Serizawa Kamo

Serizawa Kamo ( Jap. 芹沢鴨 * 1826 in Serizawa, Mito - han (now Tamatsukuri , Namegata , Ibaraki Prefecture ); † thirtieth October 1863 ) was a samurai of the Bakumatsu -time and the first commander of the police force Shinsengumi . His full name is Serizawa Kamo Taira no Mitsumoto , Serizawa being his family name , Kamo being his first name , Taira derName of his family clan and Mitsumoto ( 光 幹 ) is his formal first name . Kamo is his self-chosen first name and means goose or duck, which is very unusual for a samurai.

biography

Family background

The Serizawa were land samurai . They were from Serizawa Village in Mito. Serizawa Kamo was born the youngest son with the name Serizawa Genta. He had two older brothers and an older sister.

Mito was the center of the " Sonnō-jōi " movement, whose followers supported the regaining of political power by the Tennō and opposed foreigners. In this sense he was educated at the state Kodōkan school in Mito, where he trained his swordsmanship.

There is no longer a picture of Serizawa Kamo, but he is said to have been a tall man with pale skin and small eyes. He is also said to have been bold and fearless on the one hand, and very selfish and quick-tempered on the other, so that he often started arguments. In a bad mood and especially under the influence of alcohol, he is said to have often become abusive and brutal. He is said to have been a heavy drinker. He was an idealist who supported the ideals of the Sonnō-Jōi and believed in the emperor, but at the same time sided with the Tokugawa Shogunate .

What is less well known is that he was very good at drawing and liked to show his drawings to children.

Tengu-to

Kamo was a priest at a Shinto temple run by the Kimura family. When he married the daughter of the Kimuras, his name was changed to Kimura Kenji .

In 1860 he became a member of an extreme group that was directed against foreigners, called Tengu-to or Tamazukurisei . She is responsible for the murder of Tairōs Ii Naosuke . He was supposed to be part of the assassination, but he couldn't be there early enough. He became known when he rose to the higher ranks of the group.

When he found out in 1861 that 3 younger members had broken the rules, he lost his temper. He ordered them to sit down in a row and beheaded all three. He was detained by the Tengu-to group for doing this without permission.

When the balance of power in Japan shifted again in favor of the Tokugawa-supporting parliament, all Tengu-to members who were present at the murder of Ii were captured. At that time he wrote a poem on a piece of cloth torn from his clothing, allegedly with his blood, for which he is said to have bitten his index finger:

Japanese	transcription	translation
雪霜 に 色 よ く 花 の 魁 て 　 散 り て も 後 に 　 匂 ほ う 梅 が 香	Yukishimo ni Iroyoku hana no Sakigakete Chiritemo nochi ni Niou ume ga ka	In the snow and frost , the color remains and still gives off its scent after the flowers are scattered. Such a thing is the perfume

Many were surprised that Kamo had never shown his poetic talent before. When he was dismissed in 1862 because the parliament was weakening and the political balance of power was back in favor of the xenophobic groups, he changed his name from Kimura Keiji to Serizawa Kamo . He later joined Kiyokawa Hachirōs Rōshigumi .

Rōshigumi / Shinsengumi

Kiyokawa Hachirō claimed to have founded the Rōshigumi to protect the Shōgun in Kyoto and to prepare for military action against the western countries. In truth, however, he wanted to gather people who would fight for the imperial court and not for parliament.

The approximately 250 members left Edo (Tokyo) on March 26, 1863 (February 8 according to the lunar calendar) to march to Kyoto. After they got there, Kiyokawa announced that it was not his intention to support the shogun. In the ensuing disagreement, a group of 13 Rōnin split off, including Serizawa, and stayed in Kyoto.

On March 10, Kondō Isami and Serizawa Kamo, both leaders of their respective supporters among the remaining men, submitted a petition to Matsudaira Katamori , the daimyo of Aizu and responsible for the security of Kyoto. Matsudaira Katamori appointed the Mibu Rōshigumi , as they then called themselves, to the "defenders of Kyoto". They were entrusted with the task of protecting the Aizu clan and the shogunate.

On August 18, 1863, the Rōshigumi was then renamed Shinsengumi.

Serizawa was the cause of numerous incidents during his time with the Shinsengumi. On July 18th (June 3rd according to the lunar calendar) the Aizu clan ordered the Mibu Rōshigumi to go to Osaka. Serizawa and his people went to drink. He later started an argument with a sumo wrestler. 25 to 30 other members of the sumo dōjō interfered and Serizawa's 10-member group could end up dead 10 and injured many opponents boast while they hardly had suffered injuries themselves. Word of the incident got around and increased the reputation of the troops.

In June Serizawa had another binge with his group at the Shimahara Restaurant. While drunk, he became angry and destroyed the entire restaurant, which had to close as a result.

On September 25th (August 13th according to the lunar calendar) Serizawa's group destroyed the Yamatoya fabric shop with a cannon that the Aizu clan had given him when they refused to give him any money.

death

Niimi Nishiki , second in command of the Shinsengumi, was probably forced by Hijikata Toshizō and Yamanami Keisuke to commit seppuku , a ritual suicide, on October 19 (September 10 according to the lunar calendar) . This was probably the trigger for the Kondo supporters' plan to also get Serizawa out of the way. When Serizawa, Hirayama and Hirama found out about the involuntary Seppuku, they could not take revenge, as they had begun in August to convince their followers to side with Kondo.

It could be that Serizawa had not known about the plans to kill the Kondo followers, as there is also the theory that Niimi was forced to seppuku by a Mito samurai for murder and Kondo 's group was not involved. Either on October 30, 1863 (on September 10 according to the lunar calendar) or two days earlier, the Mibu Rōshigumi celebrated a drinking bout in which Serizawa, Ōume , the woman who had been lying with him, and Hirayama were killed. The only survivor from Serizawa's group, Hirama , was able to flee to Mito to inform Serizawa Kamo's family of his death. The murder took place on the orders of Matsudaira Katamori. A few months later, on February 4, 1864 (December 27, 1863 according to the lunar calendar), Noguchi , who belonged to Serizawa's group but was not present at the drinking festival, was also forced to commit seppuku .

At Serizawa's funeral, Kondō's people, now the entire Shinsengumi, and his older brother came. His tomb was erected in Mibu Temple a year after his death and can still be found there today.

Details of the murder

It is not entirely clear who was involved in Serizawa's murder. Those who were obviously elected must have had the trust of Hijikatas and Kondōs and had been known for secrecy. Therefore, it was probably the Shinsengumi members of the Kondo group Hijikata Toshizo , Okita Sōji and Yamanami Keisuke . Another possibility would be Hijikata Toshizō, Tōdo Heisuke , Saitō Hajime and Harada Sanosuke . It is unlikely that Kondo himself was there, since he was to become sole commander after Serizawa's death, so his participation would have been too risky.

The motive for the murder is also not entirely clear. There are the following theories:

• Sarizawa was too uncontrollable and damaged the reputation of the Shinsengumi, so that Aizu secretly planned his murder together with Kondo and Hijikata.
  That is the most common theory. It is quite possible that both Aizu and Kondōs believed that Serizawa was too guilty for the Shinsengumi to protect the citizens.
• The Mito clan thought of making Serizawa's Mibu Rōshigumi a forerunner of the Sōnno-jōi movement. The Aizu clan, who identified with it less and held to the Shogun , considered this a danger and then ordered the murder.
  This theory is less well known. It could be that the Aizu clan ordered the assassination because Serizawa was taking too lightly the problem that would arise from Mito's rejection and thus from a political conflict between Aizu and Mito. In Kyoto, samurai and Chōshū and Tosa were already causing unrest, so Aizu could not risk that samurai from Mito would join them.
• Kondō and Hijikata had used Serizawa to establish relationships with Aizu, and now that they had done that, they wanted to usurp authority.
  It is very likely that Kondō and Hijikata disliked or even hated Serizawa. It is undisputed that it was Serizawa's brother who maintained the connections with Aizu. The theory could therefore be correct, especially since the Aizu clan in this case had no knowledge of the murder, which would fit the fact that the official report to Aizu speaks of Serizawa's death as a result of illness.

In the literature

Serizawa is mentioned in the novels Moeyo Ken and Shinsengumi Keppūroku by Shiba Ryōtarō . He is also shown in the manga Kaze Hikaru . There he is portrayed as a happy drinker, but also as a serious opponent.

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Serizawa is the family name, Kamo the first name.