Kondō Isami

was a Japanese swordsman and official of the late Edo Period, famed for his role as commander of the Shinsengumi.

Background

Isami, who was first known as Katsugorō, was born to Miyagawa Hisajirō [Ōishi Manabu 大石学, "Shinsengumi: saigo no bushi no jitsuzō" 新選組: 最後の武士の実像. (Tokyo: Chuōkōron-shinsha, 2004), p. 21] , a farmer resident in Kami-Ishihara village in Musashi Province, now in the city of Chōfu in Western Tokyo. [Kojima Masataka 小島政孝. "Shinsengumi yowa" 新選組余話. (Tokyo: Kojima-Shiryōkan 小島資料館, 1991), p.10] He had two older brothers, Otojirō (音次郎; later known as Otogorō 音五郎) and Kumezō (粂蔵; later known as Sōbei 惣兵衛) [Ōishi, p. 22] . Katsugorō began training at the Shieikan (the main dojo of the Tennen Rishin-ryū) in 1848. ["Shinsengumi dai zenshi" 新選組大全史. (Tokyo; Shin Jinbutsu Oraisha, 2003) p.27; Ōishi, p. 22.]

As a young man he was said to be an avid reader, and especially liked the stories of the Forty-seven Ronin and the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". [Kojima, p.14] His renown as a scholar and his fame at having defeated a group of thieves who tried to break into his family home was great, and caught the attention of Kondō Shūsuke, the third generation master of the Tennen Rishin-ryū. ["Shinsengumi dai zenshi", p.27] Shūsuke wasted no time in adopting the young Katsugorō in 1849, who first took the name of Shimazaki Katsuta (島崎勝太). [Kojima, p.95-96.] According to a record in the possession of the former Gozu-ten'ōsha Shrine 牛頭天王社 (now the Hino Yasaka-jinja Shrine 日野八坂神社), Katsuta is listed, with full common name and formal name, as Shimazaki Isami Fujiwara (no) Yoshitake (島崎勇藤原義武), and thus, had the name Isami (勇) as of 1858, the document's date. [Ōishi, p. 22.]

Kondō is said to have owned a katana called "Kotetsu" (), the work of the 17th century swordsmith Nagasone Kotetsu. However, the authenticity of his "Kotetsu" is highly debatable. According to Yasu Kizu's pamphlet on the swordmaker Kotetsu, Kondō's sword may actually have been made by Minamoto no Kiyomaro, a swordmaker of high repute roughly contemporary to Kondō. [Yasu Kizu, "Swordsmith Nagasone Kotetsu Okisato" (Hollywood: W.M. Hawley Publications, 1990), p. 9]

Kondō and his wife, Otsune, were married in 1860. ["Shinsengumi dai zenshi", p.35] This was an advantageous match for Kondō; Otsune was the daughter of Matsui Yasogorō (松井八十五郎), a retainer to the Shimizu-Tokugawa clan. [Ōishi, p. 24.] On September 30, 1861 [27 August, Bunkyū 1 (1861), by the old lunar calendar. See Ōishi, p. 24.] , Isami became the fourth generation master ("sōke no yondai me" 宗家四代目) of Tennen Rishin-ryū, assuming the name Kondō Isami and taking charge of the Shieikan. ["Shinsengumi dai zenshi", p.27; Ōishi, p. 24.] A year later, his daughter Tamako (1862-1886) was born. ["Shinsengumi dai zenshi", p.36; Ōishi, p. 24.] Kondō's only grandson, Kondō Hisatarō, was killed in action in the Russo-Japanese War. [Romulus Hillsborough. "Shinsengumi: The Shogun's Last Samurai Corps." (North Clarendon: Tuttle Publishing, 2005), p. 183]

Although he was never employed by the Shogunate before his Shinsengumi days, Kondō was a candidate for a teaching position at the Kobusho in 1862. ["Kondō Hijikata to Okita no Shinsengumi" 近藤・土方・沖田の新選組. "Rekishi Dokuhon", December 2004, p.62.] The Kobusho was an exclusive military training school, primarily for the use of the shogunal retainers, set up by the Shogunate in 1855 in order to reform the military system after the arrival of Perry's Black Ships. [G. Cameron Hurst III. "Armed martial arts of Japan". (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998), pp. 148-152.]

hinsengumi Period

In 1863, the Tokugawa shogunate organized a massive group of ronin for the purpose of protecting the shogun Iemochi during his time in Kyoto. ["Shinsengumi dai zenshi", p.38] Kondō joined the unit, which became known as the Rōshigumi, with his close friend Hijikata Toshizō, as well as Shieikan's members and guests Yamanami Keisuke, Okita Sōji, Harada Sanosuke, Nagakura Shinpachi, Tōdō Heisuke, and Inoue Genzaburō. After the de facto commander Kiyokawa Hachirō revealed their true purpose as being anti-Shogunate radicalism, Kondō, Hijikata, former Mito retainer Serizawa Kamo, and a handful of others remained in Kyoto and formed the Mibu Rōshigumi. [Kojima, p. 39-40] Acting under the direct orders of the shogunate [Yamakawa Hiroshi 山川浩. "Kyōto Shugoshoku Shimatsu" 京都守護職始末. ed. Tōyama Shigeki (Tokyo: Heibonsha, 1966), p. 87] , Matsudaira Katamori of Aizu undertook supervision of these men. Under the oversight of Aizu, acting in its role as Protector of Kyoto, they worked as police in the imperial capital. ["Shinsengumi dai zenshi", p.45]

In the August 18 incident Kinmon no Seihen, his unit was given the name "Shinsengumi". ["Shinsengumi dai zenshi", p.52-53] In June (lunar calendar) 1864, the Shinsengumi became well known for arresting a radical cell of shishi (the incident was known as the "Ikedaya Jiken", or Ikedaya Affair). ["Shinsengumi dai zenshi", p.56-59]

On July 10, 1867 [June 10, 1867 by the lunar calendar. See Ōishi, p. 160.] , Kondō became a hatamoto, along with the rest of Shinsengumi. [Ōishi, p. 160.]

Boshin War and Death

After the Battle of Toba-Fushimi in January 1868, he returned to Edo, and was promoted to the rank of wakadoshiyori ("wakadoshiyori-kaku" 若年寄格) in the rapidly disintegrating Tokugawa administration. [ [http://www.tamahito.com/isami.htm 近藤勇 KONDO ] ] . He fought with the force dispatched by the Imperial Court but lost, most notably at the battles of Kōshū-Katsunuma and Nagareyama. After surrendering, he was beheaded at Itabashi on May 17 (lunar calendar April 25) 1868. [Kojima, p.91]

According to Tani Tateki (1837-1911) of the Tosa han, Kondō was properly executed by the new government (formed mostly by the samurai of the Chōshū han and the Satsuma han) as a direct result of being accused of the murder of Sakamoto Ryoma. Even after ex-Mimawarigumi member Imai Nobuo's confession in 1870, Tani insisted that Kondō was not falsely accused for Sakamoto's murder. (Even though the most accepted theory is that the mastermind of assassination was Sasaki Tadasaburō of the Mimawarigumi, officially, it is still a mystery.)

He has several grave sites; it is believed that the first of them was the grave erected at Ten'nei-ji Temple (天寧寺) in Aizu by Hijikata Toshizo. [ [http://www.city.aizuwakamatsu.fukushima.jp/j/rekishi/shinsengumi/shiseki/kisamihaka.html 天寧寺「近藤勇の墓」 ] ] Hijikata, who was convalescing nearby from a foot injury sustained at the Battle of Utsunomiya, is said to have personally supervised the preparation and construction of the site. [Ibid.] Kondō's funerary name, "Kanten'inden'junchūseigi-daikōji" (貫天院殿純忠誠義大居士) is believed to have been granted by Matsudaira Katamori. [Ibid.]

In media

See Japanese historical people in popular culture.

Notes

References and Further Reading

*Hurst, G. Cameron III. "Armed martial arts of Japan". New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998.
*Kikuchi Akira 菊池明. "Shinsengumi 101 no Nazo" 新選組101の謎. Tokyo: Shin Jinbutsu Oraisha, 2000.
*Kojima Masataka 小島政孝. "Shinsengumi yowa" 新選組余話. Tokyo: Kojima-Shiryōkan 小島資料館, 1991
*Ōishi Manabu 大石学. "Shinsengumi: saigo no bushi no jitsuzō" 新選組: 最後の武士の実像. Tokyo: Chūōkōron-shinsha, 2004.
*Yasu Kizu. "Swordsmith Nagasone Kotetsu Okisato". Hollywood: W.M. Hawley Publications, 1990.
* "Kondō Hijikata to Okita no Shinsengumi" 近藤・土方・沖田の新選組. "Rekishi Dokuhon", December 2004.
*"Shinsengumi dai zenshi" 新選組大全史. Tokyo; Shin Jinbutsu Oraisha, 2003. ISBN 4404030657
*"Shinsengumi Jiten" 新選組事典. Tokyo: Shin Jinbutsu Oraisha, 1978.