Genji Era

The Ikedaya Incident and the Genji Era

Genji (1864-1865) was an era at the very end of the Edo period. It began on the twentieth day of the second month of Bunkyū 4 and was superseded by the Keiō era in the fourth month of Genji 2 — just over a year in total — yet one of the most tense chapters of the Bakumatsu period unfolded within it.

On the fifth day of the sixth month of Genji 1 (July 8, 1864), the Shinsengumi attacked roughly twenty Sonnō Jōi activists from the Chōshū, Tosa, and Higo domains gathered at the Ikedaya inn in Sanjō Kiyamachi, Kyoto — the Ikedaya Incident. Acting on intelligence that the group was plotting to set fire to the Imperial Palace and assassinate key figures, a small Shinsengumi force led by Kondō Isami, Okita Sōji, Nagakura Shinpachi, and Tōdō Heisuke stormed the inn, resulting in a fierce clash with numerous dead, wounded, and captured.

A Record of Combat Swordsmanship

Nagakura Shinpachi, vice-captain of the Shinsengumi, is recorded as having described the swordsmanship of First Unit captain Okita Sōji as "fierce" and that of Third Unit captain Saitō Hajime as "invincible." That the individual sword skills displayed in real combat were specifically recorded by a contemporary makes this a valuable piece of sword history from the period. The incident dealt a heavy blow to the Sonnō Jōi faction, and the following month it led directly to the Kinmon Incident (also called the Hamaguri Gomon Incident), in which the Chōshū domain attempted to reverse its losses by force, and subsequently to the First Chōshū Expedition.

Style in the Late Shinshintō Period

In terms of sword history, the Genji era falls in the closing phase of the shinshintō period, during which the revivalist Sōshū- and Bizen-tradition styles established by the "three great Edo smiths" — Suishinshi Masahide, Taikei Naotane, and Minamoto Kiyomaro — were, through their disciples, sustaining the demand for combat-ready blades amid the turmoil of the Bakumatsu years. As street clashes such as the Ikedaya Incident became frequent, demand grew among smiths in Edo and Kyoto for blades sturdy enough to withstand actual combat.

Social Context

While order in Kyoto was maintained by the Shinsengumi alongside the Aizu domain and the Miburo patrol corps, the Sonnō Jōi faction's attempts to regain ground manifested as armed conflict, making this an era in which swords served as direct instruments of political struggle. Kyoto during the Genji years stands as a microcosm of the Bakumatsu turmoil, a time when the Japanese sword most vividly bore the role of an actual lethal weapon rather than merely a symbol of the samurai spirit.