Todo Heisuke - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Tōdō Heisuke
Tōdō Heisuke (藤堂平助 1844 – December 13, 1867）was a samurai

Samurai

is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...

of Japan's late 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....

who served as the eighth unit captain of 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...

. His full name was Tōdō Heisuke Fujiwara no Yoshitora.

Background

Tōdō was from Edo, Musashi Province (now Tokyo). Very little is known about his origin. Although he was said to be an illegitimate child of Tōdō Takayuki

Todo Takayuki

was a Japanese daimyo of the late Edo period, who ruled the Tsu Domain. Takayuki's sudden betrayal of the Tokugawa forces at the Battle of Toba-Fushimi was one of the decisive factors which turned the battle in the imperial army's favor....

, the 11th generation lord of the Tsu domain, this is highly debatable. However, one argument some use in favor of this theory is the fact that he possessed a sword made by Kazusa no suke Kaneshige, who was a swordmaker under the patronage of the Tsu domain; and that such a sword would be difficult for a mere rōnin to obtain, even by heritage. Another point that suggests possible Tsu domain heritage is his formal given name (諱; imina), Yoshitora (宜虎), which shares a character in common with the name of the first Tōdō lord of Tsu, Tōdō Takatora

Todo Takatora

was a Japanese daimyo of the Azuchi-Momoyama period through Edo period. He rose from relatively humble origins as an ashigaru to become a daimyo...

(藤堂高虎).

Tōdō was a practitioner of the Hokushin Ittō-ryu, trained at Chiba Shusaku Narimasa

Chiba Shusaku Narimasa

was the founder of the Hokushin Itto school of swordsmanship .-Origins:Shusaku was the son of the swordsman Koemon , who was originally from Myagi Pref. Born as the second son in Kesen-Mura , Shusaku was named Narimasa Taira...

's dojo. However, according to some sources, he was trained at Itō Kashitarō's dojo instead.

In around 1862, he started "taking his meals" at Kondou Isami's Shieikan.

Shinsengumi Period

In 1863, Tōdō joined the Roshigumi

Roshigumi

The Rōshigumi , the "Kyoto Defenders", was a group of 234 masterless samurai , founded by Kiyokawa Hachirō in 1863. Loyal to the Bakufu, they were supposed to act as the protectors of the Tokugawa shogun....

with Kondō and other members of the Shieikan. After the Shinsengumi

Shinsengumi

was formed, Tōdō first became a fukuchō jokin (assistant vice commander) and then became the captain of the eighth unit in 1865.

Sources vary as to his role in the Serizawa Kamo

Serizawa Kamo

Serizawa Kamo was a samurai known for being the original lead commander of the Shinsengumi. He trained in and received a licence in the Shindō Munen-ryū. "Kamo" means goose or duck in Japanese which was an odd name to call oneself at the time...

(one of the original commanders of the Shinsengumi) assassination.

Tōdō received a wound on his forehead during the Ikedaya Jiken

Ikedaya Jiken

The , also known as the Ikedaya Affair or Ikedaya Incident, was an armed encounter between the shishi which included masterless samurai formally employed by the Chōshū and Tosa clans , and the Shinsengumi, the Bakufu's special police force in Kyoto on July 8, 1864 at the Ikedaya Inn in Kyoto,...

on July 8, 1864.

Death

Tōdō, having joined Itō Kashitarō's breakaway Goryōeji group, left Shinsengumi, but was killed during the Aburakoji Affair on December 13, 1867.

According to 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...

's Shinsengumi Tenmatsuki, Kondō had wished to spare Tōdō's life. However, Tōdō was killed by a new member, Miura Tsunesaburō, who did not know the circumstances.

Background

Shinsengumi Period

Death

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