The Assassination of Kiyokawa Hachirō

The assassination of Kiyokawa Hachirō was carried out by shogunate assassins near Azabu Ichinohashi in Edo on May 30, 1863 (Bunkyū 3/4/13). Kiyokawa was one of the central figures of the late-Bakumatsu sonnō jōi movement. Under the pretext of guarding the shogun, he led over 200 rōshi (masterless samurai) to Kyoto, and the shogunate regarded him as dangerous, a schemer who had provoked the sonnō jōi declaration in Kyoto immediately afterward. Age at death: 34. This assassination symbolizes the “hitokiri” culture of the late Bakumatsu and is a microcosm of an age in which political assassination by the blade was becoming routine.

Kiyokawa Hachirō's Life and the Formation of the Rōshigumi

Kiyokawa Hachirō was born in Bunsei 13 (1830) into the family of a wealthy farmer in Shōnai Domain, Dewa Province (present-day Shōnai Town, Yamagata Prefecture). He went to Edo, studied Hokushin Ittō-ryū, and became known as a talented man skilled in both letters and arms. At the age of 25 he opened the Kiyokawa-juku, where he lectured on the doctrine of sonnō jōi while watching the course of the times. In Bunkyū 2 (1862), Kiyokawa made a proposal to Matsudaira Shungaku, Seiji Sōsai (Director of Political Affairs) of the shogunate, through Yamaoka Tetsutarō (Tesshū) and others. The proposal was accepted, and the formation of the Rōshigumi, which preceded the journey of Shogun Tokugawa Iemochi to Kyoto, was permitted. Kiyokawa recruited participants in Edo, and in the 2nd month of Bunkyū 3 (1863) he led about 240 rōshi, including Kondō Isami, Hijikata Toshizō, and Serizawa Kamo, to Kyoto. It is widely known that this journey became the foundation of the later Shinsengumi, but Kiyokawa's true aim was not to guard the shogunate. It was to organize a force that would carry out the expulsion of foreigners in the Emperor's name.

The Sonnō Jōi Declaration in Kyoto and the Shogunate's Wariness

On the 23rd day of the 2nd month of Bunkyū 3, when the Rōshigumi arrived at Mibu village in western Kyoto, Kiyokawa suddenly declared that the true purpose of the Rōshigumi was not to guard the shogunate but to serve as the vanguard of sonnō jōi. This reversal of the pretext of shogunate protection caused unrest within the Rōshigumi. Some members, including Kondō Isami and Serizawa Kamo, asked to remain in Kyoto, and this led to the later birth of the Shinsengumi. Kiyokawa led the majority of the rōshi back to Edo, but this action was taken as a serious betrayal of the shogunate. After returning to Edo, Kiyokawa came under the surveillance of the shogunate as a person requiring caution. Even after his return, he planned actions to expel foreigners at Yokohama and continued to seek further action. However, the shogunate had already decided to remove him.

The Course of the Assassination and the Sword Used

On the evening of May 30, 1863 (Bunkyū 3/4/13), Kiyokawa Hachirō was on his way back from an outing near Azabu Ichinohashi in Edo when he was ambushed by several shogunate assassins, including Sasaki Tadasaburō. Sasaki Tadasaburō is said to have served as a swordsmanship instructor at the shogunate's Kōbusho (shogunal military academy). He was a skilled swordsman who later led the Kyoto Mimawarigumi and is said to have been involved in the assassination of Sakamoto Ryōma. The assassins suddenly attacked Kiyokawa with their swords, and Kiyokawa was cut down and beheaded. Age at death: 34. The specific name of the sword Sasaki Tadasaburō used is not recorded. However, the swords worn by shogunal retainers and swordsmen of this era were mainly works of the shinshintō period, from the Kansei era to the late Bakumatsu. The shinshintō forged by Minamoto no Kiyomaro, Yamaura Saneo, and others were favorites among late-Bakumatsu samurai who sought cutting sharpness and strength in actual combat. It is presumed that they were practical combat swords suited to a swordsman from the Kōbusho such as Sasaki, who wore one at his side. The Hokushin Ittō-ryū that Kiyokawa had learned was one of the greatest swordsmanship schools of the late Bakumatsu. However, in the face of an organized ambush by several assassins, even its techniques could not be fully displayed.

Kiyokawa's Assassination and the “Hitokiri” Culture of the Late Bakumatsu

The assassination of Kiyokawa Hachirō is one of the incidents that symbolize the late Bakumatsu, an age in which political assassination was rampant. After the Ansei Purge (1858–1859), both the sonnō jōi faction and the pro-shogunate faction frequently used assassination as a political means. Okada Izō of the sonnō jōi faction, calling his attacks “tenchū” (heaven's punishment), successively struck down people who had been involved in suppressing shishi during the Ansei Purge and others. He was later called “Hitokiri Izō.” On the other side, the shogunate also used assassins to eliminate people it regarded as dangerous, such as Kiyokawa. The swords used for political assassination in this period were mainly shinshintō. While studying and reviving the shapes and techniques of kotō and shintō, the shinshintō smiths developed many schools that emphasized cutting sharpness and durability in response to the demands of late-Bakumatsu combat. The assassination of Kiyokawa Hachirō is recorded in history as one of the events that most vividly shows the reality of the late Bakumatsu, when Japanese swords functioned not as art objects or antiques but as active tools of political violence.

From the Rōshigumi to the Shinsengumi

The Rōshigumi led by Kiyokawa Hachirō split into two groups after the declaration in Kyoto. The many rōshi who had returned to Edo were reorganized by the shogunate as the Shinchōgumi after Kiyokawa's death, and were later placed under the custody of Shōnai Domain. Kondō Isami, Hijikata Toshizō, Okita Sōji, and others who remained in Kyoto came under the command of Matsudaira Katamori, Kyoto Shugoshoku (Protector of Kyoto), and went on to be active in Kyoto as the Shinsengumi in the late Bakumatsu period. Among the swords of the Shinsengumi, Kashū Kiyomitsu, said to have been favored by Okita Sōji, and Hijikata Toshizō's Izumi-no-kami Kanesada are widely known. The short-lived political adventure of Kiyokawa Hachirō contains the historical irony that it became the trigger for creating one of the largest armed groups of the late Bakumatsu. That Kiyokawa's declaration indirectly gave birth to the Shinsengumi, and that the swords the Shinsengumi used have become an important subject of today's research on sword culture, is a chain of events that cannot be overlooked from the perspective of sword history.

Shinshintō and Late-Bakumatsu Swordsmen: The Sword Situation in Kiyokawa's Era

The late Bakumatsu period (1853–1868), in which Kiyokawa Hachirō lived, was also a period of flourishing shinshintō in the history of Japanese swords. Inspired by the fukko-ron advanced by Suishinshi Masahide (1750–1825), late-Bakumatsu swordsmiths aimed at the beauty and cutting sharpness of the kotō of the Heian and Kamakura periods, and they repeatedly made copies and conducted research. In Edo, Minamoto no Kiyomaro (Yamaura Kiyomaro) and Koyama Munetsugu were highly regarded. In Osaka, Gassan Sadakazu was highly regarded, and in Satsuma, Naminohira Yukiyasu. Late-Bakumatsu swordsmen and samurai favored wearing the works of these shinshintō smiths and sought practical performance from them. Kondō Isami, commander of the Shinsengumi, is said to have favored the “Kotetsu” (Nagasone Kotetsu). However, Kotetsu was a work of the second half of the seventeenth century, from the shintō period, and by the late Bakumatsu it was already an antique-like object treasured as a famous sword. By contrast, Hijikata Toshizō's Izumi-no-kami Kanesada (Aizu Kanesada of the shinshintō period) was a typical example of practical shinshintō made by an active smith of the late Bakumatsu. The sword used in the assassination of Kiyokawa Hachirō also belongs to the context of this kind of late-Bakumatsu practical sword.

Hokushin Ittō-ryū and the Swords of Late-Bakumatsu Swordsmen: The Age of Swordsmanship in Which Kiyokawa Lived

Hokushin Ittō-ryū, which Kiyokawa Hachirō learned, was founded by Chiba Shūsaku in the late Edo period. In the late Bakumatsu it was counted among the foremost of the three great fencing halls of Edo, and its disciples numbered more than 6,000. Sakamoto Ryōma was also a student of Hokushin Ittō-ryū and was a fellow disciple of Kiyokawa. Hokushin Ittō-ryū traced its origin to the Ono-ha Ittō-ryū, and it expanded rapidly through practical striking techniques and the spread of bamboo-sword practice. The development of the bamboo-sword practice used by late-Bakumatsu swordsmen also contributed to the formation of a kendō culture distinct from the handling of real swords. However, at the scene of political assassination, the handling of live blades and nerve were called for rather than the skills of bamboo-sword practice. The assassination of Kiyokawa Hachirō is a typical scene in which the swordsmanship culture of the late Bakumatsu and political violence intersected. The Hokushin Ittō-ryū that Kiyokawa had learned also could not withstand the organized ambush by several assassins.

Kiyokawa Hachirō and the Japanese Sword: The Last Embodiment of Bushidō

Kiyokawa Hachirō was a swordsman who was at the same time a thinker and a schemer. Through the combination of the swordsmanship he gained in Hokushin Ittō-ryū training and the political thought of sonnō jōi, he is recorded in history as a man who embodied the late-Bakumatsu ideal of bushidō: “moving the times with the sword.” Kiyokawa's assassination and the subsequent activities of the Shinsengumi show that Japanese swords continued to function as symbols of political and military power to the very end, even as feudal society was collapsing. Thirteen years before the Haitōrei (Sword Abolishment Edict) of Meiji 9 (1876) prohibited samurai from wearing swords, the sword that had drawn Kiyokawa Hachirō's blood was still at the front line of political power in the late Bakumatsu. Kiyokawa's death was a prelude to the end of the age in which swords were active instruments of violence. It is an unforgettable event that was carved into the middle of the historical turning point at which, after the Haitōrei and the modernization of Meiji, Japanese swords were elevated into art crafts.