Rise of the Ronin: Yokohama to the Fall of the Shogunate

One of the Blade Twins reaches Yokohama in 1858 and befriends the wandering ronin Ryoma Sakamoto, while hunting for the missing partner, now the Demonclaw Samurai and in the pay of the Americans and British. The game's Kannai quarter holds the U.S. Consulate and Chinatown, where the grand Kanteibyo temple honours Guan Yu and has been rebuilt four times. Chinese settlers arrived when the port opened in 1859, and today it is the largest Chinatown in Japan.

Location precision: The game puts the arrival in Kannai without naming a spot; the pin marks Chinatown.

Chief Minister Ii becomes the target of Genzui's band, who rally a small army to attack him directly. Depending on your choices, Ii is either killed or escapes. History is blunter: on 24 March 1860 ronin of the Mito and Satsuma domains ambushed his entourage of about 60 guards and palanquin carriers outside the Sakurada Gate of Edo Castle. The gate stands in the inner moat of the Tokyo Imperial Palace today.

Location precision: The game's summary doesn't name the ambush spot; the pin marks the gate where Ii died in history.

Visitor guidance: The gate stands in the inner moat of the Tokyo Imperial Palace.

Chapter 2 is the Shinsengumi chapter. Katsu asks the Protagonist and Ryoma to join the Roshigumi and protect Yoshinobu, but in Kyoto its leader Kiyokawa is killed by the Blade Twin and exposed as a traitor. The corps breaks up, and those who stay form the Shinsengumi. The game's Mibu district has Mibudera, where they trained; in history nineteen men stayed behind. A bronze statue of commander Kondo Isami stands in the precincts today.

Visitor guidance: The Kondo Isami statue and a grave site for Shinsengumi soldiers are in the temple precincts.

Genzui leads the Choshu clan to attack Kyoto, and the Shinsengumi, with Satsuma and its British cannons, beat them back. Genzui commits seppuku rather than be captured. The game places the Kinmon Incident in its Gosho district, around the emperor's palace; the real rebellion took place on 20 August 1864 near the Imperial Palace, and the real Kusaka Genzui died in it. The palace was the emperor's home from 1331 to 1869.

Location precision: The game names the Gosho district, not a single battlefield; the pin marks the palace.

In 1866 Ryoma persuades Satsuma general Takamori Saigo to ally with the Choshu, and soon after the Protagonist infiltrates the Shinsengumi to investigate an assassination attempt on him. History has its own version at the Teradaya inn: on 9 March 1866 shogunate agents raided it to arrest or kill Ryoma, who defended himself with a Smith & Wesson revolver. The original inn burned in 1868; it was rebuilt as a tourist attraction.

Location precision: The game's summary doesn't name where the attempt on Ryoma happens; the pin marks Teradaya, the inn of the 1866 raid.

Visitor guidance: The rebuilt inn in Fushimi is a tourist attraction.

The Protagonist goes with Ryoma to the Shogun's palace and thwarts Satow's attempt to assassinate Yoshinobu, then helps convince him to dissolve the Shogunate and hand over power peacefully. The game's Horikawa district lines its orderly streets alongside Nijo Castle. In history the castle's Ninomaru Palace was the stage in 1867 for Yoshinobu's declaration returning authority to the Imperial Court. The castle was completed in 1626 under Iemitsu.

Location precision: The game's summary says only "the Shogun's palace" in Kyoto; the pin marks Nijo Castle, where Yoshinobu handed back power.

Yoshinobu retreats to Edo, and Katsu plans to burn the city down to prevent its capture. The Protagonist negotiates a peaceful settlement that spares it. The game's Kojimachi district is where samurai residences surround Edo Castle. In October 1868 the castle was renamed Tokyo Castle, and when the emperor moved in it became an imperial palace.

Location precision: The game's summary doesn't name where the talks happen; the pin marks Edo Castle, now the Imperial Palace.