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“Shogun” Toyotomi, the Shinsengumi samurai squads, David Kidd interview

This post is all about history. First, a few interesting facts about the Napoleon of Japan, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who built Osaka Castle. Then we look at the heroic but tragic Shinsengumi squads that protected Kyoto from the imperial rebels in the 1850s and 1860s. The last part of this post is a fascinating interview with David Kidd (1927-1996), who lived in Peking for many years and then in Kyoto for over 20 years. Learn more!

Portrait of Kashitaro Ito, a prominent Shinsengumi samurai squad leader.

Content by Ian Martin Ropke, owner of Your Japan Private Tours (est. 1990). I have been planning, designing, and making custom Japan private tours on all five Japanese islands since the early 1990s. I work closely with Japan private tour clients and have worked for all kinds of families, companies, and individuals since 1990. Clients find me mostly via organic search, and I advertise my custom Japan private tours & travel services on www.japan-guide.com, which has the best all-Japan English content & maps in Japan! If you are going to Japan and you understand the advantages of private travel, consider my services for your next trip. And thank you for reading my content. I, Ian Martin Ropke (unique on Google Search), am also a serious nonfiction and fiction writer, a startup founder (NexussPlus.com), and a spiritual wood sculptor. Learn more!

Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Japan's Napoleon in all ways!

Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-1598) is often called the Napoleon of Japan. Like Napoleon, he formulated new laws for the country, laws that ultimately created a peace which lasted two and a half centuries. Called the Taiko Reforms, these highly precise laws were intended to create a rigid and inflexible class hierarchy. Society was divided into four castes (not including the clergy, aristocracy, or outcasts), which were, in order of importance, the samurai, peasants, artisans, and merchants. That Hideyoshi himself rose from the lower classes was a fact he made great efforts to disguise.

Under this system castes were not to integrate and mobility was restricted, though there were cases of very rich merchants buying their way into the samurai class. The whole system was further reinforced by Hideyoshi's famous sword hunts. After 1588, only the samurai, who would made up less than five percent, were allowed to carry swords.

Hideyoshi's domestic successes were many — he strengthened the economy through building projects, established a firm monetary system, and carried out a land survey. Remarkable achievments all. In Kyoto there are numerous spots related to the Taiko (Hideyoshi's honorary title). Northeast of Fushimi Momoyama Castle, a concrete reproduction of Hideyoshi's favoured Kyoto fortress (a hauntingly beautiful sight when seen from a distance), lies the temple complex of Daigo-ji and the famous sub-temple of Sanpo-in, which he rebuilt in luxurious form at his own expense. Sambo-in, full of Hideyoshi memorabilia, is where he held his famous famous cherry-blossom viewing party in 1598. The family crest of Hideyoshi, a paulownia flower, can be found on many of Sambo-in’s structures, including the impressive karamon, or "Chinese" gate, which originally stood in front of his own palace, and which he donated to the temple.

Most interesting is the fact that Hideyoshi's tomb is located in Kyoto at the top of a hill, near the National Museum. A 565-step stairway leads to the shrine where Hideyoshi's soul is enshrined. Located in the same compound is a small museum which contains a collection of his personal effects, while to the left of the shrine, hangs a giant bell which was commissioned by his son, Hideyori. The gate to the shrine is magnificent. It is said that the life-like cranes painted on it have no eyes so that they cannot fly away. An often over-looked aspect of the shrine are the giant stones that form its outside wall. Each stone was donated by a daimyo after Hideyoshi's death. Just a little west of the shrine is the Ear Mound — a gruesome reminder of Hideyoshi's Korean escapade. Instead of heads, thousands of Korean ears were brought back to the warlord as a war trophy and interned here.

Kyoto's Mibu village & the Shinsengumi shogun squads

The former area of Mibu village, located southwest of Shijo/Omiya, has been a rustic, quiet part of Kyoto for centuries. In the last days of the Tokugawa Shogunate (1603-1867), Mibu village was invaded by 200 samurai's warriors, who were part of a shogunate mission--the Shinsengumi--specially created to guard against terrorist attacks in Kyoto. In September 1863, Shinsengumi troops led by Kondo attached the Shinsengumi troops led by Serizawa. These two sides had never gotten along. Sarizawa, was an important official samurai from Mito county, an area directly governed by a member of the Shogun family, and he dispised Kondo, who was only the lowly owner of sword practice gym. Frustrated by Serizawa’s insolence and lack of respect, Kondo finally attacked him and his men, and assassinated them all. Since this incidence, for two Shinsengumi was led by Kondo as famous in the history. Shinsengumi moved its headquarters to Nishi Hongan-ji Temple after two year stay in Mibu. Well-known brave Samurais of Shinsengumi's true face can be seen in the three years in Mibu. The Shinsengumi headquarters are one of the important historical site of Nakagyo-ku, located northeast of Mibu-dera Temple.

In the 1850s and 60s, Edo Tokyo was decadent and infused with images of the ukioyoe floating world. Japanese traditional arts are at a peak. The country prospers. Kabuki is packing the theatres of Edo and Kyoto and Osaka. Behind the scenes political currents are at work, bringing to an end the reign of the hated Tokugawa shoguns. Commodore Perry's bold arrival at Shimoda SE of Edo in July 1853 shattered Japan's policy of national seclusion. And with the Americans at their door, Edo's political and economic indicators suggest the imminent collapse of the Tokugawa military government (1600-1867).

In this period, former samurai are crossing ranks and joining the rebels, but certain proud warriors still refuse to accept the signs. The shogun is inspired to unite one group of loyal young blades who formed the clandestine Shinsengumi militia. They are nothing less than a special police force to counter anti-Shogun activities, especially in Kyoto, seat of the Emperor.

The Shinsengumi leaders, Kondo Isami and Hijikata Toshizo, are powerful and charismatic. Brilliant swordsmen, they are the most dangerous kind of samurai: ronin (samurai without a master or lord). Headquartered at Mibu in southwest Kyoto, they act under the direct order of the Shugoshoku, a sheriff appointed to keep peace in Kyoto.

Peace is not easily kept. On September 30, 1863, a well-planned coup d'état by Imperial loyalists from Choshu (now Yamaguchi Prefecture) is messily crushed, and the Shinsengumi know they are going to be kept busy. The wild bunch from Choshu is soon back in town, plotting the assassination of Tokugawa leaders. The Ikeda-ya Inn near the Sanjo-Kiyamachi intersection is their hiding place. It was then that the Shinsengumi launched the attack that secured their place in history.

In a swift raid they kill seven clansmen and capture the Choshu hideout. Reunited under Maki Izumi the rebel militia creep towards the capital under the pretense of seeking pardon for pro-Choshu nobles, forced to flee during the coup. Refused entry they turn to force. The resulting battle destroys 30,000 buildings.

The military regime tries to brand Choshu 'enemies of the court', but the writing is on the wall. The Shogunate, its back to that wall, crumbles. Temporal political power is restored to the Emperor Meiji in 1868, nearly three centuries after his ancestors lost it. Even Shinsengumi terror cannot halt the swirl of chaos surrounding the end of Japan's military rule.

Many legends recount the bloody reputation of the Shinsengumi. Kondo Isami, especially, became well known through a novel 'Kurama Tengu', about a mysterious samurai who roams the country. Although Kondo was never employed by the Tokugawa shoguns before his Shinsengumi days, he was a candidate for a teaching position at the prestigious Kobusho military training school, primarily for the use of the shogunal retainers. It was set up by the Shogunate in 1855 to reform Japan's antiquated military system after the arrival of Perry's metal-hull Black Ships at Shimoda.

The bloodthirsty Shinsengumi guerilla image has undergone historical revision at some point. The gang are currently promoted as heroes of a kind, exemplars of the brand of loyalty and martial skill that seem to be valued more than political virtue. They are depicted in the media and on souvenirs as attractive samurai who remained faithful to the Shogun until the last moment.

Interview with China-Japan adventurer David Kidd (1927-1996)

David Kidd (1927-1996), who passed away on November 30, 1996, Year of the Rat, resided in Japan for over 40 years, some 20 of them in Kyoto. Besides founding the Oomoto School of Traditional Japanese Arts (located in Kameoka, just 15 miles west of Kyoto) he has also, at one time or another, been a contributor to The New Yorker, university language instructor, advertising copy writer, and antique dealer. Before settling in Japan, he lived in Peking from 1946 to 1950, and was witness to the Communist takeover of that city. His experiences during those years are related in his astonishingly timeless memoir, Peking Story: The Last Days of Old China (New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1988). Mr Kidd led an amazing life in Kyoto in the 1970s and 1980s and was good friends with David Bowie, who had a large house in Yamashina, just east of the Westin Miyako Kyoto hotel. The first time I was in his home, I went with the Canadian tea master John McGee. It was the spring of 1992, a full moon night, a snowy night, and the cherry blossoms were in bloom outside the walls of windowns in David's living room. In Japan, it is considered the highest form of good fortune to see full moon, snow and hanami cherry blossoms at the same time! This interview was conducted in the early 1990s at Mr. Kidd's opulent antique-filled hillside mansion, less than 300 meters from the Westin Miyako Kyoto hotel.

YJPT: Had you intended to come to Japan all along, or was it the revolution in China that got you here?

DK: I originally planned to go to China for four years to become a scholar and then go back and teach and write serious books. When you're young, you don't know any better! First it was going to be China four years, Japan four years, and India four years. China was almost exactly four years, then I came to Japan and four years became eight, and by the time I got to India I realized my plan would never work. Two weeks in India wasn't very good for me, and four years would have killed me! Anyway, I graduated from the University of Michigan when I was 19--I was in a big hurry--and received an exchange scholarship with Yenching University which was offered to me by the American ambassador to China at that time, [Dr.] Leighton Stuart.

YJPT: Your book is dedicated to him, isn't it?

DK: Yes, and quite rightly. If it weren't for him . . . I used to read all those travel books about people going all around the world doing wonderful things but they never told you how they got there! My scholarship didn't involve any money--it only allowed me to attend that university and have a place to stay--so I started teaching English immediately. When my students asked difficult questions about grammar, I told them they should have learned that in high school!

YJPT: We've heard there are plans to turn your memoir Peking Story into a movie.

DK: The movie rights have been sold again--for the fifth time. But this time to a real producer, so I think this might be it. The real question is: Who plays me? It's important for the character to be taller than the average Chinese and blond. Several years ago I had considered my friend, David Bowie, but now he's too old, I think. This Daniel Day Lewis just may be the one. Wasn't he a blond in "My Beautiful Laundrette"?

YJPT: In your book you don't really go into detail about how you actually left China.

DK: I had a section about that but my publisher thought it was better not to include it, because the last chapter was already complete in itself. I think we'll probably put it into the movie though, along with a lot of other extra material. I've been working on a film script myself but can only make suggestions since the screenwriter will have his own ideas. But I think it'll probably start with a flashback, with me standing in the ruins of Peking, something that was once beautiful, and saying, how did it get this way? Then it'll go back, alas, forty years. I would like it to show a last, loving glimpse of old China. When I was first there, Peking was falling slowly into gorgeous ruin but was still intact. Old mansion families and princely homes, like the Yu mansion itself, were still there. The Yu mansion is the major character in the book, and what happens to it is its total destruction. I'm even now amazed that any culture could wipe itself out in a short 35 years.

YJPT: What else did you leave out of the book?

DK: Since I wasn't in China at the time of the Cultural Revolution, I could only describe the people I knew who had experienced it, without going into detail. I had to write the last chapter [describing his return to China in 1981] very carefully because if I wrote it the way I really felt about it, I would lose my reader. Mao hated the intellectuals because he thought they would undo everthing he had done. His whole purpose was to wipe them out. [During the Cultural Revolution] you only had three choices: you got killed, you committed suicide, or you turned off. When I went back I met a number of those who had just turned off their ability to suffer, to enjoy--anything.

YJPT: What did you do after you left China?

DK: I went to New York and taught the history of Chinese art at the old Asia Institute. One day two young Japanese arrived, one claiming to be the son of a famous tea master. He turned out to be the present Mr. Sen [Sen Soshitsu, famous internationally minded headmaster of the Urasenke School of Tea]. After performing a tea ceremony at the Institute--which was a great success--he invited me and Jay Gluck to Japan, and three months later we were on our way. Three typhoons and numerous stops later I finally arrived in Osaka on Christmas Eve, 1951. The city was absolutely flat, with just these funny little buildings dotting the blank landscape. I later discovered they were kura [storehouses] that hadn't burned during the bombings. I spent a very cold winter in Kyoto living at Urasenke, and by summer I discovered I had a deadly case of T.B. The next year was spent in the old international hospital on Rokko where I first started writing stories for The New Yorker.

YJPT: Where did you finally settle?

DK: First to Wakayama, which was a mistake! Then I moved into a true palace in Ashiya [between Osaka and Kobe] which was originally built in Shikoku in 1867 as the great mansion of a sake-making family. It was later rebuilt in Ashiya in 1903. After fifteen years it somehow turned out that I owned the house but not the land. The owner told me to buy the land for $5 million or move the house. To his amazement I took the house and went. A couple of years ago I gave it to the University of Hawaii, and now we're raising the $2 or $3 million it will take to ship it there and rebuild it on campus.

YJPT: And then you moved from Ashiya back to Kyoto?

DK: Yes. I had toyed with the idea of moving back to Kyoto anyway, since it really is the cultural center. More so at that time than now, as they continue to destroy it building by building. It's very methodical, the extermination of old Kyoto. In former days, we looked out over Kyoto and saw gray roof tiles and green gardens. Today, all white; concrete, and not good concrete, either. Japanese architecture is so excessively expensive to maintain that I can understand why Japanese get out of these old houses as soon as they can. It's only because I'm a fanatic that I keep this 60 year-old house going. China was destroyed by revolution, and now Japan--Kyoto in particular--is being destroyed by money.

YJPT: Tell us about the Oomoto School of Traditional Japanese Arts.

DK: I dreamed it up in a frenzy one night--a "Berlitz school" of Japanese culture--and founded it in 1976. I was the director for twelve years with my friend, Yasuyoshi Morimoto, as co-director. We not only taught foreigners about the traditional arts, but taught our Japanese staff how to teach them. The school was financed and continues to thrive under the direction of Oomoto-kyo [a religious organization] whose followers believe that the practice of the arts is itself a spiritual practice. Their Kameoka center, built on the site of an old castle, has incredible facilities.

YJPT: How did you first get involved with Oomoto-kyo?

DK: I got to know them through strange circumstances. An acupuncturist named Dr. Mii brought my mother back from a stroke, which was the first miracle I had ever experienced. I asked him how he had done it, and he explained that he was an Oomoto-kyo follower. So that's how I found Oomoto, and how Oomoto found me. It's all very mysterious.

YJPT: Did you become a member of the religion?

DK: No, I could not have done that because, first of all, I never become a member of anything, and, second, it would have made me useless as the neutral party I had to be.

YJPT: Looking back over your life, do you regret that you didn't pursue an academic career?

DK: Not in the least. When I came back from China, I visited the University of Washington in Seattle, where friends from Michigan were on post-graduate courses. They were all thrilled because I was the freshest thing right out of China. They offered me scholarships but it was too late, I had tasted the world. I couldn't go back into those ivory towers and forget it all. However, I have enjoyed writing a number of scholarly articles, most of which have appeared in Oriental Arts, a London magazine.

Content by Japan travel specialist & designer Ian Martin Ropke, founder & owner of Your Japan Private Tours (YJPT, est. 1990). I have been planning, designing, and making custom Japan private tours on all five Japanese islands since the early 1990s. I work closely with all of YJPT's Japan private tour clients and have a great team behind me. I promote YJPT through this content and only advertise at www.japan-guide.com, which has the best all-Japan English content & maps! If you are going to Japan and you understand the advantages of private travel, consider my services for your next trip to save time & have a better time. Ian Martin Ropke (unique on Google Search) is also a serious nonfiction and fiction writer, a startup founder (NexussPlus.com), and a spiritual wood sculptor. Learn more!