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Who knows Shinsengumi history?

Sushimouse

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12 Jan 2017
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Hi, just wondering if anyone who knows Shinsengumi history can answer this question here:
japan - What are the circumstances that lead to Kondou being the sole Shinsengumi leader? - History Stack Exchange

"What are the circumstances that lead to Kondou being the sole Shinsengumi leader?

After the assassination of Serizawa Kamo, this left Kondou and Tonouchi as the remaining faction leaders. From what I understand Tonouchi knew or even helped Kondou get rid of Serizawa but then Kondou killed Tonouchi at Yojou bridge to become the sole Shinsengumi leader. Was this an assassination or was it some sort of duel that was agreed upon?

Either way, what did Tonouchi expect would happen after Serizawa's faction was wiped out?

Was Matsudaira Katamori involved at all in this (did he expect Kondou to kill Tonouchi)?"
 
There does not seem to be a lot of information available on the exact circumstances of Tonouchi's death. Interestingly, Hillsborough ("Shinsengumi", Tuttle) doesn't even mention Tonouchi and his faction.

The Wikipedia page on Tonouchi proposes several reasons why Kondō might have got rid of him: his difficult character, his frequent misconduct (which was also one reason for eliminating Serizawa and Hirayama), or Kondō's own ambitions to lead the Shinsengumi.

https://ja.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/殿内義雄

I could not find anything on Katamori's involvement, but it can be assumed that he secretly agreed with Kondō's actions. As Kyōto shugoshoku he had every interest not to further escalate the already precarious political situation in the city. Hillsborough mentions that Kondō issued an official report to Katamori stating that "Serizawa and Hirayama had been killed in their sleep by unknown assailants". How much the Aizu daimyō really knew remains unclear.

I'm not certain if this is helpful, I'd be interested in learning more about this issue, too.
 
Thanks for that! I think I read somewhere that the official report about Serizawa and Hirayama's death was due to bandits. I wonder what sort of excuse they used for Tonouchi. I suppose using the same excuse twice in a row would have been too coincidental/suspicious - 2 faction leaders dying at the same time in different places with one remaining
 
The Wikipedia article on Serizawa actually claims that his assassination was carried out under direct orders of Matsudaira Katamori:

芹沢鴨 - Wikipedia

I couldn't find any other sources on Tonouchi.
 
Do you know if those under Tonouchi were all killed and at the same time?
Just a bit of background as to why I'm asking (other than it being interesting on its own), I'm making a game based on Shinsengumi history that also teaches a bit of Japanese (if anyone is interested):

Blade Master of Mibu - Android Apps on Google Play

and trailer:


Whilst the in-game part isn't entirely historically accurate, I intent to amend the inaccuracies in a "Fun Facts" section.

At the moment it's in a free open beta and only teaches hiragana (also has an action-only mode) but if there's enough interests I'd like to extend it to katakana and kanji.
 
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