Ikedaya Jiken
Encyclopedia
The , also known as the Ikedaya Affair or Ikedaya Incident, was an armed encounter between the shishi
which included masterless samurai (ronin
) formally employed by the Chōshū and Tosa clans (han
), and the Shinsengumi
, the Bakufu's special police
force in Kyoto on July 8, 1864 at the Ikedaya Inn in Kyoto
, Japan
.
At the end of the Edo period
, Kyoto attracted unemployed ronin
of varying allegiances. Those from the Chōshū and Tosa clans were heavily influenced by sonnō jōi
(revere the Emperor, expel the foreign barbarians) philosophy and supported forcibly removing all western influences from Japan. The emperor Kōmei
and the Aizu
and Satsuma
clans preferred a unification of the bakufu and the imperial court. The bakufu tried to retain their centralized power. In this political chaos, ronin from the various factions began to assassinate each other. The bakufu organized groups of ronin including Shinsengumi
and charged them with arresting or killing (should they resist arrest) the sonnō jōi
shishi.
The shishi were using the Ikedaya Inn as a staging point for their forces. The Shinsengumi arrest
ed one of the shishi, Shuntaro Furutaka. The method of interrogation, carried out by Shinsengumi vice-commander Hijikata Toshizō
was alleged to be particularly brutal, although it appears to be largely without verification. With the prisoner unresponsive, Hijikata was said to have suspended the man by his ankles, restraining his wrists, and driven five-inch spikes into the heels of the man's feet. Placing lit candles upon the holes, hot wax dripped deep into his calves. The prisoner eventually claimed that they planned to set fire in Kyoto and capture
Matsudaira Katamori
, the daimyo
of the Aizu
clan
whose duties included policing Kyoto at the time. The urgency of the situation thus revealed, Kondō Isami
led a group of Shinsengumi troops to the inn to arrest the shishi; a second group, led by Hijikata arrived shortly thereafter.
Historians are divided whether the shishi were actually preparing to set fire to Kyoto. The allegations were based on a confession of one prisoner (Furukata) under torture, and only appears in the records of the bakufu. Furukata was later killed in jail during the Hamaguri rebellion
. Kido Takayoshi
who was at the Ikedaya claimed many years later that they had only met to discuss how to rescue Furukata from the Shinsengumi. Whether or not Hijikata actually employed such a cruel interrogation method is also in some doubt, as conflicting reports from those in attendance (such as Nagakura Shinpachi
) exist. Some popular fiction, like the account of Moeyoken (a novel by Shiba Ryotaro) seem to ignore Hijikata's potential participation.
A total of eight shishi were killed and twenty-three arrested; the Shinsengumi lost only one member in the battle, though two more members would later die of injuries. Amongst those injured in the battle were Nagakura Shinpachi
and Tōdō Heisuke
. It was also said that the later captain of the first Shinsengumi unit Okita Soji
collapsed during the affair (the cause of which is disputed among researchers, some believe it was due to the tuberculosis
which eventually killed him, while others believe it was some other ailment). This incident made it clear to all that the Shinsengumi were a powerful force in Kyoto to be feared by the sonno joi
ronin.
Some historians credit this incident with delaying the eventual Meiji
victory by a year or two, whereas others claim it actually hastened the fall of the bakufu by triggering a cascade of bloody retaliations and assassinations. After the Ikedaya incident, the samurai of the Choshu clan retaliated at the Hamaguri
gate of the Imperial Palace on July 19 in the Hamaguri rebellion
. The Shogunate followed up with an armed expedition First Chōshū expedition
in September 1864.
As for the Ikedaya itself, it was destroyed in the battle. Though for many years a pachinko
parlor sat on the grounds of the Ikedaya, with the only remnant being a memorial tablet
relating the events that occurred on the site, in 2009 an izakaya
named Ikeda-ya opened, designed and decorated with an Ikeda-ya Shinsengumi/Bakumatsu theme.
series Shinsengumi Imon Peacemaker
and its anime
version, Peacemaker Kurogane
.
The Rurouni Kenshin
OVA: Tsuiokuhen, set in the time of the Meiji Revolution, has a depiction of the Ikedaya Incident. Different depictions of the Ikedaya Incident has also appeared in the Rurouni Kenshin manga and anime.
In volume 6 of the manga Kaze Hikaru
, the Ikedaya incident is the main event.
Shishi (organization)
Shishi was a term used to describe Japanese political activists of the late Edo period...
which included masterless samurai (ronin
Ronin
A or rounin was a Bushi with no lord or master during the feudal period of Japan. A samurai became masterless from the death or fall of his master, or after the loss of his master's favor or privilege....
) formally employed by the Chōshū and Tosa clans (han
Han (Japan)
The or domain was the name of the estate belonging to a warrior in Japan after the 17th century. The fiefs of the daimyos of the samurai class of Japan during the Edo period were called han.-Edo period:...
), and the Shinsengumi
Shinsengumi
The were a special police force of the late shogunate period.-Historical background:After Japan opened up to the West following U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry's visits in 1853, its political situation gradually became more and more chaotic...
, the Bakufu's special police
Special police
Special Police does not have a consistent international meaning. In many cases it will describe a police force or a unit within a police force whose duties and responsibilities are significantly different from other forces in the same country or significantly different from other police in the same...
force in Kyoto on July 8, 1864 at the Ikedaya Inn in Kyoto
Kyoto
is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
.
At the end of the Edo period
Edo period
The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....
, Kyoto attracted unemployed ronin
Ronin
A or rounin was a Bushi with no lord or master during the feudal period of Japan. A samurai became masterless from the death or fall of his master, or after the loss of his master's favor or privilege....
of varying allegiances. Those from the Chōshū and Tosa clans were heavily influenced by sonnō jōi
Sonno joi
is a Japanese political philosophy and a social movement derived from Neo-Confucianism; it became a political slogan in the 1850s and 1860s in the movement to overthrow the Tokugawa bakufu, during the Bakumatsu period.-Origin:...
(revere the Emperor, expel the foreign barbarians) philosophy and supported forcibly removing all western influences from Japan. The emperor Kōmei
Komei
Komei can refer to:#Emperor Kōmei, 121st imperial ruler of Japan.#New Komeito Party, a Japanese political party....
and the Aizu
Aizu
is an area comprising the westernmost third of Fukushima Prefecture in Japan. The principal city of the area is Aizuwakamatsu.During the Edo period, Aizu was a feudal domain known as and part of Mutsu Province.-History:...
and Satsuma
Satsuma
Satsuma may refer to:* Satsuma , a citrus fruit* Satsuma , a genus of land snails-In Japan:* Satsuma, Kagoshima, a Japanese town* Satsuma District, Kagoshima, a district in Kagoshima Prefecture...
clans preferred a unification of the bakufu and the imperial court. The bakufu tried to retain their centralized power. In this political chaos, ronin from the various factions began to assassinate each other. The bakufu organized groups of ronin including Shinsengumi
Shinsengumi
The were a special police force of the late shogunate period.-Historical background:After Japan opened up to the West following U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry's visits in 1853, its political situation gradually became more and more chaotic...
and charged them with arresting or killing (should they resist arrest) the sonnō jōi
Sonno joi
is a Japanese political philosophy and a social movement derived from Neo-Confucianism; it became a political slogan in the 1850s and 1860s in the movement to overthrow the Tokugawa bakufu, during the Bakumatsu period.-Origin:...
shishi.
The shishi were using the Ikedaya Inn as a staging point for their forces. The Shinsengumi arrest
Arrest
An arrest is the act of depriving a person of his or her liberty usually in relation to the purported investigation and prevention of crime and presenting into the criminal justice system or harm to oneself or others...
ed one of the shishi, Shuntaro Furutaka. The method of interrogation, carried out by Shinsengumi vice-commander Hijikata Toshizō
Hijikata Toshizo
was the vice-commander of Shinsengumi, a great swordsman and a talented Japanese military leader who resisted the Meiji Restoration.-Background:...
was alleged to be particularly brutal, although it appears to be largely without verification. With the prisoner unresponsive, Hijikata was said to have suspended the man by his ankles, restraining his wrists, and driven five-inch spikes into the heels of the man's feet. Placing lit candles upon the holes, hot wax dripped deep into his calves. The prisoner eventually claimed that they planned to set fire in Kyoto and capture
Capture
Capture may refer to:* Capture , to remove the opponent's piece from the board by taking it with one's own piece* Capture , situations in which a government agency created to act in the public interest instead acts in favor of other interests...
Matsudaira Katamori
Matsudaira Katamori
was a samurai who lived in the last days of the Edo period and the early to mid Meiji period. He was the 9th daimyo of the Aizu han and the Military Commissioner of Kyoto during the Bakumatsu period. During the Boshin War, Katamori and the Aizu han fought against the Meiji Government armies, but...
, the daimyo
Daimyo
is a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in pre-modern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...
of the Aizu
Aizu
is an area comprising the westernmost third of Fukushima Prefecture in Japan. The principal city of the area is Aizuwakamatsu.During the Edo period, Aizu was a feudal domain known as and part of Mutsu Province.-History:...
clan
Clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clan members may be organized around a founding member or apical ancestor. The kinship-based bonds may be symbolical, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor that is a...
whose duties included policing Kyoto at the time. The urgency of the situation thus revealed, Kondō Isami
Kondo 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, a farmer residing in Kami-Ishihara village in Musashi Province, now in the city of Chōfu in Western...
led a group of Shinsengumi troops to the inn to arrest the shishi; a second group, led by Hijikata arrived shortly thereafter.
Historians are divided whether the shishi were actually preparing to set fire to Kyoto. The allegations were based on a confession of one prisoner (Furukata) under torture, and only appears in the records of the bakufu. Furukata was later killed in jail during the Hamaguri rebellion
Hamaguri rebellion
The rebellion at the Hamaguri Gate of the Imperial Palace in Kyōto took place on August 20, 1864 and reflected the discontent of pro-imperial and anti-alien groups...
. Kido Takayoshi
Kido Takayoshi
, also referred as Kido Kōin was a Japanese statesman during the Late Tokugawa shogunate and the Meiji Restoration. He used the alias when he worked against the Shogun.-Early life:...
who was at the Ikedaya claimed many years later that they had only met to discuss how to rescue Furukata from the Shinsengumi. Whether or not Hijikata actually employed such a cruel interrogation method is also in some doubt, as conflicting reports from those in attendance (such as Nagakura Shinpachi
Nagakura Shinpachi
was the captain of the 2nd troop of the Shinsengumi.-Background:Nagakura Shinpachi Noriyuki, known as Eikichi or Eiji during his childhood, was born in the Matsumae clan's "kami-yashiki" in Edo on the 11th day of the fourth month of Tenpō 10 His father, Nagakura Kanji, was a retainer of the...
) exist. Some popular fiction, like the account of Moeyoken (a novel by Shiba Ryotaro) seem to ignore Hijikata's potential participation.
A total of eight shishi were killed and twenty-three arrested; the Shinsengumi lost only one member in the battle, though two more members would later die of injuries. Amongst those injured in the battle were Nagakura Shinpachi
Nagakura Shinpachi
was the captain of the 2nd troop of the Shinsengumi.-Background:Nagakura Shinpachi Noriyuki, known as Eikichi or Eiji during his childhood, was born in the Matsumae clan's "kami-yashiki" in Edo on the 11th day of the fourth month of Tenpō 10 His father, Nagakura Kanji, was a retainer of the...
and Tōdō Heisuke
Todo Heisuke
Tōdō Heisuke Tōdō Heisuke Tōdō Heisuke (藤堂 平助 1844 – December 13, 1867）was a samurai of Japan's late Edo period who served as the eighth unit captain of the Shinsengumi. His full name was Tōdō Heisuke Fujiwara no Yoshitora.-Background:...
. It was also said that the later captain of the first Shinsengumi unit Okita Soji
Okita Soji
, was the captain of the first unit of the Shinsengumi, a special police force in Kyoto during the late shogunate period. He was one of the best swordsmen of the Shinsengumi, along with Saito Hajime and Nagakura Shinpachi....
collapsed during the affair (the cause of which is disputed among researchers, some believe it was due to the tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
which eventually killed him, while others believe it was some other ailment). This incident made it clear to all that the Shinsengumi were a powerful force in Kyoto to be feared by the sonno joi
Sonno joi
is a Japanese political philosophy and a social movement derived from Neo-Confucianism; it became a political slogan in the 1850s and 1860s in the movement to overthrow the Tokugawa bakufu, during the Bakumatsu period.-Origin:...
ronin.
Some historians credit this incident with delaying the eventual Meiji
Meiji Restoration
The , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, Reform or Renewal, was a chain of events that restored imperial rule to Japan in 1868...
victory by a year or two, whereas others claim it actually hastened the fall of the bakufu by triggering a cascade of bloody retaliations and assassinations. After the Ikedaya incident, the samurai of the Choshu clan retaliated at the Hamaguri
Hamaguri
Hamaguri can refer to:* The clam Meretrix lusoria* The Hamaguri rebellion...
gate of the Imperial Palace on July 19 in the Hamaguri rebellion
Hamaguri rebellion
The rebellion at the Hamaguri Gate of the Imperial Palace in Kyōto took place on August 20, 1864 and reflected the discontent of pro-imperial and anti-alien groups...
. The Shogunate followed up with an armed expedition First Chōshū expedition
First Chōshū expedition
The First Chōshū expedition was a punitive military expedition led by the Tokugawa Shogunate against the Chōshū Domain in retaliation for the attack of Chōshū on the Imperial Palace in the Hamaguri rebellion. The First Chōshū expedition was launched on 1 September 1864.The conflict finally led to...
in September 1864.
As for the Ikedaya itself, it was destroyed in the battle. Though for many years a pachinko
Pachinko
is a type of game originating in Japan, and used as both a form of recreational arcade game and much more frequently as a gambling device, filling a niche in gambling in Japan comparable to that of the slot machine in Western gambling. A pachinko machine resembles a vertical pinball machine, but...
parlor sat on the grounds of the Ikedaya, with the only remnant being a memorial tablet
Memorial Tablet
Memorial Tablet is a 1918 poem by Siegfried Sassoon that makes the reader feel great pity for the soldiers. The author achieves this by adopting the persona of a dead soldier. The soldier is angry and tells us how his life was wasted, by his being forced to fight and end up dying for nothing...
relating the events that occurred on the site, in 2009 an izakaya
Izakaya
An is a type of Japanese drinking establishment which also serves food to accompany the drinks. They are popular, casual places for after-work drinking.-Name:...
named Ikeda-ya opened, designed and decorated with an Ikeda-ya Shinsengumi/Bakumatsu theme.
In fiction
The battle at the Ikedaya Inn is the central point of the mangaManga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
series Shinsengumi Imon Peacemaker
Peacemaker Kurogane
is a historical fiction manga series written and illustrated created by . It is unrelated to the Peace Maker manga by Ryōji Minagawa. The story begins in 19th century Japan before the Meiji Restoration, a chain of events that led to enormous changes in Japan's political and social structure while...
and its anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
version, Peacemaker Kurogane
Peacemaker Kurogane
is a historical fiction manga series written and illustrated created by . It is unrelated to the Peace Maker manga by Ryōji Minagawa. The story begins in 19th century Japan before the Meiji Restoration, a chain of events that led to enormous changes in Japan's political and social structure while...
.
The Rurouni Kenshin
Rurouni Kenshin
, also known as Rurouni Kenshin and Samurai X, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Nobuhiro Watsuki. The fictional setting takes place during the early Meiji period in Japan. The story is about a fictional assassin named Himura Kenshin, from the Bakumatsu who becomes a wanderer to...
OVA: Tsuiokuhen, set in the time of the Meiji Revolution, has a depiction of the Ikedaya Incident. Different depictions of the Ikedaya Incident has also appeared in the Rurouni Kenshin manga and anime.
In volume 6 of the manga Kaze Hikaru
Kaze Hikaru
is a Japanese manga series by Taeko Watanabe.Kaze Hikaru is set in the bakumatsu. After her father and older brother are murdered, Tominaga Sei decides to pose as a boy named so that she can join the Mibu-Roshigumi and avenge their deaths...
, the Ikedaya incident is the main event.