The Shinsengumi: From Hino to Kyoto and Hakodate

Hijikata Toshizō was born in Ishida village in the Tama region of Musashi Province, today part of Hino, Tokyo. He spent his youth selling his family's Ishida san'yaku medicine. Satō managed a Tennen Rishin-ryū dojo in Hino, and through Satō, Hijikata met Kondō Isami. In 1859 he was formally enrolled at the school's Shieikan. The Hijikata Toshizō Museum opened near Sekidenji temple in 1994.

場所の精度: The museum pin marks Hino in general; the dojo itself is not pinned.

訪問のヒント: The Hijikata Toshizō Museum is in Hino, near Sekidenji temple.

Mibu was a village south-west of Kyoto, and it was where the Mibu Rōshigumi was stationed. On 18 August 1863 the group was renamed the Shinsengumi, and Mibu-dera's grounds served as the base for its military and martial arts training. The squad was first led by Serizawa Kamo, until a few selected members led by Hijikata went into Yagi Gennojō's house and assassinated him. Today a bronze statue of commander Kondō Isami stands within the temple precincts.

訪問のヒント: Mibu-dera is a Buddhist temple in Nakagyō-ku, Kyoto; the Kondō statue is in the precincts.

On 8 July 1864 thirty Shinsengumi suppressed a cell of twenty Chōshū revolutionaries at the Ikedaya Inn in Sanjō-Kawaramachi, Kyoto. Kondō Isami led a group to the inn to arrest the plotters, and a second group led by Hijikata arrived shortly after. The incident made the squad more famous and brought new recruits. The inn was torn down in 1960. A stone memorial tablet tells the story on the site, and a restaurant, Ikedaya Hana no Mai, opened there in 2009.

場所の精度: The pin marks the Sanjō-Kawaramachi area; the exact inn site is not pinned.

訪問のヒント: A stone memorial tablet marks the site near Sanjō-Kawaramachi.

In 1867, when Tokugawa Yoshinobu withdrew from Kyoto, the Shinsengumi left peacefully. In January 1868 they were among the shogunate forces at the Battle of Toba–Fushimi. The 15,000-strong shogunal army outnumbered the Satsuma–Chōshū army three to one, yet it was forced to retreat towards Yodo Castle after a bitter fight. Kondō suffered a gunshot wound at Fushimi during the battle. The clash marked the beginning of the Boshin War.

場所の精度: The pin marks the Fushimi district of Kyoto; the battle covered several sites.

The Shinsengumi returned to Edo, where the unit was reformed as the Kōyō Chinbutai. It lost at Katsunuma, about 8 km east of Kōfu, with eight dead and more than thirty wounded. On 25 April 1868 the men moved to a new headquarters in Nagareyama. There the Kōyō Chinbutai was caught by surprise by 200 Imperial troops, who ordered Kondō brought back to their camp at Koshigaya.

場所の精度: The pin marks Nagareyama town; the camp's exact site is not given in our sources.

Kondō Isami was brought to Itabashi for questioning on 27 April 1868. On 30 April he was declared guilty of taking part in the assassination of Sakamoto Ryōma, and on 17 May he was beheaded at the Itabashi execution grounds. In 1875 Nagakura Shinpachi and surviving comrades, including Saitō Hajime, raised a memorial in front of Itabashi Station. It memorialises Kondō and Hijikata Toshizō.

場所の精度: The pin marks Itabashi Station, near which the memorial stands.

訪問のヒント: The Grave of Shinsengumi is in front of Itabashi Station, Tokyo.

In December 1868 Hijikata and the surviving Shinsengumi joined the Republic of Ezo in the north. Its capital was Goryōkaku, a star-shaped fortress finished in 1866, whose shape allowed many gun emplacements. Hijikata was killed by a gunshot on 20 June 1869 during the Battle of Hakodate, and his first grave memorial lay at Wakamatsu-chō. The Shinsengumi surrendered three days later. Beside the fortress, a tower has a view over the fort, the city and Mount Hakodate, and several statues of Hijikata.

場所の精度: The pin marks Goryōkaku; Hijikata died in Hakodate, and his first grave memorial lay in Wakamatsu-chō.

訪問のヒント: The tower beside Goryōkaku gives a view of the fortress and has an exhibition with statues of Hijikata.