Samurai Assassins: "Dark Murder" and the Meiji Restoration, 1853-1868

by Romulus Hillsborough

Overview

Assassination—in Japanese, ansatsu or "dark murder"—was instrumental in the samurai-led revolution known as the Meiji Restoration, by which the shogun's military government was overthrown and the Imperial monarchy restored in 1868. The ideology and moral philosophy of the men behind the revolution—including bushidō or "the way of the warrior"—informed their actions and would become the foundation of the emperor-worship of World War II.

This first-ever account in English of the assassins who drove the revolution details one of the most volatile periods in Japanese history—also known as "the dawn of modern Japan."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781476668802
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers
Publication date:	04/18/2017
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	230,601
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.45(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Having spent sixteen years studying and working in Japan as a writer and journalist, Romulus Hillsborough now lives in Northern California.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Note on Dates, Names, Romanization and Pronunciation
Map of Japan
Map of Kyōto
Preface
Introduction
Part I: The Assassination of Ii Naosuké and the Beginning of the End of the Tokugawa Bakufu
 1. The Background of the Assassination of Ii Naosuké
 2. The Conspiracy to Assassinate Ii Naosuké
 3. The Assassination of Ii Naosuké
Part II: The Rise and Fall of Takéchi Hanpeita and the Tosa Loyalist Party
 4. The Gap
 5. Takéchi Hanpeita and His Tosa Loyalist Party
 6. The Assassination of Yoshida Tōyō
 7. “Divine Punishment”
 8. Lord Yōdō’s Comeback
 9. The Assassination of Anégakōji Kintomo
10. Lord Yōdō’s Crackdown
11. In Prison (1)
12. The Failed Rebellions of Chōshū and Mito
13. In Prison (2)
14. The Stoicism of a Samurai: Takéchi Hanpeita’s Death
Part III: The Assassination of Sakamoto Ryōma
15. Ryōma’s Greatest Achievements
16. The Motives
17. Unsolved Mystery—To a Certain Extent
18. The Assassins
19. The Attack
20. The Aftermath
21. Civil War
22. “The Man Who Killed Sakamoto Ryōma”
Epilogue: The Second Existential Crisis of the Samurai Class
Glossary
Era Names and Dates
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

Hillsborough makes deft use of both contemporary Japanese historical scholarship and primary source materials in his presentation of compelling historical vignettes, commendably providing English-language readers with access to previously unavailable material on Naosuke and Hanpeita. Recommended”—Choice; “fascinating...Hillsborough has an impressive feel for the period, producing a book that takes us inside the world of the key figures in this dark element of the period”—History of War; “well-researched...an engaging and useful work for anyone interested in the chaos and complexity of the final years of the Tokugawa shogunate”—H-Net Reviews; “outlines the significance of assassination during the samurai-led revolution that was the Meiji Restoration in Japan”—ProtoView.

From the Publisher