Watsuki Nobuhiro's Miburo
Okay, here's a quick show of the Shinsengumi as drawn by Watsuki-sensei in the Rurouni Kenshin manga, just because I love the Shinsengumi! (Nothing against the Choshuu or the IshinShinshi, just...y'know....) Most of them died nice horrible gruesome deaths, but we'll get to that. The historical information I got from here, which includes a look at the Ikeda-ya affair, a bakufu victory that bruoght the Shinsengumi to history's notice.
The Wolves of Mibu.
Kondo Isao, the Shinsengumi captain. His sword was the Nagasone Kotetsu (you might recognize the name from the anime; that's the sword Sojiro broke in the battoujutsu with Kenshin at Shingetsu village). After Tokugawa Yoshinobu resigned, the bakufu became outlaws, and the Ishin the rightful goverment army. The Shinsengumi were summarily defeated during the Boshin Wars, and Kondo-san was executed at age 35 on April 25, 1868.
I knew this one was Hijikata because he looks like Aoshi, and Watsuki-sensei mentioned that Hijikata-san was one of his favorite in the Shinsengumi and was the model for Shinomori in more ways than one. Hijikata Toshizo was supposedly an extremely handsome genius, the man behind the Shinsengumi's hirazuki. The medicine Saitoh tries to sell to Sano, the Ishida Sanyakuu, was actually Hijikata's family medicine and was used for disguise purposes. Hijikata, along with Yamanami Keisuke, was a fukucho directly under Kondo in terms of authority. He was quite a harsh leader. If you broke the rules, no matter who you were, you committed seppuku (ritual suicide by disembowlment). Hijikata murdered hsi own feelings for the sake of being a leader (you can see where Watsuki got some of Aoshi's obsessive problems from ne?). After Kondo's demise, Hijikata went to Hokkaido with another former bakufu supporter, Enomoto Takeaki in an attempt to form a Republic. He was shot and killed in battle in 1869, also age 35.
I'm assuming this one is Yamanami Keisuke, the other fukucho, because he's positioned opposite Hijikata behind Kondo-san. He was one of the early Shinsengumi members and much liked by his fellows. However, he was dissatisfied and deserted the Shinsengumi, only to be acught by Okita Souji, the 1st fukuchojokin. Although Okita and Hijikata had both known Yamanami or a long time, Okita brought him back and he was forced to commit seppuku. He was 29 when he died, I think in 1865. Many Shinsengumi members felt Hijikata went too far in Yamanami's death, and this helped cause a split in the group.
Okita Souji was a kendo prodigy, joining Kondo's dojo at age 9. By age 15 he was proficient with a katana; his sword was the Kikuichi Norimune (the one Sojiro, who was modeled after Okita, used while fighting Kenshin at the Rokutsurane Tori Hokora). As most people know, Okita did not live long. At this point in history, tuberculosis was rife and he came down with it. After the Ikeda-ya, his situation worsened. He went into a hospital after the Boshin Wars and passed away at age 25 on May 30, 1868.
I'm guessing this is Nagakura Shinpachi, the 2nd fukuchojokin. (mostly because in this next picture, when the Shinsengumi is filing out after the Ikeda-ya, he's in between Okita and Saitoh, who are the 1st and 3rd fukuchojokin, respectively).
However, he might be Harada Sanosuke (see below), the 10th Fukuchojokin, cause it looks like he's carryign a spear, AND he does have something in his mouth....just like our orally fixated rooster head. But you'd have to ask Watsuki-sensei yourself.
Apparently, Nagakura helped command the first troop when Oita was sick, and his one probably claim to fame is that he survived the demise of the Shinsengumi and wrote about his experienced. He died at age 76 in 1915.
Yeah, I'm being lazy adn using the same picture here for everybody's favorite RuroKen smokestack, Saitoh Hajime. ALmost everything Watsuki wrote about Saitoh is true, excepting his involvement with the fictitious Kenshin and Shishio. He did have a supremely effective left-handed single thrust; he changed his name to Fujita Goro and worked directly for the Police Commisioner, Kawaji Toshiyoshi. He was married to the daughter of an Aizu official (and yes, her name was Tokio). Aku zoku zan was the motto of the Shinsengumi, although I don't know if the real Saitoh took it to quite the lengths that Watsuki's does. He also apparently had a bit of a drinking problem that precipitated his demise, also in 1915, at age 72.
There's a couple others I'll go ahead an mention here. The 5th fukuchojokin, Takeda Kanryusei (gee, sound familiar?), was a fairly unpopular guy. He did practice medicine, and was apparently homosexual. Excepting the homosexuality, he was the model for the despicable drug dealer Takeda Kanryu. He defected to the Satsuma IshinShishi and was assassinated by Saitoh. The 10th fukuchojokin, Harada Sanosuke, sounds a bit like our beloved tori-atama...liked to fight and fought with a spear. He apparently also married the geisha he frequented, which was unsual at that time. After breaking with the Shinsengumi, he jioned the Shogitai (remember? That's the group Yahiko's dad was part of) and died in the Ueno War. Or, if you prefer to believe a more romantic ending for him, he supposedly made it to Manchuria and became a bandit. Maybe tha'ts why Sano was in Mongolia...
Anyway, that's just a bit on the group so I could show the pictures. You don't see much of the Shinsengumi, outside of Okita and, of course, Saitoh in the anime, and you see very little except in brief flashbacks int he manga, but everyone likes 'em, so... I thought I might as well babble.
