just do a search for "Shinsengumi". I came across the site when the torrent I was originally downloading from shut down. You can find almost any drama from Japan, China, or Korea there.

A synopsis of most of the eps can be found here: http://nhkshinsengumi.tripod.com/synopsis.html If you want to read before downloading.

Enjoy~