Shinsengumi Dreams

Check your weapons at the door

During the long peace of the Edo period, the familiar image of the samurai constantly wearing his paired swords was more nuanced than popular imagination suggests. The daishō marked status and privilege, but Tokugawa society was governed by layers of etiquette that carefully regulated when and where weapons could be carried. In practice, there were many situations in which a samurai set aside at least his long sword. These moments did not diminish the meaning of the blades. Rather, they reveal how tightly controlled and symbolically charged sword-wearing actually was.

Formal settings offer the clearest examples. When attending the shogunal court at Edo Castle, daimyō and retainers were required in certain inner precincts to surrender their long swords before entering high ceremonial spaces. This was partly a matter of security, but it also carried unmistakable political symbolism. To lay aside one’s sword in the shōgun’s presence was to acknowledge his supremacy. Similar customs operated in domainal castles throughout Japan, and etiquette manuals from the period make clear that sword protocol was a serious matter.

Outside official spaces, practice was shaped as much by custom as by regulation. When visiting the residence of a superior, a samurai would ordinarily remove his long sword at the entrance. Evidence from urban entertainment districts suggests that comparable habits may have been common in more relaxed social environments as well. In Kyoto’s licensed quarter of Shimabara, for example, the historic ageya house Sumiya preserves Edo-period sword racks near its entrance. The survival of these katana-kake strongly indicates that guests deposited their long swords before proceeding inside. While it would be overstated to claim a universal nationwide rule for every drinking establishment, the physical evidence at Sumiya makes it reasonable to conclude that leaving swords at the entrance of certain pleasure-quarter venues was at least a recognized and perhaps common practice. In spaces where alcohol flowed and tempers could rise, this was as practical as it was polite.

Matsubara: I got 15 ryo

The other guy: I got 20!

Nanae Chrono

Gender: Transgender man

Sexuality: N/A

DOB: 18 June 1980

Ethnicity: Japanese

Photographies

I came across two photos of Katsu Kaishu that I haven't seen before, taken in 1867 by Charles Leander Weed, who is actually mostly known for his landscape photography.

In the first (left) image, Katsu Kaishu is standing in the back row, next to Ambassador Robert Van Valkenburgh, on the far left.

In the second photo, Katsu Kaishu is standing in the back row, third from right. The second image also identifies the other individuals (tentatively), left to right: Ezure Akinori (Foreign Office), Robert Van Valkenburgh, Ishikawa Jukei, Inaba Masami (daimyo of Tateyama Domain), Katsu Kaishu (Minister of the Army), Matsudaira Taro (Commander-in-Chief of the Army), and Ozeki Masuhiro (daimyō of Kurobane Domain).

I'm assuming that the occasion of these photos has something to do with the shogunate's purchase of the ironclad Kotetsu, in 1867. Van Valkenburgh prevented its delivery, and it was later sold to the new government forces during the Boshin War, where it was used against shogunate forces.