Living descendants of the Shinsengumi
From left to right: Hijikata Ai (土方愛), Miyagawa Kiyoshi (宮川清志), Miyagawa Seizo (宮川清蔵), Matsudaira Yasuhisa (松平保久), Ano Noriko (阿野典子), Inoue Masao (井上雅雄) (Photo: Kawai Hidenao)
Descendants of Kondo Isami’s family
with eldest daughter and her husband (source)
On March 18, 2017, the descendants of the Shinsengumi gathered at Takahata Fudoson in Hino, Tokyo. Miyagawa Kiyoshi, the 12th generation descendant of the elder brother of Kondo Isami (Miyagawa Otogoro), tells his story.
“The Miyagawa family was originally a farming family, but they were very keen on kenjutsu (swordsmanship), and I took part in kendo in elementary, junior high, and high school. I was weak, though. (laugh)”
He is currently an office worker in sales. In the future, he would like to take over from his father, Seizo, 78, and spread the Tennen Rishin-ryu style, of which Kondo Isami was the headmaster. Although he does not publicly state at the company that he is from Kondo Isami’s birth family. “I’m still a young man, but I would like to show leadership like my ancestor,” says Kiyoshi.
TIL: the Miyagawa family crest (kamon) looks like this:
Descendants of Hijikata Toshizo’s family
Hijikata Toshizo, the “Demon Vice-Commander”, was the right-hand man of Kondo Isami. Hijikata Ai, 45, is the sixth generation descendant of his older brother Kiroku. After graduating from the Department of Hispanic Studies at Sophia University, she began working as the director of a museum in 2012 in the area where Hijikata lived from the age of 12 to 29.
“Until 1990, I lived in the old house with a large black pillar where Hijikata practiced sumo.”
Ai, who inherited Hijikata’s good legs, had completed a full marathon called “Oniashi” in 4 hours. She is the mother of two boys and a girl.
Descendants of Okita Souji’s family
There were also descendants of the birth family of Okita Souji, a genius swordsman and captain of the Shinsengumi’s first squad. Okita Souji was a bachelor all his life, but his sister took over the family name. The seventh generation descendant is Ano Noriko.
She says, “My grandparents once told me, ‘Okita cut down a lot of people, and you mustn’t talk about him outside too much.’”
For this reason, she has not participated in public forums for the last 20 years.
“I’m now a full-time employee of a day service company. It’s a job that requires being able to relate to people.”
In contrast to his swordsmanship, Okita’s personality was reportedly gentle.
Descendants of Inoue Genzaburo’s family
Inoue Genzaburo was a famous supporting player who supported the activities of the Shinsengumi as a founding member, and became the captain of the Shinsengumi’s sixth squad. Inoue Masao, 62, is the fifth generation descendant of Genzaburo’s older brother, Shogoro.
“My great-grandfather Taisuke also joined the Shinsengumi at the age of 11. He tried to bring back the head of Genzaburo, who was killed in battle in Kyoto, but gave up because it was too heavy.”
He found its location from old maps and other sources, and visited it nine years ago. He also made his major debut as a lyricist under the name “Inoue Genta”. He has released enka (traditional Japanese ballad) with the theme of bushido (the way of the samurai).
He runs the Tennen Rishin-ryu Inoue Genzaburo Dojo
Descendants of Matsudaira Katamori
Joining us today as a guest was Matsudaira Yasuhisa, 62, a descendant of the Aizu Matsudaira family and Matsudaira Katamori. He is currently an executive producer of a program at the NHK production company.
Descendants of Nagakura Shinpachi
Sugimura Shigeo (杉村重郎) (Photo: Matsumoto Yuki)
Although he was not present on the day of the event, there’s also a descendant of Shinsengumi second squad captain Nagakura Shinpachi who is working in the video industry. He is Sugimura Shigeo, 63, an anime producer.
“I was in my first year of high school. I found a piece of cloth in the coal yard at home, and it was the vest of Nagakura Shinpachi. It was in the newspaper, but my father took the credit for it, saying, 'Nagakura Shinpachi’s grandson’ found it. (laugh)”
Nagakura was a member of the advance team in the Ikedaya Incident. He lived until 1915, and left behind his memoirs, "Shinsengumi Tenmatsuki”, and also erected a memorial of Kondo Isami and Hijikata Toshizo.
Mr. Sugimura is Nagakura’s great-grandson and is currently a director at an anime production company, SIGNAL.MD.
“After graduating from photography school, I wanted to become a news photographer, but then I got into the world of animation photography. I shot Manga Nippon Mukashi Banashi, Urusei Yatsura, Touch, etc., and I think my last film as a cinematographer was Kiki’s Delivery Service. After that, I became a producer and was in charge of the Kochikame and Yu☆Gi☆Oh series. Two years ago, I helped establish my current company. My dream is to make this company big and major.”
He has been dedicated to the field of anime production for 38 years. Mr. Sugimura lives up to Nagakura’s nickname, “Gamushin” (meaning “Daredevil Shinpachi”).
(Weekly FLASH, April 11, 2017)
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