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The Shogun's Last Samurai Corps: The Bloody Battles and Intrigues of the Shinsengumi
The Shogun's Last Samurai Corps tells the thrilling story, the first ever in the English language, of the Shinsengumi—the legendary Samurai corps tasked with keeping order in Kyoto during the turbulent final years of the Tokugawa Shogunate (1600–1868).
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 15, 2005
74 people are currently reading
1018 people want to read
About the author
Romulus Hillsborough
14 books42 followersRomulus Hillsborough is a leading Western authority on the political upheaval and samurai active in the Meiji Restoration of 19th-century Japan. His fascination with this history has spanned over four decades, including sixteen years living in Japan, where he conducted original research and interviews with descendants of samurai.
He is the author of several acclaimed books, including Ryoma: Life of a Renaissance Samurai, Samurai Revolution, and Samurai Assassins, as well as the forthcoming Samurai Swordsmen: The Definitive History of the Shinsengumi (Helion, 2026). His work has been praised for its narrative style, historical accuracy, and deep cultural insight.
Hillsborough holds a B.A. in English and an M.A. in Humanities. A longtime practitioner of traditional Japanese martial arts, he has trained in Shotokan karate for over five decades under Tsutomu Ohshima — founder of Shotokan Karate of America and direct student of Gichin Funakoshi, the father of modern karate — bringing a rare, lived connection to the samurai spirit and its enduring legacy.
He also provides historical consulting on Bakumatsu–Meiji Restoration history and related samurai-era topics to authors, editors, publishers, documentarians, producers, screenwriters, translators, and other professionals seeking authoritative guidance.
He is the author of several acclaimed books, including Ryoma: Life of a Renaissance Samurai, Samurai Revolution, and Samurai Assassins, as well as the forthcoming Samurai Swordsmen: The Definitive History of the Shinsengumi (Helion, 2026). His work has been praised for its narrative style, historical accuracy, and deep cultural insight.
Hillsborough holds a B.A. in English and an M.A. in Humanities. A longtime practitioner of traditional Japanese martial arts, he has trained in Shotokan karate for over five decades under Tsutomu Ohshima — founder of Shotokan Karate of America and direct student of Gichin Funakoshi, the father of modern karate — bringing a rare, lived connection to the samurai spirit and its enduring legacy.
He also provides historical consulting on Bakumatsu–Meiji Restoration history and related samurai-era topics to authors, editors, publishers, documentarians, producers, screenwriters, translators, and other professionals seeking authoritative guidance.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 83 reviews
February 9, 2008
So, what do the Hell's Angels and the Shinsengumi have in common? They both had a propensity for violence, a strict internal code of conduct, and an alarmingly excessive reaction to insult, real or perceived. Also, they probably would have slaughtered each other on sight.
A couple of years ago, Japan's national TV network, NHK, aired a Sunday night drama about the Shinsengumi, a band of samurai who operated in Kyoto at the end of the Edo period. While I didn't watch it, mainly because I was working and even if I had, I wouldn't have understood, my students kept me updated and it sounds like NHK did a nice job of romanticizing the group. Indeed, if the sudden upswing in traffic around Mibu temple is any indication, NHK made them look positively heroic.
Romulus Hillsborough (which, for the record, is an awesome name) takes a different approach to the Shinsengumi story, proving once again that, in history as with so many other things, how you see things depends on where you stand.
The 1860s were a bad decade. Every American schoolchild can tell you that. But it was bad in Japan as well, on a similar level. You see, for the previous 250 years, Japan had pretty much shut itself off from the Western world. There was limited contact with China and Korea, but as for Europe and the Americas? Nothing. Japan wanted nothing to do with the white devils, and did a fantastic job keeping us out.
But the march of progress is inescapable, and by the mid-1800s, word got round to the Shogun that Great Britain had been working its way across Asia, taking out India and China through treaty, deception and conquest. This, naturally, worried the Shogun, who although being the military head of the country, had not fought a significant military battle since Sekigahara in 1600 (well, not the same shogun, but you get what I mean). The Tokugawa family ruled over a peaceful land,the Emperors stayed out of the way in Kyoto, and everything was copacetic.
In other words, ripe for some rampaging foreign power to take over.
Lucky for Japan, the first rampaging foreign power to show up on their doorstep was the United States. Admiral Perry and his Black Ships arrived in Edo (now Tokyo) in 1853 with trade agreements and heavy cannon and announced that they would be happy to start trading with the land of the rising sun. And if the land of the rising sun wasn't too keen on that, well, maybe a few well-placed shells would change their minds.
The shogun at the time, Tokugawa Iesada, was no idiot. In 1854, a "Treaty of Peace and Amity" was signed in Kanagawa, opening Japanese ports to western ships for the first time, and basically ending the era of seclusion.
That's when all hell broke loose.
Most of the people living in Japan at the time had never seen a foreign person, and could rely only on rumor and misinformation to know what Westerners were like - pale-skinned, long-nosed blondes, as it turned out. No one knew what to expect from their new neighbors, and frankly, no one wanted to find out. Despite the "Amity" of the treaty, everyone knew that the only reason the American and British and Dutch had been let in was because they had better guns. Everyone, from the Shogun to the Emperor all the way down to the lowest burakumin wanted the foreigners kicked as far out of the country as they could get. With the possible exception of Sakamoto Ryoma, but we'll get to him later.
Two factions opened up. There were the Imperial loyalists, who wanted to overthrow the Tokugawa bakufu and restore the Emperor to power, while kicking out the foreigners. And there were the Tokugawa loyalists, who stood behind their lord and master, and who would fight to the death to keep him in power. While kicking out the foreigners. The famed Samurai, who had really nothing to do for two and a half centuries but collect their stipends and harass commoners, finally had their chance to see some action. Many of them left their homes and became ronin, ready to fight for whomever would give them a chance.
The city of Kyoto was the Imperial city, and if Tokugawa Wosshisname (there were four Tokugawa shoguns between 1853 and 1868) were to keep the imperial loyalists in line, he would have to do it there. So, a man named Matsudaira Katamori - a close personal friend of the shogun's, head of the Matsudaira clan and Lord of Aizu, and came up with an idea for keeping order in Kyoto. With the help of longtime friend and violence enthusiast Kiyokawa Hachiro, they got together the best of the wandering ronin and brought them to the village of Mibu, in Kyoto (where I now live). They made quite an impact on the community, and were soon given the cute nickname of "Mibu Wolves."
The Mibu Wolves were soon shaped and molded into the Shinsengumi, "The Newly Selected Group." by three iron-willed men: Kondo Isami, Hijikata Toshizo, and Serizawa Kamo. Each of these men left lasting impressions on the Shinsengumi and on Japanese history.
So... what was the impression? Well, the Shinsengumi were a kind of police force for Kyoto, keeping the locals in line and watching for any threats against the shogunate. Unlike a regular police force, however, they had almost limitless power within the city. Their word was enough to arrest, convict and execute someone. There was no slight too small to provoke violence and murder, and no length they would not go to to destroy the enemies of Tokugawa. They fought to the end to keep the Shogun in power, even after Tokugawa Yoshinobu, the fifteenth and final Tokugawa shogun, abdicated control of the country to Emperor Meiji.
You could take the NHK view, that the Shinsengumi were on the wrong side of history, trying to uphold the virtues of their fathers and grandfathers, and that they were trying to keep the nation they loved from falling apart or changing irreparably.
Hillsborough takes the point of view that the Shinsengumi were deluded with the "germ of self-importance." That they couldn't see the broader picture of history unfolding around them and reacted to change the only way they knew how - with their swords. That they were thugs and bullies, relics of an age that should have ended long before it did. Perhaps the Shinsengumi were inevitable, perhaps they were even necessary for the Meiji Restoration to take place. But if even half the stories about them were true, they are not a group of men that I would really want to hang out with.
It's a very informative book, if a little too short. Hillsborough says in the beginning that you're reading a "historical narrative," which should be taken carefully. Given the lack of primary sources, knowing exactly what happened when is difficult. Many texts on the Shinsengumi contradict each other, and for a long time, they were not a polite subject of research. Think about it - from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 through the surrender to the United States in 1945, the Emperor was a living god and a subject of reverence among the people of Japan. Who, then, would have the balls to do research into the group that was actively opposing imperial rule?
Still, it's a good read. It's even better when you actually live in Kyoto. I can see Mibu temple from my balcony. I've walked past the site of the old Ikeda-ya (where the Shinsengumi foiled a plot to burn down Kyoto and kidnap a high-ranking Tokugawa ally) hundreds of times. I can walk to the site where Ito Kashitarou was assassinated for splitting from the group. History becomes much more fun when you're right where it happened....
A couple of years ago, Japan's national TV network, NHK, aired a Sunday night drama about the Shinsengumi, a band of samurai who operated in Kyoto at the end of the Edo period. While I didn't watch it, mainly because I was working and even if I had, I wouldn't have understood, my students kept me updated and it sounds like NHK did a nice job of romanticizing the group. Indeed, if the sudden upswing in traffic around Mibu temple is any indication, NHK made them look positively heroic.
Romulus Hillsborough (which, for the record, is an awesome name) takes a different approach to the Shinsengumi story, proving once again that, in history as with so many other things, how you see things depends on where you stand.
The 1860s were a bad decade. Every American schoolchild can tell you that. But it was bad in Japan as well, on a similar level. You see, for the previous 250 years, Japan had pretty much shut itself off from the Western world. There was limited contact with China and Korea, but as for Europe and the Americas? Nothing. Japan wanted nothing to do with the white devils, and did a fantastic job keeping us out.
But the march of progress is inescapable, and by the mid-1800s, word got round to the Shogun that Great Britain had been working its way across Asia, taking out India and China through treaty, deception and conquest. This, naturally, worried the Shogun, who although being the military head of the country, had not fought a significant military battle since Sekigahara in 1600 (well, not the same shogun, but you get what I mean). The Tokugawa family ruled over a peaceful land,the Emperors stayed out of the way in Kyoto, and everything was copacetic.
In other words, ripe for some rampaging foreign power to take over.
Lucky for Japan, the first rampaging foreign power to show up on their doorstep was the United States. Admiral Perry and his Black Ships arrived in Edo (now Tokyo) in 1853 with trade agreements and heavy cannon and announced that they would be happy to start trading with the land of the rising sun. And if the land of the rising sun wasn't too keen on that, well, maybe a few well-placed shells would change their minds.
The shogun at the time, Tokugawa Iesada, was no idiot. In 1854, a "Treaty of Peace and Amity" was signed in Kanagawa, opening Japanese ports to western ships for the first time, and basically ending the era of seclusion.
That's when all hell broke loose.
Most of the people living in Japan at the time had never seen a foreign person, and could rely only on rumor and misinformation to know what Westerners were like - pale-skinned, long-nosed blondes, as it turned out. No one knew what to expect from their new neighbors, and frankly, no one wanted to find out. Despite the "Amity" of the treaty, everyone knew that the only reason the American and British and Dutch had been let in was because they had better guns. Everyone, from the Shogun to the Emperor all the way down to the lowest burakumin wanted the foreigners kicked as far out of the country as they could get. With the possible exception of Sakamoto Ryoma, but we'll get to him later.
Two factions opened up. There were the Imperial loyalists, who wanted to overthrow the Tokugawa bakufu and restore the Emperor to power, while kicking out the foreigners. And there were the Tokugawa loyalists, who stood behind their lord and master, and who would fight to the death to keep him in power. While kicking out the foreigners. The famed Samurai, who had really nothing to do for two and a half centuries but collect their stipends and harass commoners, finally had their chance to see some action. Many of them left their homes and became ronin, ready to fight for whomever would give them a chance.
The city of Kyoto was the Imperial city, and if Tokugawa Wosshisname (there were four Tokugawa shoguns between 1853 and 1868) were to keep the imperial loyalists in line, he would have to do it there. So, a man named Matsudaira Katamori - a close personal friend of the shogun's, head of the Matsudaira clan and Lord of Aizu, and came up with an idea for keeping order in Kyoto. With the help of longtime friend and violence enthusiast Kiyokawa Hachiro, they got together the best of the wandering ronin and brought them to the village of Mibu, in Kyoto (where I now live). They made quite an impact on the community, and were soon given the cute nickname of "Mibu Wolves."
The Mibu Wolves were soon shaped and molded into the Shinsengumi, "The Newly Selected Group." by three iron-willed men: Kondo Isami, Hijikata Toshizo, and Serizawa Kamo. Each of these men left lasting impressions on the Shinsengumi and on Japanese history.
So... what was the impression? Well, the Shinsengumi were a kind of police force for Kyoto, keeping the locals in line and watching for any threats against the shogunate. Unlike a regular police force, however, they had almost limitless power within the city. Their word was enough to arrest, convict and execute someone. There was no slight too small to provoke violence and murder, and no length they would not go to to destroy the enemies of Tokugawa. They fought to the end to keep the Shogun in power, even after Tokugawa Yoshinobu, the fifteenth and final Tokugawa shogun, abdicated control of the country to Emperor Meiji.
You could take the NHK view, that the Shinsengumi were on the wrong side of history, trying to uphold the virtues of their fathers and grandfathers, and that they were trying to keep the nation they loved from falling apart or changing irreparably.
Hillsborough takes the point of view that the Shinsengumi were deluded with the "germ of self-importance." That they couldn't see the broader picture of history unfolding around them and reacted to change the only way they knew how - with their swords. That they were thugs and bullies, relics of an age that should have ended long before it did. Perhaps the Shinsengumi were inevitable, perhaps they were even necessary for the Meiji Restoration to take place. But if even half the stories about them were true, they are not a group of men that I would really want to hang out with.
It's a very informative book, if a little too short. Hillsborough says in the beginning that you're reading a "historical narrative," which should be taken carefully. Given the lack of primary sources, knowing exactly what happened when is difficult. Many texts on the Shinsengumi contradict each other, and for a long time, they were not a polite subject of research. Think about it - from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 through the surrender to the United States in 1945, the Emperor was a living god and a subject of reverence among the people of Japan. Who, then, would have the balls to do research into the group that was actively opposing imperial rule?
Still, it's a good read. It's even better when you actually live in Kyoto. I can see Mibu temple from my balcony. I've walked past the site of the old Ikeda-ya (where the Shinsengumi foiled a plot to burn down Kyoto and kidnap a high-ranking Tokugawa ally) hundreds of times. I can walk to the site where Ito Kashitarou was assassinated for splitting from the group. History becomes much more fun when you're right where it happened....
November 19, 2010
Though this book is rich in historical detail that is difficult to find, I do not like it very much. Mr. Hillsborough is very biased against the Shinsengumi and it is irritating to constantly read about their "propensity to kill". I don't know how often he said those words but it was annoying enough to want to throw the book across the room. Yes, the Shinsengumi had killed but so did the imperialists and there was a war on and other conflict besides. I think he should have just stuck to the facts and kept his personal opinions out of it.
Still if you want a lot of information about the Shinsengumi and your Japanese is rusty, then I think you should read this book.
Still if you want a lot of information about the Shinsengumi and your Japanese is rusty, then I think you should read this book.
August 2, 2017
Initially i did not care for this book because i expected more from it, however that was 12 years ago, so i have changed my review because i have read it 3 times since than . The Shinsengumi are a fascinating topic, and this is the first bio in English . The star of this book is Hijikata Toshizo the charismatic pretty boy vice captain . The group never achieved anything like Ryoma , they were a bunch of young podunks from a suburb of Edo, were not nice people . Still they were young men who lived fast died young, giving their all for a failing Shogunate that did not even like them. The author has a new book on this subject coming , but for now enjoy the tale of good looking thugs dying in a blaze of glory.
April 25, 2023
I didn't expect reading about the Shinsengumi, to be honest. It has been a long-time favorite "group" of mine, which I discovered like many people my age through one of their various media depictions (namely ; their appearance in Ruroni Kenshin's flashbacks and appearances of some characters such as Saito Hajime).
Their story is set in a period I have always been familiar with, having been the de-facto historical researcher of a theater group playing some Mishima plays during highschool. Stay assured that by this, I mean absolutely no bragging about knowing anything about Japan. To be honest, don't take what I say as a universal truth.
Japan, from the middle of the XIXth century to the middle of the XXth century is a mess. To understand this period, we have to head back to the troubles of the end of the Edo period and this is exactly where I sank happily while opening this book. Familiar names, places, events. Complete with a rather surprising point of view I wanted to talk about ever since I came across it during my reading.
The Shinsengumi as bloodthristy killers. What a surprise. Back when I read Kenshin (ten years ago I suppose, right during my Linkin Park phase, I clearly remember now) they were portrayed as the Wolves of Mibu, the militia, the Roshi Gumi, killers and fearmongers that slowed down the glorious Meiji Restauration. I loved them, because I loved Saito. I felt the same, reading this book. It felt like a childish refusal of a universally acknowledged truth "nanana I can't hear you" - kind of. I had a character named Katsura, after Kogoro Katsura, and hey, I had forgotten about it until yesterday, fun fact.
The end was obviously bittersweet, the author suddenly turns the tiller and tells us about a gentle, noble Kondo Isami and a grieving Hijikata Toshizo. Although pleasant, I wonder why a sudden change from the unabashedly gloomy beginnings of his book. He didn't stop at just telling us about their harshness and profound respect of the Bushido (sorry about the accents here, by the way, you may have noticed them not being present at all). He depicted slaughters including in a huge amount of details. Cruelty, debauchery and occasionnal whoring and injustice are included.
Yes, I am now thinking about the men of the Shinsengumi as warriors and men of their time rather than the idealized poets and kights I thought they were until now - until I closed that book (metaphorically - I actually scrolled down). This point of view hurts me as much as I have to admit that it might be an accurate depiction. An accuracy I'd be gladly ready to discuss though.
I can but long for more details but the complete depitictions of battles leads me to think about the inevitability of the entire story being already told. Although I've obviously learned a great deal of things during this particular reading, I long fo more details and bits and pieces about them, the people in the blue haori.
I was going to downvote this book for an obvious tone of writing that wasn't objective as I wished it would be. Turns out, it's objectivity sounded like an obvious tone to me, used to the glorifying of the Corps. They were men, they killed people. They were also versed in litterature and poetry, they fought and came from various lineage, wealthy or not. They were people, of the likes I love to read about and whose memory makes me dream.
Their story is set in a period I have always been familiar with, having been the de-facto historical researcher of a theater group playing some Mishima plays during highschool. Stay assured that by this, I mean absolutely no bragging about knowing anything about Japan. To be honest, don't take what I say as a universal truth.
Japan, from the middle of the XIXth century to the middle of the XXth century is a mess. To understand this period, we have to head back to the troubles of the end of the Edo period and this is exactly where I sank happily while opening this book. Familiar names, places, events. Complete with a rather surprising point of view I wanted to talk about ever since I came across it during my reading.
The Shinsengumi as bloodthristy killers. What a surprise. Back when I read Kenshin (ten years ago I suppose, right during my Linkin Park phase, I clearly remember now) they were portrayed as the Wolves of Mibu, the militia, the Roshi Gumi, killers and fearmongers that slowed down the glorious Meiji Restauration. I loved them, because I loved Saito. I felt the same, reading this book. It felt like a childish refusal of a universally acknowledged truth "nanana I can't hear you" - kind of. I had a character named Katsura, after Kogoro Katsura, and hey, I had forgotten about it until yesterday, fun fact.
The end was obviously bittersweet, the author suddenly turns the tiller and tells us about a gentle, noble Kondo Isami and a grieving Hijikata Toshizo. Although pleasant, I wonder why a sudden change from the unabashedly gloomy beginnings of his book. He didn't stop at just telling us about their harshness and profound respect of the Bushido (sorry about the accents here, by the way, you may have noticed them not being present at all). He depicted slaughters including in a huge amount of details. Cruelty, debauchery and occasionnal whoring and injustice are included.
Yes, I am now thinking about the men of the Shinsengumi as warriors and men of their time rather than the idealized poets and kights I thought they were until now - until I closed that book (metaphorically - I actually scrolled down). This point of view hurts me as much as I have to admit that it might be an accurate depiction. An accuracy I'd be gladly ready to discuss though.
I can but long for more details but the complete depitictions of battles leads me to think about the inevitability of the entire story being already told. Although I've obviously learned a great deal of things during this particular reading, I long fo more details and bits and pieces about them, the people in the blue haori.
I was going to downvote this book for an obvious tone of writing that wasn't objective as I wished it would be. Turns out, it's objectivity sounded like an obvious tone to me, used to the glorifying of the Corps. They were men, they killed people. They were also versed in litterature and poetry, they fought and came from various lineage, wealthy or not. They were people, of the likes I love to read about and whose memory makes me dream.
January 30, 2013
Massively disorganized and spare of detail, this book has been a chore to read. Further, should I encounter the phrase "self-importance" (it does not mean what the author thinks it means) or propensity to kill (I got it the first 15 times, really), I will be most displeased.
And honestly, "hakubutsukan museum"? What the hell is wrong with you? Why yes, I love visiting the museum museum. The museum museum is an enlightening place to visit. My favorite exhibit in the museum museum is a traveling one that focuses on the history of museum museums.
Who does that?
And honestly, "hakubutsukan museum"? What the hell is wrong with you? Why yes, I love visiting the museum museum. The museum museum is an enlightening place to visit. My favorite exhibit in the museum museum is a traveling one that focuses on the history of museum museums.
Who does that?
February 21, 2020
It's so sad! I read this book in Romanian and I thought the translation was bad. Then, I searched for the English edition and lo and behold every clumsy phrasing was there!
This is a great story, poorly written. I believe that Romulus Hillsborough is a good historian but his writing skills are sub-average. He repeats obsessively the phrases "will to power" and "propensity to kill". His psychological analysis is dismal.
Nevertheless these are some amazing events and they deserve to be told, in color. I wish someone like Eiji Yoshikawa would have told this story, based on Hillsborough's material.
It is so refreshing that in literate societies EVERYTHING was kept. That is why ancient Greece, ancient Rome, Japan, China are so amazing. Everything is written down, documented and we can see in full HD and feel whatever those guys were feeling. It is clear that their nature and our nature was the same. In other cases, we have no understanding as to what happened. Probably more than 90% of human history is lost because of that.
Sadly, while Romulus Hillsborough made an attempt to convey that era, his effort is so poor that ...
1 star for the writing, 4 stars for the knowledge on the subject ... 2.5 out of 5 stars... or 3 stars because I admire the attempt.
This is a great story, poorly written. I believe that Romulus Hillsborough is a good historian but his writing skills are sub-average. He repeats obsessively the phrases "will to power" and "propensity to kill". His psychological analysis is dismal.
Nevertheless these are some amazing events and they deserve to be told, in color. I wish someone like Eiji Yoshikawa would have told this story, based on Hillsborough's material.
It is so refreshing that in literate societies EVERYTHING was kept. That is why ancient Greece, ancient Rome, Japan, China are so amazing. Everything is written down, documented and we can see in full HD and feel whatever those guys were feeling. It is clear that their nature and our nature was the same. In other cases, we have no understanding as to what happened. Probably more than 90% of human history is lost because of that.
Sadly, while Romulus Hillsborough made an attempt to convey that era, his effort is so poor that ...
1 star for the writing, 4 stars for the knowledge on the subject ... 2.5 out of 5 stars... or 3 stars because I admire the attempt.
December 4, 2013
An ambitious attempt to write the first English treatment of this controversial unit. Coverage of topics was broad, which was good. Resource list was big, but I feel, not diverse enough. Concerning to me were also a number of translation and reading errors in renderings of Japanese names and quotes. Overall, in my opinion, despite the author's having secured the aid of descendants, the book feels like a first draft. I feel it would have benefited greatly from the perspective, and editorial assistance, of people professionally trained in the field of Japanese history. Finally, the language was too flowery, and too unnecessarily graphic, for my taste.
I recommend those who read this book and are interested in late Edo period law enforcement to read Professor Daniel V. Botsman's book entitled "Punishment and Power in the Making of Modern Japan."
I recommend those who read this book and are interested in late Edo period law enforcement to read Professor Daniel V. Botsman's book entitled "Punishment and Power in the Making of Modern Japan."
March 25, 2013
I should have read the reviews. The book is very inconsistent and filled with too much personal opinions for a non-fiction historical treatement. Especially if we consider the topic of the book, introduction of personal opinions becomes a big problem.
December 30, 2012
"Shinsengumi" tells the true story of the ruthless group of two-sworded killers assembled by the Tokugawa Shogunate to stave off rebellion against its rule. It is not perhaps the best starting point for a history of 1860s Japan, but for those already familiar with the basics of that period this is an extremely well-researched addition to the English language record, if not always the smoothest of reads.
Mr Hillsborough's scholarship is impressive. His Japanese language ability allows him to draw on a wide range of original source materials, many of which are referenced for the first time in an English language history, while his feel for the period is sure throughout this book's two hundred or so pages. The shortcomings lie not in the research but in the writing. The subject matter is unavoidably complicated, but not every effort is made to simplify where possible. The more flowery, introductory passages to each chapter are I think a stylistic error, tending to be overblown and frequently relying on Orientalist references to the fickle "Sun Goddess" of fate. Profiles of the main Shinsengumi figures are dumped on the reader in one deluge, rather than sprinkled through the book where appropriate for ease of absorption. In some places unnecessary reference is made to the year using both the Christian and the Japanese Imperial calendars, while in others only the month is given when from the non-linear narrative it is not clear which year is being discussed. For these reasons and others there are times when the reader is confused or distracted and the flow of the story is lost.
So don't read this if you are new to the history of Japan at this time, nor if you want to be carried along by a rollercoaster of a historical narrative. Do read if you want to delve deeper into the historical detail and learn about one of the last bloody throws of the dice by the Tokugawa Shogunate.
Mr Hillsborough's scholarship is impressive. His Japanese language ability allows him to draw on a wide range of original source materials, many of which are referenced for the first time in an English language history, while his feel for the period is sure throughout this book's two hundred or so pages. The shortcomings lie not in the research but in the writing. The subject matter is unavoidably complicated, but not every effort is made to simplify where possible. The more flowery, introductory passages to each chapter are I think a stylistic error, tending to be overblown and frequently relying on Orientalist references to the fickle "Sun Goddess" of fate. Profiles of the main Shinsengumi figures are dumped on the reader in one deluge, rather than sprinkled through the book where appropriate for ease of absorption. In some places unnecessary reference is made to the year using both the Christian and the Japanese Imperial calendars, while in others only the month is given when from the non-linear narrative it is not clear which year is being discussed. For these reasons and others there are times when the reader is confused or distracted and the flow of the story is lost.
So don't read this if you are new to the history of Japan at this time, nor if you want to be carried along by a rollercoaster of a historical narrative. Do read if you want to delve deeper into the historical detail and learn about one of the last bloody throws of the dice by the Tokugawa Shogunate.
February 5, 2025
This is the second book I’ve read by Romulus Hillsborough and while it’s nice to see someone documenting some of the interesting Japanese history that is so difficult to find in English I can’t say I really enjoy his style. This book is a popular account of the Shinsengumi, a police force of ronin (masterless samurai) created to keep the peace in Kyoto on behalf of the shogun. They are a famous unit in Japan and the subject of a wide number of popular films and television specials. So far as I know this is the only such book to make it out in English.
The basic mission of the book – as stated in the prologue – is to provide a romanticized version of events. Not that these guys appear nice – indeed he mostly vilifies them – but when forced to choose between a dramatic story and a more mundane account he will go with the dramatic story every time. This is not my preferred style of history book, but I understand that there would be a large potential audience for this. And we are given the basic pattern of their formation, from an ad hoc collection of ronin to some of the highest-ranking leaders in the disintegrating bakufu. Sometimes the book takes digressions into topics that just entertain him. For example, we get a long digression on the sex lives and mistresses of the Shinsengumi members
What I am not fond of about Hillsborough’s books is the superficial manner in which his topics are covered. I like my historical accounts to dive deeper and explain why things were happening and what was driving events rather than just sliding along the surface relating what is happening blow by blow like some sports broadcaster. I certainly would like the book to provide more context. The reason things happen is not always clear and in the turbulence of the shogunate’s final days the string of political maneuverings and anti-imperialist assassinations can be hard to follow without a strong sense of the bigger picture. That’s mostly missing here.
If all you want is a colorful account of the last defenders of the shogun’s regime this book will probably satisfy you. It provides a reasonably accurate outline of their career from formation to dissolution as well as of the fates of those within it. The narrative is novelistic and some of the assassinations are thrilling. That said, the best thing that recommends this book is that there is literally no other on this topic in English. If the Bakumatsu Period interests you and the Shinsengumi in particular then this book is probably a must read. If you just want to know more about the period I
would recommend The Collapse of the Tokugawa Bakufu or the biography Sakamoto Ryoma and the Meiji Restoration. Both provide a lot of context and background which is essential.
The basic mission of the book – as stated in the prologue – is to provide a romanticized version of events. Not that these guys appear nice – indeed he mostly vilifies them – but when forced to choose between a dramatic story and a more mundane account he will go with the dramatic story every time. This is not my preferred style of history book, but I understand that there would be a large potential audience for this. And we are given the basic pattern of their formation, from an ad hoc collection of ronin to some of the highest-ranking leaders in the disintegrating bakufu. Sometimes the book takes digressions into topics that just entertain him. For example, we get a long digression on the sex lives and mistresses of the Shinsengumi members
What I am not fond of about Hillsborough’s books is the superficial manner in which his topics are covered. I like my historical accounts to dive deeper and explain why things were happening and what was driving events rather than just sliding along the surface relating what is happening blow by blow like some sports broadcaster. I certainly would like the book to provide more context. The reason things happen is not always clear and in the turbulence of the shogunate’s final days the string of political maneuverings and anti-imperialist assassinations can be hard to follow without a strong sense of the bigger picture. That’s mostly missing here.
If all you want is a colorful account of the last defenders of the shogun’s regime this book will probably satisfy you. It provides a reasonably accurate outline of their career from formation to dissolution as well as of the fates of those within it. The narrative is novelistic and some of the assassinations are thrilling. That said, the best thing that recommends this book is that there is literally no other on this topic in English. If the Bakumatsu Period interests you and the Shinsengumi in particular then this book is probably a must read. If you just want to know more about the period I
would recommend The Collapse of the Tokugawa Bakufu or the biography Sakamoto Ryoma and the Meiji Restoration. Both provide a lot of context and background which is essential.
January 3, 2019
When I was 13 years old, I used to watch an anime show on tv called Samourai X. The story was about a fomer Ronin called Rurouni Kenshin who had been a hitman in service of the imperialists during the Meji restoration and who after the war tries to be a better man in relatively peaceful 1870ties Japan. His friends, adversaries and rivals have all a different connection to the events of the Meji restoration on both sides of the conflict. It remains a great series for it includes many historically accurate aspects besides the obvious fiction parts. One character in particular, introduced in the second season, really struck a cord with me; Saitō Hajime a former Shinsengumi captain now turned Tokio Police officer who still carries a grudge towards Kenshin. Ever since then I had always maintained a fascination for the Shinsengumi but never got my hands on a decent book that told their story in all the details, finally I have been able to find one.
Hillsborough's book on the Shinsengumi reads more like a novel or a biography then a strictly historical analysis and perhaps that is a good thing for once. The author is really out on a mission to share the sentiment and emotions of those involved in this organisation as much as telling what happened, he does this by for instance starting each chapter with excerpts from a novel based on interviews of the last surviving former Shinsengumi and those who knew them. They really set the tone for each chapter and add a lot of sentiment. That is not to say that Hillborough does not include a wider context analysis to the era, far from it! One gets a step by step story on how the arrival of american Warships in 1853 set in motion the events that would lead to the end of the Togugawa Bakufu and the final dramatic end of its last forces in the stillborn Ezo Republic.
However most of the book follows closely the steps of the Shinsengumi and their most illustrious characters in particular but not limited too commander Kondo Isami and vice commander Hijikata Toshizo. In using a more narrative approach Hillsborough succeeds in getting into the mindset of those involved and at the same explain why this murderous and comparatively small paramilitary organisation managed to be remembered as much and as positively as it is. However I did feel like at some point Hillsborough himself felt as if his approach was making them seem too sympathetic, after a third of the book he starts to emphasize they had been "infected by the germ of self importance" I get what he is saying but still, the germ of self importance? A description that seems to me to be a bit out of place in a non fiction book, maybe a thing in a biography but I rarely read those so I don't know.
But what has this book and the subject of the Shinsengumi to offer for a modern non Japanese audience? The same thing as what fascinates me about them after all these years. The Shinsengumi are a perfect example of a proto modern organisation. On the surface they are a traditionalist bunch whit their use of swords up until the very end, the overemphasis on the bushido code, their clothing and motto. While if one looks deeper, they have more in common with 20th century political movements and 21th century armed urban militias/vigilantes then any traditional group. Their ideology is less a continuation of a traditional thinking as it is a reinterpretation of those thoughts adapted to their current needs. Their background one would expect to be elitist out to defend their rights in the face of modernization while in fact a fair number including the commander and vice commander, had a wealthy peasant origin who managed to reinvent themselves as a new more pure form of warrior in service of the traditional authority the Bakufu. In my opinion, it made them easily as modern as the imperialist Ishin Shishi agents and ronin they cut down in the dozens while patrolling the streets of Kyoto. non the least, the way they bickered, schemed and killed among themselves over conflicts on the conduct of members, their role in society and power structures; it was surprisingly intense and complex with as much ideological as personal factors that interplay.
What made them truly modern to me and what make this book a good study, is that Hillsborough does not shy away from the less then ideal aspects of their story. They way they acted as if they owned the streets, demanding food, lodgings, drink and female entertainment, the death obsession and easiness they were expected to be able to kill (even disgraced corpsmembers) combined with their insistence on their own importance despite their vague status (a germ perhaps?). Again not that different from modern urban vigilante gangs with links to politicians as one can find in Mexico, Nicaragua, Egypt, Iraq. I am sure that if they had not stopped a radical imperialist plot to burn down Kyoto and saved thousands of lives while doing so and had the Mejii era not allowed survivors to commemorate their fallen brothers, the Shinsengumi would have been forgotten to time. Even reckoning those factors, it is amazing they have been remembered at all, for they were but a small organisation of roughly 200 members at its peak, yet filled with memorable characters as they swaggered trough the streets of Kyoto in their flashy light blue and white uniforms, the wolves of Mibu make for such easy storytelling as either chilling villains or tragic antiheroes it is no wonder they have been retold as much as they have.
Oh and about that memorable fiction character Saito from that manga/anime? I found out that the man actually existed, was captain of Shinsengumi squad, did survive the chaos, became a tokyo police officer and as in the manga/anime got a special favor to allow him to keep using his traditional Katana as a police officer. I have to say, that did blew my mind a little bit.
So for those intrigued but never heard of this anime https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyTRP...
Hillsborough's book on the Shinsengumi reads more like a novel or a biography then a strictly historical analysis and perhaps that is a good thing for once. The author is really out on a mission to share the sentiment and emotions of those involved in this organisation as much as telling what happened, he does this by for instance starting each chapter with excerpts from a novel based on interviews of the last surviving former Shinsengumi and those who knew them. They really set the tone for each chapter and add a lot of sentiment. That is not to say that Hillborough does not include a wider context analysis to the era, far from it! One gets a step by step story on how the arrival of american Warships in 1853 set in motion the events that would lead to the end of the Togugawa Bakufu and the final dramatic end of its last forces in the stillborn Ezo Republic.
However most of the book follows closely the steps of the Shinsengumi and their most illustrious characters in particular but not limited too commander Kondo Isami and vice commander Hijikata Toshizo. In using a more narrative approach Hillsborough succeeds in getting into the mindset of those involved and at the same explain why this murderous and comparatively small paramilitary organisation managed to be remembered as much and as positively as it is. However I did feel like at some point Hillsborough himself felt as if his approach was making them seem too sympathetic, after a third of the book he starts to emphasize they had been "infected by the germ of self importance" I get what he is saying but still, the germ of self importance? A description that seems to me to be a bit out of place in a non fiction book, maybe a thing in a biography but I rarely read those so I don't know.
But what has this book and the subject of the Shinsengumi to offer for a modern non Japanese audience? The same thing as what fascinates me about them after all these years. The Shinsengumi are a perfect example of a proto modern organisation. On the surface they are a traditionalist bunch whit their use of swords up until the very end, the overemphasis on the bushido code, their clothing and motto. While if one looks deeper, they have more in common with 20th century political movements and 21th century armed urban militias/vigilantes then any traditional group. Their ideology is less a continuation of a traditional thinking as it is a reinterpretation of those thoughts adapted to their current needs. Their background one would expect to be elitist out to defend their rights in the face of modernization while in fact a fair number including the commander and vice commander, had a wealthy peasant origin who managed to reinvent themselves as a new more pure form of warrior in service of the traditional authority the Bakufu. In my opinion, it made them easily as modern as the imperialist Ishin Shishi agents and ronin they cut down in the dozens while patrolling the streets of Kyoto. non the least, the way they bickered, schemed and killed among themselves over conflicts on the conduct of members, their role in society and power structures; it was surprisingly intense and complex with as much ideological as personal factors that interplay.
What made them truly modern to me and what make this book a good study, is that Hillsborough does not shy away from the less then ideal aspects of their story. They way they acted as if they owned the streets, demanding food, lodgings, drink and female entertainment, the death obsession and easiness they were expected to be able to kill (even disgraced corpsmembers) combined with their insistence on their own importance despite their vague status (a germ perhaps?). Again not that different from modern urban vigilante gangs with links to politicians as one can find in Mexico, Nicaragua, Egypt, Iraq. I am sure that if they had not stopped a radical imperialist plot to burn down Kyoto and saved thousands of lives while doing so and had the Mejii era not allowed survivors to commemorate their fallen brothers, the Shinsengumi would have been forgotten to time. Even reckoning those factors, it is amazing they have been remembered at all, for they were but a small organisation of roughly 200 members at its peak, yet filled with memorable characters as they swaggered trough the streets of Kyoto in their flashy light blue and white uniforms, the wolves of Mibu make for such easy storytelling as either chilling villains or tragic antiheroes it is no wonder they have been retold as much as they have.
Oh and about that memorable fiction character Saito from that manga/anime? I found out that the man actually existed, was captain of Shinsengumi squad, did survive the chaos, became a tokyo police officer and as in the manga/anime got a special favor to allow him to keep using his traditional Katana as a police officer. I have to say, that did blew my mind a little bit.
So for those intrigued but never heard of this anime https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyTRP...
July 18, 2019
I wanted to like the book, I really did, just for the subject matter alone. I picked it up, I'll be honest, because the Shinsengumi are referenced quite a lot in Japanese animation. There are monuments to these guys, and an air of admiration and awe for the Shinsengumi. But for what? I only had a bare minimum idea. So I looked up books about it. Apparently, while there are a number of Japanese bios and memoirs, none are translated in English (to the best of my knowledge) :( So here we are...
And I just find it so boring and dry. I know it's non-fiction, but come on! I think my high school history book might have been more riveting. And if I never read the phrase "propensity to kill" again! Ugh. I just didn't like the writing style that hovered between fact and lyrical. And then failed to do justice, in my humble opinion, to really convey their awe-inspiring history.
I did glean cool bits of information here and there about individual members (but not about more than two or three of them), and a much better idea of who the Shinsengumi were, how Japan was going through an important time, what they did for themselves that may have inspired the country as a whole (it is really awesome that most were peasant born Samurai who rose really far at a time where that had never been done before). You really had to wait for those tid-bits though.
The book didn't really go about on why they were influential, why there are *any* positive stories about them at all. Despite what I wrote above, I feel the there was too much time spent on saying they were dangerous bloodthirsty guys fighting against fate and were self centered jerks, only to end the book on "and then they got some monuments." OK. Those facts are important, but so are the facts as to why they got those monuments too. I felt the book was lopsided against the Shinsengumi, and not enough time given to explore what it was they did that garnered respect and/or adoration.
And I just find it so boring and dry. I know it's non-fiction, but come on! I think my high school history book might have been more riveting. And if I never read the phrase "propensity to kill" again! Ugh. I just didn't like the writing style that hovered between fact and lyrical. And then failed to do justice, in my humble opinion, to really convey their awe-inspiring history.
I did glean cool bits of information here and there about individual members (but not about more than two or three of them), and a much better idea of who the Shinsengumi were, how Japan was going through an important time, what they did for themselves that may have inspired the country as a whole (it is really awesome that most were peasant born Samurai who rose really far at a time where that had never been done before). You really had to wait for those tid-bits though.
The book didn't really go about on why they were influential, why there are *any* positive stories about them at all. Despite what I wrote above, I feel the there was too much time spent on saying they were dangerous bloodthirsty guys fighting against fate and were self centered jerks, only to end the book on "and then they got some monuments." OK. Those facts are important, but so are the facts as to why they got those monuments too. I felt the book was lopsided against the Shinsengumi, and not enough time given to explore what it was they did that garnered respect and/or adoration.
December 23, 2012
This book is not for me. After reaching page 95, I gave up. First, while the author refers to the era in question as an "intricate history", all I could see were disjointed fragments of history inexpertly woven together. Each chapter seems to be a collection of anecdotes that sit in isolation from each other rather than form part of a narrative. For example, the chapter on "A Tale of Bushido" seems to be oddly wedged in-between the "Slaughter at the Ikeda'ya" and the "Battle at the Forbidden Gates", yet the reader is given no indication why this tangent was needed.
Nor is the reader given important background information that helps explain off-the-cuff statements like, "[t]hrough their raids at the Ikeda'ya, the Shinsengumi are credited with having delayed the Meiji Restoration by a full year." No footnote and no explanation reveals why. (Hillsborough does use footnotes liberally to recommend his other books, though.)
Hillsborough has his own style of writing (count how many times "propensity to kill" and the "germ of self-importance" come up), which I found a tad amateurish. While giving every pretense that this is a history of the Shinsengumi, it reads more like a fictionalised historical novel.
Nor is the reader given important background information that helps explain off-the-cuff statements like, "[t]hrough their raids at the Ikeda'ya, the Shinsengumi are credited with having delayed the Meiji Restoration by a full year." No footnote and no explanation reveals why. (Hillsborough does use footnotes liberally to recommend his other books, though.)
Hillsborough has his own style of writing (count how many times "propensity to kill" and the "germ of self-importance" come up), which I found a tad amateurish. While giving every pretense that this is a history of the Shinsengumi, it reads more like a fictionalised historical novel.
March 10, 2012
239 - 2012
Pertama kali tahu Shinsengumi waktu nonton anime Rurouni Kenshin, yang diwakili khususnya oleh tokoh Saito Hajime, yang digambarkan punya story pribadi dengan Kenshin Himura, sehubungan dengan perseteruan mereka di pihak yang berseberangan saat perang saudara.
Setelah itu, manga dan anime tentang Shinsengumi pun muncul bertubi-tubi, dan kebanyakan, seperti Flash of Wind-nya Taeko Watanabe, meromantisir kelompok samurai yang satu ini.
Karena itu, buku ini memaksa para penikmat manga dan anime yang terlanjur mendapat gambaran baik-baik tentang Isami Kondo, Toshizo Hijikata, Okita Souji, Saito Hajime dkk untuk melihat mereka dari sisi yang berbeda. Serigala Mibu di buku ini mungkin lebih mirip gambaran di Rurouni Kenshin.
Buku ini cukup menarik untuk mereka yang ingin tahu lebih detil tentang latar belakang perang saudara Jepang di tahun 1860-an dan peran Shinsengumi di dalamnya. Sayang, terjemahan dan editingnya membuat buku ini tidak nyaman dibaca.
Pertama kali tahu Shinsengumi waktu nonton anime Rurouni Kenshin, yang diwakili khususnya oleh tokoh Saito Hajime, yang digambarkan punya story pribadi dengan Kenshin Himura, sehubungan dengan perseteruan mereka di pihak yang berseberangan saat perang saudara.
Setelah itu, manga dan anime tentang Shinsengumi pun muncul bertubi-tubi, dan kebanyakan, seperti Flash of Wind-nya Taeko Watanabe, meromantisir kelompok samurai yang satu ini.
Karena itu, buku ini memaksa para penikmat manga dan anime yang terlanjur mendapat gambaran baik-baik tentang Isami Kondo, Toshizo Hijikata, Okita Souji, Saito Hajime dkk untuk melihat mereka dari sisi yang berbeda. Serigala Mibu di buku ini mungkin lebih mirip gambaran di Rurouni Kenshin.
Buku ini cukup menarik untuk mereka yang ingin tahu lebih detil tentang latar belakang perang saudara Jepang di tahun 1860-an dan peran Shinsengumi di dalamnya. Sayang, terjemahan dan editingnya membuat buku ini tidak nyaman dibaca.
January 10, 2022
As the only book available in English about the Shinsengumi, this detailed and well-researched account should be essential reading for anyone interested in the bloody upheaval of the Bakumatsu era and Meiji Restoration, especially those whose Japanese skills (much like mine) are unfortunately nowhere near sufficient to avail themselves of the numerous works by Japanese authors on the subject that have never been translated and thereby made available to an international audience. Hillsborough draws on many of those works for his book and includes numerous excerpts from eyewitness accounts translated by himself for use in this account, such as Nagakura Shinpachi's memoir (which I would cheerfully commit murder to get my hands on in translation, damn it!), which alone make this an absolute gem for the non-Japanese history buff as fascinated by the subject of the Shinsengumi as I am.
March 22, 2015
Awesome subject matter, BUT...
The topic is fascinating but this book is written like a school paper, trying to force some viewpoint (discrediting a sentimental hero no-less) from page one without really ever proving it as anything other than opinion. As a result, the chronology of the events discussed is all but impossible to detect if you do not have previous knowledge of the era's history.
Rather than considering this a 'history' book, it would be more accurate to describe this as an opinion piece, or scholarly journal think-piece.
The topic is fascinating but this book is written like a school paper, trying to force some viewpoint (discrediting a sentimental hero no-less) from page one without really ever proving it as anything other than opinion. As a result, the chronology of the events discussed is all but impossible to detect if you do not have previous knowledge of the era's history.
Rather than considering this a 'history' book, it would be more accurate to describe this as an opinion piece, or scholarly journal think-piece.
February 21, 2020
Conflicted. Very interesting topic & a lot of research has been done.
Some pretty wonky writing that leads to confusion - example in the last chapter was a description of the Imperial forces moving north that then switches to what the Opposition forces need to do to defeat them in the middle of the paragraph. Erm, okay... why not just start a new paragraph here? There are a lot of moments like this when I had to go back and reread, or similarly, when the author thinks he’s been repeating someone’s name too much, he’ll suddenly switch it up with a title he hasn’t used in thirty pages, so it’s like, “wait who is this guy and whose side is he on?”
AND DON’T GET ME STARTED ON :
“propensity to kill”
“will to power”
Or Mr Hillsborough’s bizarre notion that raping someone tends to make them crazy for your love. (This happens twice.)
Some pretty wonky writing that leads to confusion - example in the last chapter was a description of the Imperial forces moving north that then switches to what the Opposition forces need to do to defeat them in the middle of the paragraph. Erm, okay... why not just start a new paragraph here? There are a lot of moments like this when I had to go back and reread, or similarly, when the author thinks he’s been repeating someone’s name too much, he’ll suddenly switch it up with a title he hasn’t used in thirty pages, so it’s like, “wait who is this guy and whose side is he on?”
AND DON’T GET ME STARTED ON :
“propensity to kill”
“will to power”
Or Mr Hillsborough’s bizarre notion that raping someone tends to make them crazy for your love. (This happens twice.)
August 24, 2020
A nice detailed account of the Shinsengumi. The author states in their introduction that this book may not be the best as historical reference, and rightfully so. There was one occasion where the author didn't use the usual reading of one person's name. But other than that I think it is historically accurate, in the sense that it is true to events based on available resources. Also, at times descriptions of some events or individuals may lean more toward the more romantic, fanciful, side. Lending a more informal or fictional feel. However, I think this is a nice aspect of the book, as it effectively sets the scene and makes it easier to engage in what happened in comparison to other historical accounts that are very cut and dry.
January 9, 2022
Se trata de un ensayo sobre los Shinsengumi: desde la creación del Shieikan de Kondou Isami y su encuentro con Toshizo Hijikata, pasando por el periodo de esplendor del grupo en Kioto; hasta que, durante las Guerras Boshin, fueron declarados traidores al emperador y derrotados por completo en Hakodate.
A lo largo de la obra, nos encontraremos con los nombres de los capitanes de las divisiones: Nagakura, Harada, Toudou, Okita, Saito... La masacre de Ikedaya, la batalla de las Puertas Prohibidas, el incidente de Aburano-koji...
Una obra muy completa para quienes adoren los últimos años de la Era Edo y la historia de los samuráis.
A lo largo de la obra, nos encontraremos con los nombres de los capitanes de las divisiones: Nagakura, Harada, Toudou, Okita, Saito... La masacre de Ikedaya, la batalla de las Puertas Prohibidas, el incidente de Aburano-koji...
Una obra muy completa para quienes adoren los últimos años de la Era Edo y la historia de los samuráis.
August 24, 2016
I borrow this book from my brother who really love nonfiction books while I'm so in love with fiction and fantasy books..
Actually, I read this only because I have a task from school to make a review.. But, the book couldn't be about fantasy or love.. Since all of my book are about fantasy romance.. I decided to borrow my brother's book and chose this one..
At first, I'm so confused in the beginning.. But, I became interest in the story as I continue to read the book.. So, I give this book 4 stars! This book is good! And It's my first nonfiction (Japanese history) book.. :)
Actually, I read this only because I have a task from school to make a review.. But, the book couldn't be about fantasy or love.. Since all of my book are about fantasy romance.. I decided to borrow my brother's book and chose this one..
At first, I'm so confused in the beginning.. But, I became interest in the story as I continue to read the book.. So, I give this book 4 stars! This book is good! And It's my first nonfiction (Japanese history) book.. :)
March 5, 2012
Interesting. Reading this kind of book used to be a great experience. Even though I don't know Romulus Hillsborough, I think the way he told the story of Shinsengumi is good enough. However, because of the bad translation, I can not enjoy reading this book. The structure became worst when you almost reach the end of the book (as the translator usually did when they need to meet their deadline).
After all, I can grasp the story. Yet, I still need to read it once or twice to remember each name, their role, which faction they were standing for, etc, etc.
After all, I can grasp the story. Yet, I still need to read it once or twice to remember each name, their role, which faction they were standing for, etc, etc.
November 24, 2009
This is one of the only English-language sources on this material, so it's worth picking up if you're interested in the time period. That said, it's pretty overly romanticized (Hillsborough notes at one point that this was a conscious choice of his) and as such, doesn't really stand up to serious inspection as history.
October 22, 2015
Bacaan sejarah yang seru~! ⁽⁽◝( • ω • )◜⁾⁾
Penulisannya runut dan jelas, gak mengulang fakta yang telah dibahas sebelumnya, jadi bacanya seru dan gak bosen (^∀^)/
Terharu membaca akhir dari Hajime Saito (￣^￣)ゞ *hormatgraak*
Penulisannya runut dan jelas, gak mengulang fakta yang telah dibahas sebelumnya, jadi bacanya seru dan gak bosen (^∀^)/
Terharu membaca akhir dari Hajime Saito (￣^￣)ゞ *hormatgraak*
November 17, 2010
Really great book about the Shinsengumi! Absolutely loved it and will likely read other works by the author.
This book seems really well researched.
This book seems really well researched.
February 6, 2023
If I wasn't absolutely fascinated by the subject matter, this would be a 2. The writing, just be warned, is...
The structure is a bit strange too, though it at least follows a fairly chronological order.
To be fair, the author's writing is okay when he sticks to more objective accounting of events (and many of the events are incredibly intriguing!) and he has a decent eye for detail, particularly the sort of gory detail that we all love in a history such as this. Attempts at fiction-style narrative writing, while they do often add to these sorts of books, are a real struggle here, very repetitive and clunky ("propensity to kill" is not the impactful phrase he seems to think it is...and it appears in nearly every chapter). There is also an over-emphasis, at times, on ideas of honour/etc. (especially "bushido," which was not actually a real defined concept at this time) explaining Japanese actions rather than the actual complex human motivations that always do, which indicate that sometimes the author is perhaps misled by later sources that interpreted actions during the Bakumatsu and early periods through their own late Meiji (or even early Showa) lens.
What did come through, however, was how claustrophobic and tense it must have felt in Kyoto in the years leading up to the Meiji Restoration. The groups of men facing off against one another (Shinsengumi, Choshu forces, etc.) were not large in number...it was more like a small city overrun by gangs and insurgents than a classic battlefield of any sort. What a dangerous and unsettling time it must have been.
One of my biggest interests with the Shinsengumi and Tokugawa loyalists who fought to the bitter end (even all the way up to Ezo...long after their Tokugawa lord had capitulated) is the way that some human beings will always cling to a lost cause (go down with a sinking ship). Some were no doubt motivated by the new-found status and wealth that had come to them (albeit fleetingly) via their support for the old regime, some were probably afraid of retribution or punishment if they surrendered, while others seemed motivated by personal ties of friendship or common cause, along with idealism or a conservative conviction that the status quo was always better than change (an understandable view, to some extent...the devil you know).
For anyone who lives in the safe and peaceful cocoon of modern Japan, it is endlessly fascinating (and beyond mind-bending) to envision a Japan of the 1850-60s (or 1930s...or 1500s) caught up in almost unimaginably brutal levels of bloodshed and violence. When you consider how long people tend to live here, there are older people still alive in Japan whose parents would have lived in the Meiji period, so it's really not that long ago...sort of like the Wild West of America...which happened at a similar time to the upheavals of the Bakumatsu period in Japan.
If you do visit Tokyo, I'd recommend a couple of Shinsengumi-related spots, by the way:
- Honmonji Temple (near Omori station) - a very large and beautiful historic temple, little visited by foreign tourists, where Katsu Kaishu arranged the bloodless surrender of Edo to the Imperial troops.
- Katsu Kaishu Museum (near Senzoku-Ike...or you can walk there on a nice "path" from near Honmonji) - has the great (but little!) man's uniform, letters, and many other items. He lived out his later years in a house nearby.
- Kaneiji Temple (near Ueno) - has a gate still retaining bullet holes from a desperate battle in 1868 between Imperial troops and some of the last die-hard holdouts of the shogunate in Edo.
The structure is a bit strange too, though it at least follows a fairly chronological order.
To be fair, the author's writing is okay when he sticks to more objective accounting of events (and many of the events are incredibly intriguing!) and he has a decent eye for detail, particularly the sort of gory detail that we all love in a history such as this. Attempts at fiction-style narrative writing, while they do often add to these sorts of books, are a real struggle here, very repetitive and clunky ("propensity to kill" is not the impactful phrase he seems to think it is...and it appears in nearly every chapter). There is also an over-emphasis, at times, on ideas of honour/etc. (especially "bushido," which was not actually a real defined concept at this time) explaining Japanese actions rather than the actual complex human motivations that always do, which indicate that sometimes the author is perhaps misled by later sources that interpreted actions during the Bakumatsu and early periods through their own late Meiji (or even early Showa) lens.
What did come through, however, was how claustrophobic and tense it must have felt in Kyoto in the years leading up to the Meiji Restoration. The groups of men facing off against one another (Shinsengumi, Choshu forces, etc.) were not large in number...it was more like a small city overrun by gangs and insurgents than a classic battlefield of any sort. What a dangerous and unsettling time it must have been.
One of my biggest interests with the Shinsengumi and Tokugawa loyalists who fought to the bitter end (even all the way up to Ezo...long after their Tokugawa lord had capitulated) is the way that some human beings will always cling to a lost cause (go down with a sinking ship). Some were no doubt motivated by the new-found status and wealth that had come to them (albeit fleetingly) via their support for the old regime, some were probably afraid of retribution or punishment if they surrendered, while others seemed motivated by personal ties of friendship or common cause, along with idealism or a conservative conviction that the status quo was always better than change (an understandable view, to some extent...the devil you know).
For anyone who lives in the safe and peaceful cocoon of modern Japan, it is endlessly fascinating (and beyond mind-bending) to envision a Japan of the 1850-60s (or 1930s...or 1500s) caught up in almost unimaginably brutal levels of bloodshed and violence. When you consider how long people tend to live here, there are older people still alive in Japan whose parents would have lived in the Meiji period, so it's really not that long ago...sort of like the Wild West of America...which happened at a similar time to the upheavals of the Bakumatsu period in Japan.
If you do visit Tokyo, I'd recommend a couple of Shinsengumi-related spots, by the way:
- Honmonji Temple (near Omori station) - a very large and beautiful historic temple, little visited by foreign tourists, where Katsu Kaishu arranged the bloodless surrender of Edo to the Imperial troops.
- Katsu Kaishu Museum (near Senzoku-Ike...or you can walk there on a nice "path" from near Honmonji) - has the great (but little!) man's uniform, letters, and many other items. He lived out his later years in a house nearby.
- Kaneiji Temple (near Ueno) - has a gate still retaining bullet holes from a desperate battle in 1868 between Imperial troops and some of the last die-hard holdouts of the shogunate in Edo.
June 5, 2022
Romulus Hillsborough is often invoked by Western Shinsengumi fans. Not by name, mind, but by the phrase ‘propensity to kill’, which has long been turned into both a drinking game* and shorthand reference for poorly written material with questionable sources that cannot seem to remain unbiased when attempting to give due diligence to a real historical entity. And having finally finished reading it myself, I can say I agree. The beef with this book is well-earned.
Enough to the point where I actually wrote a review.
*(For legal reasons, please do not drink every time you read ‘propensity to kill’, ‘germ of self-importance’, or ‘unyielding will to power’. You will die.)
I’ve been trying for a couple of years now to finish this book. I spent money on it, after all. But finishing it felt more like an achievement for enduring its glaring problems and less like the education I was hoping to get out of it. Honestly you could watch the 2004 NKH Taiga drama of the same name and come away with almost the exact same story, albeit a more cohesive one, and with about the same amount of embellishment. And that says a lot.
Like go watch the show until a better book comes out lmao
Problem the first is the writing. It’s atrocious. I’m a high school dropout and this book wounded me. So much of the material within is presented in extremely short sentences stacked on top of one another (what, did Hijikata kill the Oxford comma, too?) and it often reads like condensed research notes that never got expanded upon – much less shown to an editor. The writing voice pinballs between reading like a rushed book report and being something resembling a more polished transcript that sounds as if it could have been written by someone else entirely. It’s positively jarring.
It’s as distracting as the overuse of apostrophes and accent marks. This book is easily the only place where I’ve read the name of the Ikedaya Inn like it was an elven prince’s name in D&D campaign. While I’m no layman to the Shinsengumi’s history, I am one when it comes to the Japanese language, and the pronunciation guide at the beginning of the book was more than sufficient for me. Like we get it, they’re not white.
Then there’s the timeline. Hillsborough does, for the most part, attempt to stay on track. But on the parts where he veers off course for a moment, I would periodically have to check the dates to find my place again. The most notable example was when I deadass got Ito and Takeda’s assassinations mixed up. Hillsborough, needing to constantly tug on the sleeve of the reader to remind them that the Shinsengumi are meanie heads, will go off on small tangents about the horror of these scenes – and then the next paragraph will take you back to the original story where that individual’s death is still months off yet and the plot is happening.
Tightening up the timeline by simply following the more linear structure of the actual history would have helped this immensely. Then again, so would an editor. But the Shinsengumi probably assassinated all of them, too.
Because one of most offensive aspects of this text is how Hillsborough’s very clear contempt for the subject of which he wrote always finds a sentence to leak out of. To his credit, I will acknowledge that he does have sporadic moments of recognizing the impact the Shinsengumi had on Japanese history, or the incredible feat of Kondo and Hijikata’s ascension from peasants to national heroes in only half a decade, but the admission of historical fact tends to come across as if it were said through gritted teeth. I kept lowering my book and laughing at how it really does read like it was penned by the angry descendant of a Choshu loyalist. His inability to provide a neutral and balanced viewpoint on an exceptionally complex matter and not constantly wave to the reader from his Western high horse is annoying in a way that I didn’t think was humanely possible.
It's probably one of the biggest issues with this book – it certainly is with the Shinsengumi’s hardcore Western fanbase – that Hillsborough tries to look at a 19th century Japanese warrior caste culture through the lenses of a 21st century Western moral code, and seems to, at times, attempt to punish their legacy for not living up to a foreigner’s pacifistic ideals and an open-door policy that benefited everyone but them. It comes off as condescending at best and bordering on racist at worst.
The only thing that Hillsborough nails down with total accuracy is one of the only indisputable facts about the Shinsengumi – that they were killers. Even their most hardcore fans know this. We don’t need anyone to point this out to us. Instead, history needs their impact on it, their contributions to it, to be preserved in all its nuanced glory for future generations to have their deeds known, regardless of what those deeds were. If the reader of history wanted to be preached at, we’re literate enough to find the nearest church.
It smacks as immature, to expect men who were trained to hack other men to pieces to not kill people. Instead of presenting these men in the historic and cultural contexts to which they belonged, you can almost hear Hillsborough in the room whining, “But Kondo-san, what about the Geneva Conventions?” every time a swordsman *checks notes* uses his sword. Using the phrase ‘propensity to kill’ when Kondo and Hijikata take out Serizawa ‘Bitch Better Have My Money’ Kamo is insulting on every level. Especially because Hillsborough dedicates so much time to depicting the monster that Serizawa was. I was almost impressed by the moral gymnastics needed for that one.
Unable to remain impartial, to just put the Shinsengumi up on display and let them be seen, to let history and the reader draw their conclusions for themselves, Hillsborough parkours back and forth, painting them as either one thing or the other in an exhausting 220 page fit of historical whiplash.
My other gripe is the way the book just…ends. And the way that the survivors, extraordinary men like Saito Hajime, just get little paragraphs between the story proper and the appendices, was a real let-down. Even Hijikata’s last stand is anticlimactically written and it just kind of fizzles out on the pages. I remember checking the back of the book like, “That’s it?” And poor, poor Okita, one of the most legendary swordsmen in Japanese history, is reduced to Kondo’s heir apparent and something synonymous with tuberculosis. The longest we get to see him are in a recollection of his heartbreaking final days and very little of anything he contributed to the group he lived for.
It wasn’t all bad, though. The cover art is gorgeous, a 10/10 choice. The parts that are written and sourced well really stand out and shine and were a blast to read. Hillsborough does a decent enough job of humanizing Kondo Isami when he remembers he’s writing about a human being, and some of the stories are downright hilarious, particularly Nagakura recounting that time that he, Saito, and Ito went on a three-day bender in a redlight district and got grounded when they returned. And I thought the introduction, Historical Background, covered the Tokugawa bakufu exceptionally well, and displayed the best and most consistent writing in the entire book. I just wish it had all been written like that.
It's been 17 years (as of my writing this) since this book was published and honestly, I’d like to see a total re-write. A lot has come out in the almost two decades since, particularly from some Shinsengumi descendants, and I would love to read the book that this book tried to be combined with all the new information that has since surfaced. What I wouldn’t give for a comprehensive hardcover edition with glossy full-color photos of everything Shinsengumi, more time spent on everyone else (not just the commanders), scans and translations of letters, a tome worthy of their legacy. And everything that that entails.
Enough to the point where I actually wrote a review.
*(For legal reasons, please do not drink every time you read ‘propensity to kill’, ‘germ of self-importance’, or ‘unyielding will to power’. You will die.)
I’ve been trying for a couple of years now to finish this book. I spent money on it, after all. But finishing it felt more like an achievement for enduring its glaring problems and less like the education I was hoping to get out of it. Honestly you could watch the 2004 NKH Taiga drama of the same name and come away with almost the exact same story, albeit a more cohesive one, and with about the same amount of embellishment. And that says a lot.
Like go watch the show until a better book comes out lmao
Problem the first is the writing. It’s atrocious. I’m a high school dropout and this book wounded me. So much of the material within is presented in extremely short sentences stacked on top of one another (what, did Hijikata kill the Oxford comma, too?) and it often reads like condensed research notes that never got expanded upon – much less shown to an editor. The writing voice pinballs between reading like a rushed book report and being something resembling a more polished transcript that sounds as if it could have been written by someone else entirely. It’s positively jarring.
It’s as distracting as the overuse of apostrophes and accent marks. This book is easily the only place where I’ve read the name of the Ikedaya Inn like it was an elven prince’s name in D&D campaign. While I’m no layman to the Shinsengumi’s history, I am one when it comes to the Japanese language, and the pronunciation guide at the beginning of the book was more than sufficient for me. Like we get it, they’re not white.
Then there’s the timeline. Hillsborough does, for the most part, attempt to stay on track. But on the parts where he veers off course for a moment, I would periodically have to check the dates to find my place again. The most notable example was when I deadass got Ito and Takeda’s assassinations mixed up. Hillsborough, needing to constantly tug on the sleeve of the reader to remind them that the Shinsengumi are meanie heads, will go off on small tangents about the horror of these scenes – and then the next paragraph will take you back to the original story where that individual’s death is still months off yet and the plot is happening.
Tightening up the timeline by simply following the more linear structure of the actual history would have helped this immensely. Then again, so would an editor. But the Shinsengumi probably assassinated all of them, too.
Because one of most offensive aspects of this text is how Hillsborough’s very clear contempt for the subject of which he wrote always finds a sentence to leak out of. To his credit, I will acknowledge that he does have sporadic moments of recognizing the impact the Shinsengumi had on Japanese history, or the incredible feat of Kondo and Hijikata’s ascension from peasants to national heroes in only half a decade, but the admission of historical fact tends to come across as if it were said through gritted teeth. I kept lowering my book and laughing at how it really does read like it was penned by the angry descendant of a Choshu loyalist. His inability to provide a neutral and balanced viewpoint on an exceptionally complex matter and not constantly wave to the reader from his Western high horse is annoying in a way that I didn’t think was humanely possible.
It's probably one of the biggest issues with this book – it certainly is with the Shinsengumi’s hardcore Western fanbase – that Hillsborough tries to look at a 19th century Japanese warrior caste culture through the lenses of a 21st century Western moral code, and seems to, at times, attempt to punish their legacy for not living up to a foreigner’s pacifistic ideals and an open-door policy that benefited everyone but them. It comes off as condescending at best and bordering on racist at worst.
The only thing that Hillsborough nails down with total accuracy is one of the only indisputable facts about the Shinsengumi – that they were killers. Even their most hardcore fans know this. We don’t need anyone to point this out to us. Instead, history needs their impact on it, their contributions to it, to be preserved in all its nuanced glory for future generations to have their deeds known, regardless of what those deeds were. If the reader of history wanted to be preached at, we’re literate enough to find the nearest church.
It smacks as immature, to expect men who were trained to hack other men to pieces to not kill people. Instead of presenting these men in the historic and cultural contexts to which they belonged, you can almost hear Hillsborough in the room whining, “But Kondo-san, what about the Geneva Conventions?” every time a swordsman *checks notes* uses his sword. Using the phrase ‘propensity to kill’ when Kondo and Hijikata take out Serizawa ‘Bitch Better Have My Money’ Kamo is insulting on every level. Especially because Hillsborough dedicates so much time to depicting the monster that Serizawa was. I was almost impressed by the moral gymnastics needed for that one.
Unable to remain impartial, to just put the Shinsengumi up on display and let them be seen, to let history and the reader draw their conclusions for themselves, Hillsborough parkours back and forth, painting them as either one thing or the other in an exhausting 220 page fit of historical whiplash.
My other gripe is the way the book just…ends. And the way that the survivors, extraordinary men like Saito Hajime, just get little paragraphs between the story proper and the appendices, was a real let-down. Even Hijikata’s last stand is anticlimactically written and it just kind of fizzles out on the pages. I remember checking the back of the book like, “That’s it?” And poor, poor Okita, one of the most legendary swordsmen in Japanese history, is reduced to Kondo’s heir apparent and something synonymous with tuberculosis. The longest we get to see him are in a recollection of his heartbreaking final days and very little of anything he contributed to the group he lived for.
It wasn’t all bad, though. The cover art is gorgeous, a 10/10 choice. The parts that are written and sourced well really stand out and shine and were a blast to read. Hillsborough does a decent enough job of humanizing Kondo Isami when he remembers he’s writing about a human being, and some of the stories are downright hilarious, particularly Nagakura recounting that time that he, Saito, and Ito went on a three-day bender in a redlight district and got grounded when they returned. And I thought the introduction, Historical Background, covered the Tokugawa bakufu exceptionally well, and displayed the best and most consistent writing in the entire book. I just wish it had all been written like that.
It's been 17 years (as of my writing this) since this book was published and honestly, I’d like to see a total re-write. A lot has come out in the almost two decades since, particularly from some Shinsengumi descendants, and I would love to read the book that this book tried to be combined with all the new information that has since surfaced. What I wouldn’t give for a comprehensive hardcover edition with glossy full-color photos of everything Shinsengumi, more time spent on everyone else (not just the commanders), scans and translations of letters, a tome worthy of their legacy. And everything that that entails.
April 23, 2025
I'm not sure how to rate this book. I mean, obviously, the Shinsengumi have a rather glorified image in Japanese pop culture and their depiction in this book as violent thugs is much closer to the truth.
And still, I feel that their tale could've been told with a bit more ..appreciation? ..recognition? I couldn't shake the feeling that the author hates the Shinsengumi and would much rather spend his time writing about Ryouma and Katsu - which is fine and all. But why then writing about the Shinsengumi at all?
I'm sure the account of events was as true and objective as possible. I highly applaud the author for finding and translating his sources by himself. He certainly knows what he's talking about and is without a doubt knowledgeable about the tumultuous period of Meiji Restoration.
But.
I do not expect a glorious tale of tragic and misunderstood heroes, but I would expect from any author writing about a historical topic at least some fascination with this topic. After all, I want the author to share their fascination with me through their work. And in this book there was no fascination to share. A pity, that.
And still, I feel that their tale could've been told with a bit more ..appreciation? ..recognition? I couldn't shake the feeling that the author hates the Shinsengumi and would much rather spend his time writing about Ryouma and Katsu - which is fine and all. But why then writing about the Shinsengumi at all?
I'm sure the account of events was as true and objective as possible. I highly applaud the author for finding and translating his sources by himself. He certainly knows what he's talking about and is without a doubt knowledgeable about the tumultuous period of Meiji Restoration.
But.
I do not expect a glorious tale of tragic and misunderstood heroes, but I would expect from any author writing about a historical topic at least some fascination with this topic. After all, I want the author to share their fascination with me through their work. And in this book there was no fascination to share. A pity, that.
January 3, 2018
Jadi, sistem kasta yang bertahan 2,5 abad itu dibuat oleh Toyotomi Hideyoshi, samurai yang berasal dari golongan sipil. Dan di akhir zaman samurai yang berasal dari golongan sipil juga yang ikut menolak tradisi ini.
Walau lebih sebagai penuturan sejarah, narasinya tetep dapet. Kompleksnya segala peperangan yang menandai berakhirnya zaman Edo. Antara mempertahankan tradisi, ego, prinsip atau kombinasi di antara ketiganya ditambah sedikit-sedikit kita paham kenapa filosofi samurai jadi backfire ke mereka sendiri. Kisah tragis para "pahlawan" yang ikut bikin pembacanya berandai - seandainya saja mereka mau berkompromi. Namun ya rumit dan masing-masing pihak punya pandangannya sendiri la ya~
Walau lebih sebagai penuturan sejarah, narasinya tetep dapet. Kompleksnya segala peperangan yang menandai berakhirnya zaman Edo. Antara mempertahankan tradisi, ego, prinsip atau kombinasi di antara ketiganya ditambah sedikit-sedikit kita paham kenapa filosofi samurai jadi backfire ke mereka sendiri. Kisah tragis para "pahlawan" yang ikut bikin pembacanya berandai - seandainya saja mereka mau berkompromi. Namun ya rumit dan masing-masing pihak punya pandangannya sendiri la ya~
April 27, 2019
This was an interesting read for a couple of reasons. Mainly, as an anime fan, I've seen a dozen anime, if not more, featuring the Shinsengumi. So, I was familiar with all the names, most of the places, and many of the events. Sort of. The book is more about the men themselves and why things happened than a blow-by-blow of what happened. The characters in the anime are, of course, highly romanticised. These men, while honorable by their own standards, were not what I would call nice, though they apparently did okay with the ladies. I've known this was a very bloody time period, and these guys did a lot to contribute to that.
December 24, 2023
Since this seems to be the only English-language book focused on the Shinsengumi, and written by someone who read a great deal of Japanese material about them to boot, I am grateful for its existence.
However if the author had said “propensity to kill” or “will to power” or “germ of self-importance” one more time, I swear I would’ve set the book on fire.
It was somewhat bizarre reading a book centered around a group of people the author clearly does not respect or like. His inability to cover up his personal feelings on the topic soured my enjoyment somewhat, but I am grateful that he wrote this book nonetheless.
However if the author had said “propensity to kill” or “will to power” or “germ of self-importance” one more time, I swear I would’ve set the book on fire.
It was somewhat bizarre reading a book centered around a group of people the author clearly does not respect or like. His inability to cover up his personal feelings on the topic soured my enjoyment somewhat, but I am grateful that he wrote this book nonetheless.
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