LITMIR.BIZ

      The Shinsengumi were led by two extraordinarily strong-willed men. Kondō Isami and Serizawa Kamo were bitter rivals. Both had been chief instructors of their respective fencing schools, and both had brought with them into the corps their top swordsmen. Kondō Isami, born October 9, 1834, was the third and youngest son of a wealthy peasant family from the village of Kami’ishihara in the Tama region of the province of Musashi, a partial day’s journey westward from Edo along the Kōshū-kaidō Road. Cutting wide and deep through this fertile farm region of gentle hills flowed the Tamagawa River, a constant source of inner strength to the young men whose martial spirit flourished along its banks. Rising high above the mountains to the southwest of Tama was the ever-looming, sometimes snow-covered, always enigmatic conical symbol of Japan, Fujisan, chameleonic with the changing seasons.

      Shinsengumi Commander Kondō Isami was a peasant by birth, a warrior by nature. He was a man of traditional values and a martial mind-set, whose black training robe was embroidered in white on the back with the image of a large human skull—a symbol of his resolve to die in battle whenever he entered the dōjō. He had enlisted in the Rōshi Corps with aspirations of becoming a samurai in the service of the shōgun. As leader of the shōgun’s most dreaded samurai corps, he secured a vehicle into the top strata of the Tokugawa hierarchy and indeed historic immortality.

      While the entire face radiates raw power, the stern, penetrating eyes, complemented by the firm mouth and square, heavy jaw, are most striking. In his photograph, probably taken in February 1868, the then sole-surviving commander of the Shinsengumi is seated in the formal position, hands placed lightly on his thighs, prepared for battle at a moment’s warning. Behind him, within arm’s reach, is his long, lethal sword; and one wonders how many men he had cut down with its razor-sharp blade.

Kondō Isami’s name at birth was Miyagawa Katsugorō. He was a child of Tenpō—the era of Heaven’s Protection (1830–43)— certainly a misnomer, at least for the rural villages of eastern Japan, which were terrorized by marauding swordsmen during those years. The Tama region was a domain of the Tokugawa. The local people prided themselves as farmers of the shōgun. While peasants were generally forbidden by law to bear arms, the people of Tama were inclined toward the martial and literary arts. Their martial traditions dated back to the twelfth century, from the samurai who had served the military regime at Kamakura.* After the arrival of the foreigners in 1853, the martial arts again flourished in Tama.

      Tama was an expansive region. The Tokugawa magistrates in charge of policing Tama did not have the resources to patrol the entire area, or to protect it against the marauding swordsmen. Village leaders were appointed by the magistrates to police their respective villages. The peasants working under the village leaders were required to study martial arts—partly to protect themselves against the marauders. Some of the wealthy peasants built training halls at their homes and hired local fencing masters to instruct them. Among these wealthy peasants was Katsugorō’s father, Miyagawa Hisajirō.

Katsugorō’s mother died while he was a young boy. His father was an avid reader of history. On rainy days Katsugorō’s father would call his three sons to the family hearth, where he would read to them chronicles of heroic deeds. From an early age the future Shinsengumi commander was taught an appreciation of literature and martial arts and participated in the training sessions at his family’s home dojō. When Katsugorō was fourteen, his father hired a local fencing instructor to teach his three sons. The instructor’s name was Kondō Shūsuké. He was the master of the Shieikan, a minor fencing school in Edo. Master Shūsuké taught the Tennen Rishin style. Katsugorō proved himself naturally inclined toward rigorous kenjutsu training. In the following year he was awarded mokuroku, the second of five ranks in the Tennen Rishin style.† Master Shūsuké was impressed with the boy’s ferocity, both on and off the practice floor. One night when their father was away on business, Katsugorō and his two brothers were awoken by the sound of robbers breaking into their house. Far from being frightened, the brothers saw this as a perfect chance to test the fencing techniques they had studied. The robbers were armed with knives. The brothers pursued them with drawn swords. The robbers attempted to flee with stolen property in their arms. Katsugorō yelled the word “stop!” with an ear-piercing guttural wail such as he had learned from his master. The robbers threw down their booty and fled for their lives.

      Kondō Shūsuké was getting along in years. Perhaps it was Katsugorō’s innate courage that now convinced the master to petition Miyagawa Hisajirō for permission to adopt his fifteen-year-old son as his heir. Permission was presently granted, and soon it was determined that Katsugorō would become the fourth generational head of the Tennen Rishin style. The peasant’s son now became a samurai. He left his native village to live in Edo at the home of his fencing master, where he continued to devote himself to the study of kenjutsu.

      Kondō Isami’s black training robe (original; courtesy of Masataka Kojima)

      Kondō was married in his twenty-sixth year. Otsuné was three years younger than he

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