Toshizo Hijikata

Japanese: 土方歳三 - ひじかた・としぞう

Year of death: 11th May 1869 (20th June 1869)
Year of birth: Tempo 6.5.5 (1835.5.31)
He was the vice-commander of the Shinsengumi during the Meiji Restoration, and later served as a magistrate of the army in the Hakodate-Goryokaku government. His given name was Yoshitoyo, his pen name Toyotama, and his other name was Naito Hayato. He was the fourth son of Hijikata Yoshitsune from Ishida Village, Tama County, Musashi Province (Ishida, Hino City, Tokyo). He lost his father before he died, and his mother at the age of six, so he was raised by his older brother Kiroku and his wife. In 1863, he joined the Roshigumi, a group of rogue warriors who went to Kyoto, and remained in Kyoto with Kondo Isami and Okita Soji, becoming the vice-commander of the Shinsengumi. During the Ikedaya Incident, which ruined the reputation of the Shinsengumi overnight, it is said that Furutake Shuntaro tortured him by driving a five-inch nail into the top of his foot and pouring a hundred-eyed candle into the wound. Hijikata was a guardian of the law, thoroughly enforcing the laws of the bureau, and was fierce in his internal purges, forcing Yamanami Keisuke, Kawai Kisaburo, and others to commit seppuku. After the Battle of Toba-Fushimi on January 3, 1868 (January 27, 1868), he took command of the Shinsengumi. After fighting in Utsunomiya and Aizu-Wakamatsu, he traveled to Goryokaku with Enomoto Takeaki and others, and in March of the following year, he boarded a Kaiten ship and participated in the naval battle of Miyako Bay. He later died a heroic death in the fierce battle that decided the outcome of the Hakodate War. <References> Yoichi Tsuri, "Shinsengumi Rediscovered"

(Yoichi Tsuri)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

没年：明治2.5.11(1869.6.20)
生年：天保6.5.5(1835.5.31)
幕末維新期の新選組副長,のちに箱館五稜郭政権の陸軍奉行並。名は義豊,俳号豊玉,別称を内藤隼人といった。武蔵国多摩郡石田村(東京都日野市石田)土方義諄の4男。生前に父を失い,6歳で母も失って兄喜六夫婦に育てられる。文久3(1863)年の上洛浪士組に参じ,近藤勇,沖田総司らと共に京都に残留し新選組副長となる。新選組の名を一夜にしてなさしめた池田屋騒動では,古高俊太郎の拷問で足の甲に五寸釘を打ちつけ,百目ろうそくを傷口に流し込んだといわれる。土方は法の番人的存在で局中法度を徹底的に貫き,山南敬助,河合耆三郎らを切腹に追い込むなど内部粛清に猛威を振るった。明治1年1月3日(1868年1月27日)の鳥羽・伏見の戦以後,新選組の戦闘指揮をとる。宇都宮,会津若松と転戦したのち榎本武揚らと五稜郭に渡り,翌年3月回天艦に搭乗して宮古湾の海戦に参じる。その後,箱館戦争の雌雄を決する激戦において壮烈な戦死を遂げた。<参考文献>釣洋一『新選組再掘記』

(釣洋一)

出典　朝日日本歴史人物事典：（株）朝日新聞出版朝日日本歴史人物事典について　情報

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