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Battles, incidents, and historical events related to Japanese swords
5 events
Night of October 28, 1863 (Bunkyū 3, 9th month, 16th day; some sources say the 18th / October 30)
In the 9th month of Bunkyū 3 (1863), Kondō Isami and Hijikata Toshizō's faction purged Serizawa Kamo, a senior Mito-faction commander, at the Yagi residence in Mibu, Kyoto, in a struggle for control of the Shinsengumi. The incident established Kondō as sole commander and set the Shinsengumi on its path toward stricter internal discipline.
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May 30, 1863 (Bunkyū 3, 4th month, 13th day)
On May 30, 1863 (Bunkyū 3/4/13), Kiyokawa Hachirō, a sonnō jōi advocate of the late Bakumatsu period, was ambushed near Azabu Ichinohashi in Edo by shogunate assassins led by Sasaki Tadasaburō and was killed. Age at death: 34. The incident came after he led the Rōshigumi to Kyoto, declared sonnō jōi there, and returned to Edo. The rōshi who objected to this declaration and remained in Kyoto became the foundation of the Shinsengumi. An incident that symbolizes the political assassinations of the late Bakumatsu and the actual combat use of Japanese swords.
December 13, 1867 (Keiō 3, 11th month, 18th day)
In the 11th month of Keiō 3 (1867), the Shinsengumi lured out and killed Itō Kashitarō and other members of the Goryō Eishi — a group that had split from the Shinsengumi to pursue anti-shogunate activities — at Aburanokōji in Kyoto. The Goryō Eishi were effectively destroyed in what became the Shinsengumi's last major internal purge.
15th day of the 11th month, Keiō 3 (1867)
On the night of the 15th day of the 11th month of Keiō 3 (1867), Sakamoto Ryōma, a central figure in the Satchō Alliance, was assassinated at the Ōmiya in Kawaramachi, Kyoto. He was 33 years old. His death came just after he had witnessed the success of the Taisei Hōkan, and it is remembered as a tragedy that struck just before the dawn of a new era. The identity of the culprits remains unconfirmed to this day, and the manner of his death, cut down by a sword, symbolizes the end of the Bakumatsu era, when swords and firearms coexisted.
March 24, 1860 (3rd day, 3rd month, Man'en 1)
On March 24, 1860 (the 3rd day of the 3rd month of Man'en 1), Tairō Ii Naosuke was assassinated by 18 rōnin from Mito and Satsuma outside Sakuradamon Gate of Edo Castle—the greatest political terrorism of the late Tokugawa period. This incident, carried out as retaliation for the Ansei Purge, symbolized the collapse of shogunate authority and intensified the Sonnō Jōi movement.