Ryoma : Life of a Renaissance Samurai by Hillsborough, Romulus

Choshu Ablaze

Just as Ryoma s notion of a Satsuma-Choshu alliance seemed preposterous, his very actions over these past two years were an enigma to most of his comrades. Not only had he been among the first to flee Tosa at a time when the Loyalist Party was gaining power, but shortly after this he had entered into the service of the Bakufu s navy commissioner who espoused opening Japan. Ami where was this sworn enemy of the Bakufu when his Choshu comrades were banished from Kyoto? He was helping Ka is hit establish a naval academy, financed by the enemy regime. What was Ryoma doing while Hanpeita and the other Tosa Loyalists were arrested in Kochi? He was in Edo urging the Bakufu s commissioner of foreign affairs to help him secure the use of a Tokugawa warship for the naval academy. And despite the steadfast willingness of virtually all of his comrades (with the exception of the handful of men he had managed to enlist for the academy) to die for Toppling the Bakufu and Imperial Loyalism, Ryoma professed the virtues of free international trade to strengthen the nation.

Preposterous perhaps, but preposterous ideas were an intrinsic part of the Dragon's nature. It was in Ryoma s basic makeup to act, to strive, and to risk his life for goals which his comrades could not readily comprehend; and it was this very quality which was both the key to his greatness and the source of his deepest sorrow.
Ryoma returned to Kobe headquarters with Yokoi's nephew, where he spent the next month and a half training with his men aboard the Kanko Maru. During this time Kaishu's naval academy was officially recognized by Edo, and an additional two hundred men from various clans enrolled.

On the morning of the last day in May, Ryoma received a message from Yokoi Shonan urging him to gather together as many ronin as possible and get them out of Kyoto, and, if possible, send them to Ezo as he had planned. "I expect Choshu to attack at any time," Yokoi warned.

Since being banished from Kyoto in the coup of the previous summer, Choshu had been planning to strike back at the Satsuma and Aizu troops which guarded the Imperial Palace, ft was Choshu*s immediate goal to regain direct influence over the Emperor, who, in Western standards, might be likened to a football, now in the hands of the Satsuma-Aizu team, with Choshu fighting to recapture control. Since ancient times, Japanese Emperors had traditionally sided with the strongest of all opposing forces; Choshu's ultra-extremism, not to mention coercion from Satsuma-Aizu, left the present Emperor no choice but to flow with the tide of history, for the time being at least.

Ryoma reasoned that a civil war at this time would be disastrous for the antt-Bakufu movement. Choshu was the fulcrum of the movement, and the hordes of ronin in Kyoto its lifeblood. In order that this lifeblood not be spilled, and the fulcrum not be crushed, he loft immediately for Kyoto, "1 have to talk to Katsura Kogoro," he told his men before leaving shortly after receiving Yokoi's message. Although Choshu had been expelled from the Imperial capital, it was allowed to maintain its Kyoto headquarters, where Katsura was stationed. Ryoma set out in the pouring rain for a nearby boat-landing, where he caught a ferry across the bay to Osaka. From here he planned to catch a riverboat, and arrive in Kyoto that night.

By the time Ryoma reached Osaka the rain had stopped. "I have to get as many of those men out of Kyoto as possible," be thought aloud, as he hurried through the streets toward the riverboat-landing. His clothes, wet from rain and sweat, clung to his body. Then, when the time is right, we can call them back to Kyoto where they can be of use in the revolution, rather than sitting by waiting to be cut down by the ronin-hunters." Ryoma momentarily gripped the hilt of his sword, as he thought that Choshu was simply not ready to go to war against the Bakufu. "But if I could somehow unite Choshu with Satsuma, the Bakufu wouldn't stand a chance." Ryoma, however, was well aware that despite the large number of anti-Bakufu Loyalists among the Satsuma samurai, that han was under the firm control of Lord Hisamitsu. ,the father of the child-daimyo, who had allied himself with both Edo and Kyoto in last summer's coup.

There must be a way to get Satsuma and Choshu on the same side," he agonized to himself, as he hurried through the streets of Osaka toward the riverboat-landing. He turned down a narrow back-street to save time, but what he thought would be a shortcut led him to a scene that would change his life. "I know as well as anyone else that Satsuma and Choshu are both striving for the same goal," be thought. "But with Choshu on the verge of exploding, time is the biggest problem." Ryoma groaned as he hastened his pace, then suddenly stopped short in his tracks.

What he saw was fantastic: a young woman arguing furiously with two thugs. Oryo was petite, strikingly beautiful, but dressed in rags, the soft, white skin of her face streaked with sweat and dust, her eyes filled with fire. Something clicked in Ryoma's mind, as he stood there, amazed at the girl's display of courage. Had he known that she would someday be his wife, his amazement would surely have been tenfold.

"Release my sister who you deceived into coming with you to Osaka," the girl screamed, then lunged at one of the thugs, grabbing him by the lapel of his livery coat and slapping his face. "You want to die, stupid woman?" the thug roared. "Go ahead, kill me," Oryo screamed defiantly. "That's why I came all the way to Osaka, to get killed. That would really be something," she laughed. "Go ahead, kill me, you coward." "Stop!" Ryoma shouted, releasing the latch to the sheath of his sword. The two thugs glared at the intruder who stood nearly a head taller than either of them. Both men wore livery coals which hung midway down their thighs, and thin cotton hakama. Their arms were heavily tattooed.

'•What's the problem?" Ryoma snickered. "Is the girl giving you two a hard time?"

"Ah, well, you see, ah..."one of the thugs stammered, obviously intimidated by the samurai.

"Go ahead, spit it out."

"Why you..." the other thug flared, drawing a dagger from his coat.

"Drop it or you die," Ryoma said with stone-cold eyes.

The man immediately dropped the dagger.

“You too!" Ryoma demanded, staring viciously at the other man.

"Yes, sir," the man said, also producing a dagger, and dropping it to the ground. When die girl drew a knife from her kimono and pointed it at one of the thugs, Ryoma burst out laughing. "Very good! Now, tell me what's going on here."

"They have my younger sister and I want her back." Oryo spoke defiantly, with a refined Kyoto accent.

"Where is she?" Ryoma asked.

"If I knew, do you think I'd be wasting my time fighting with these two idiots?"

"I guess not," Ryoma said, amused by the girl's pluck. Then returning his eyes to the thugs, "Where's the other girl?" he demanded, still gripping the hilt of his sword.

"Ah, in there," one for them answered meekly, pointing to a small, dilapidated house less than one hundred paces away.

"You!" Ryoma shouted at the other thug. "You go get her while the rest of us wail here. If you're not back with the girl in three minutes, your friend will be dead."

"Don't just stand there, you idiot," the petrified man screamed, frantically waving his arms in the air. "Run and get the girl."
Soon the girl was returned safely, and Ryoma accompanied the two sisters to Kyoto by riverboat. Along the way Oryo spoke of herself and her family. At twenty-three, she was the eldest of five children: three daughters and two sons. Their father, a Kyoto physician, had been a noted Loyalist and close friend of several of the victims of li Naosuke's purge. When he suddenly died of illness two years before, Oryo and her mother were forced to sell their household belongings and even most of their clothes to survive. Eventually, Oryo, who had been accustomed to having servants of her own, was compelled to take a job as a maid. During Oryo's absence, her mother had been deceived into selling her sixteen-year-old sister Kimie, into prostitution in Osaka, and the thirteen-year-old Mitsue into similar straits in Kyoto, When Oryo learned what had happened she immediately retrieved Mitsue from a Kyoto brothel, before going to Osaka to retrieve Kimie.

"And that was where you found me," Oryo told Ryoma. "How can I ever repay you?"

Ryoma had never felt so utterly good about being with a woman, despite all the work he had before him. Indeed, the tasks awaiting him were Herculean in Scale: convincing Choshu to hold off on its attack; sending men to Ezo to develop the northern territory; somehow uniting Satsuma and Choshu; forming a private navy to conduct free trade between Ezo and Nagasaki, and to procure warships and guns to overthrow the Bakufu.

"Come with me to the Teradaya in Fushimi," Ryoma said. "You and your sister seem to need a place to stay. The proprietress, Otose, is a good friend of mine, and I'm sure I can convince her to hire you as a maid."

Oryo's eyes lit up. "But how can I ever repay you?" she repeated.

"You already have," Ryoma said, smiling.

As the three did not reach Fushimi until nearly midnight, Ryoma stayed the night at the Teradaya. and continued on to Kyoto the next morning. He had lost precious time with the ordeal in Osaka, and was anxious to get to Choshu headquarters "before." be had told himself, "all hell breaks loose."

Although Ryoma sympathized with the plight of Choshu, he was even more concerned that a civil war might provide the foreigners with an ideal opportunity to invade Japan, and subjugate it as they had China. "Without Choshu," he had told his men before leaving Kobe, "our chances of toppling the Bakufu are slim. But," he warned, lest any of them be tempted to join those Tosa men who had fled to Choshu after Yodo's crackdown in Kochi. "We’re not ready for war. We need more time to prepare." "When do you suppose we'll be ready?" one of them had asked. "After we've established a trading network, with bases in Kobe, Nagasaki, and Ezo. Then our ships can carry cargo up and down the archipelago. With the profits we'll buy more ships, cannon and rifles from foreign traders in Nagasaki. We'll recruit more and more men until we've become the strongest naval force in Japan. As it is, we're preparing ourselves everyday by training right here," Ryoma said, staring out at the Black Dragon, one of the academy's two training ships anchored in the bay.

Later that morning, Ryoma disembarked from a riverboat at Kyoto, and hurried on foot northward along the eastern bank of the Takasegawa. Just as he was passing the arched wooden Shijo Bridge which spanned the canal, a muffled voice called his name.

The voice came from behind die gate of a house on his immediate right. A wooden sign which hung on the gate read: "Kiemon's Masuya Shop-utensils, gadgets and other paraphernalia."

Ryoma stopped short in his tracks, immediately drawing his sword. "Behind here," (to voice whispered, as the gate opened slightly.

"Kotaka!" Ryoma said, slightly annoyed but relieved, then resheathed his sword. "Sh! Come in here quickly," Kotaka demanded.

Kotaka Shuntaro was a Choshu spy disguised as a merchant. He ran the Masuya Shop, and went by the alias "Kiemon." With his mild manners and Kyoto accent, nobody ever imagined that the merchant, who had lived in the city since childhood, was actually a samurai. Living in the heart of Kyoto, amid the various han headquarters, and in close proximity to the Imperial Palace, Kotaka was in an excellent position to gather information vital to the revolution. He used his downstairs shop to keep a stockpile of rifles and ammunition, which he kept hidden for the impending countcrcoup; in his living quarters upstairs he hid Loyalists who had remained in Kyoto after the coup of the previous summer. At age thirty-five, Kotaka was a veteran Loyalist and former disciple of founders of the Loyalist movement who had been executed during Ii's purge. Ryoma had been introduced to Kotaka two years before by Kusaka Genzui, when Ryoma was in hiding at Choshu's Kyoto headquarters.

"Do you want to get us both killed?" Kotaka said after he had safely closed the gate behind Ryoma. "The Shinsengumi are patrolling the streets. And who knows how many other spies are lurking about. I've been waiting here for you for hours."

"How did you..."

"Know that you'd be here?" Kotaka finished the question.

"Yes."

"I've just come from your naval headquarters in Kobe."

Ryoma's expression grew dark. "What were you doing mere?" he demanded.

"We'll discuss that after we're inside the house, where nobody can hear us. One can never be too cautious."

Soon Ryoma and Kotaka were sitting inside with two others: Miyabe Teizo, a ronin from Kumamoto, and his elderly manservant. A close friend of Yokoi's, Miyabe had been chief instructor of military science in Kumamoto Castletown before fleeing in 1861 to join the movement for Imperial Reverence and Expelling the Barbarians. At age forty-four he was one of the most influential Loyalists in Kyoto. After the coup Miyabe had been banished from Kyoto with the Choshu men and the seven radical nobles, but having returned undercover earlier this year, he was now hiding with his manservant at Kotaka's home.

"We need all the men we can get for the coup," Kotaka told Ryoma. Then turning to Miyabe, "Would you please show him the plan of attack you have drawn up?" Kotaka smiled, confident that he could impress Ryoma with what he considered ingenious military strategy.

Miyabe produced a folded document, which Ryoma began reading silently, incredulously. '"On a windy night, sometime around June 20, our troops will set fire to the Imperial Palace, and in the resulting uproar kidnap the Emperor. The second platoon will wait in hiding for the Protector of Kyoto to rush to the scene, as he inevitably will, and cut him down on the spot. Meanwhile, the first platoon will bring the Emperor to a safe place just outside of Kyoto. After they arrive, they will request His Imperial Highness to issue an Imperial decree to attack the Bakufu. This achieved, we will have the court reinstate the Seven Banished Nobles, and appoint the Land of Choshu as Protector of Kyoto.'"

Ryoma stopped reading, took a deep breath. He returned the document to Miyabe, but for the moment was too shaken by the reckless plan to speak.

"All the men involved in this coup will meet at the Ikedaya inn at eight o'clock on the evening of June 3 to discuss the final details. We hope you'll be there, Sakamoto-san. As a matter of fact, I've spoken to some of your men to Kobe, and..."

"That's why I've come to Kyoto today," Ryoma said angrily. "1 was just on my way to Choshu headquarters to see Katsura. I figure that he's the only one around here that will listen to reason." "Don't underestimate Katsura," Miyabe said with a devious smile. "Sakamoto," Kotaka said, his eyes open wide, "have you lost your nerve now that you're working on the side of Katsu Kaishu?"

Ryoma looked hard into Kotaka's eyes. "I'm the head of Katsu's naval academy," he said firmly, "and Katsu is the greatest man in Japan."

Kotaka snickered. "The last time we talked, about two years ago, you were absolutely determined to destroy the Bakufu."

"As I am today. But we're just not ready yet. Don't you understand? That's exactly why I want to talk to Katsura. No matter how powerful Choshu is, it can't take on the combined forces of the Bakufu, Aizu, Satsuma, Fukui and Tosa." Ryoma paused, wiped his sweaty forehead with his sleeve. "But I have a great plan."

After telling of his plan to send men to Ezo, Ryoma said, "Although all of you are welcome to join our naval academy in Kobe, if I so much as catch anyone urging my men to throw away their lives on a premature, reckless attack that is doomed from the start," he paused to control his anger, "I'll cut him down myself," he finally exploded, slamming his huge fist on the floor with such force that he left a dent in the tatami.

"I won't go back to Kobe," Kotaka assured "But I must tell you that I've already talked to your men, and some of them have agreed to join us."

The news came as no surprise to Ryoma. Most of his men were ronin who had abandoned their han to die for the Loyalist cause. Even Ryoma himself might have been tempted to join the rebels had he never met Katsu Kaishu. "Who?" Ryoma demanded. "Kitsuma and Kameyata," Kotaka said

"Kitsuma and Kame!" Ryoma exploded. "I can't let them get themselves killed for no reason at all!" Ryoma's eyes flashed with indignation. He had been depending on Kitsuma to lead the expedition to Ezo, while Kameyata was one of his most trusted and closest friends at Kobe. Ryoma stood up. "1 believe that those two are just rash enough to join you," he said.

Ryoma left the house, and arrived at nearby Choshu headquarters soon after, where he found Katsura Kogoro. "I've just come from Kotaka's house," Ryoma said. "So you've heard about the plan?" Katsura said grimly. Although Katsura was indeed a leader of the Choshu Loyalists, his cool rational mind resembled Ryoma's. But unlike Ryoma-and Loyalists such as Kotaka and Miyabe-Katsura's first concern was for the welfare of his own clan; it was to Choshu Han that be was dedicated.

As Katsura explained, the Choshu Loyalists, though fighting to inevitably overthrow the Bakufu, had recently become divided as to the best way to achieve their goal. Since the previous summer, the entire clan had been planning its return to Imperial grace. The Lord of Choshu, backed by several 0f his ministers, including Katsura himself, favored a rational approach to revolution. After their stunning defeat to the foreigners at Shimonoseki, they now realized that they would have to fortify themselves with Western warships and guns before going to war with either the Tokugawa or the foreigners. Opposed to this were me Choshu extremists who would raise as large an army as possible in Choshu, march into Kyoto later this summer, and plead with the court to reinstate them to Imperial grace. This accomplished, they would declare an Imperial government independent of Edo, before raising more troops to crush the Bakufu.

"And if the court refused?" Ryoma asked.

"Then they would follow Miyabe's plan."

Ryoma groaned. "It'll never work. The minute they marched into Kyoto, Aizu and Satsuma would be ready with thousands of troops and an Imperial decree to crush them." Ryoma pounded his fist on the floor. "They must be stopped"

"You're right! But it's not that simple. If I show too much restraint in this matter, Choshu will lose the support of Miyabe, Kotaka, and with them the hundreds of ronin in the Osaka-Kyoto area. We need those men for me revolution."

Katsura was one of the highest ranking officials in the Choshu government. Unlike Ryoma, he had not abandoned his han, nor had he any intention of doing so. But just as Ryoma was the leader of his men in Kobe, Katsura was the leader of the hundreds of Loyalist ronin who remained in Kyoto, impatient for the revolution to begin. His official post in Choshu placed him in an even greater position of power than Miyabe, who, for all his leadership abilities, was nevertheless an outlaw with no official backing.

"Then you must be as concerned for their safety as I am," Ryoma said.

"Of course I'm concerned for their safety," Katsura said.

Ryoma slapped himself on the knee. "Good! I have a perfect solution," he said confidently, and told Katsura of his plan to send ronin to Ezo. "And I'm depending on your help to convince them to go."

"I like the idea. I too would like to keep as many of them alive as possible, but.."

"But what?"

Katsura looked straight into Ryoma's eyes. "I can't risk splitting our forces in two."

You can't risk the lives of hundreds of men," Ryoma shouted. "How do you propose stopping them from committing mass-suicide?"

Through Kijima. He's the most explosive man in Choshu. I must convince him to persuade the others, including Miyabe and Kotaka, to hold off. The only problem is that Kijima is as rash as they are."

Ryoma had heard about the forty-eight-year-old Choshu leader, Kijima

Matabe, compared to whom even the extremists Kusaka and Takasugi

seemed mild. Determined to die this year to resurrect Choshu to Imperial

grace, Kijima refused to listen to orders from even the Lord of Choshu himself.

I'll abandon Choshu," he had told officials at the Choshu administration office, begging for permission to lead his guerrilla squadron of five

hundred into Kyoto. "That way ft won't be 'Kijima the Choshu samurai'

fighting, but 'Kijima the ronin' Then, even if we fell, the Imperial Court will have no grounds to declare Choshu an enemy."

Katsura continued. "Old Kijima is the rashest, most stubborn man in Choshu. And our men love him for it. Nobody can control him, not even the daimyo himself." "Where is Kijima now?" Ryoma asked.

"In Choshu," Katsura said. "He's recruiting an army. And I'm equally worried about what Kusaka and Takasugi might do."

Takasugi Shinsaku was a born rebel. In the previous June he had formed Japan's first modem militia, the Extraordinary Corps, which, in addition to samurai, included men from the peasant and merchant classes. Although the corps had originally been formed to defend Choshu from foreign invasion, Takasugi had an ulterior motive in recruiting this unprecedented band of fighting men: the overthrow of the Tokugawa Bakufu. The foreigners had easily defeated Choshu's forces, which consisted entirely of samurai whose sole purpose for hundreds of years had been to protect the Choshu domain. But after two and a half centuries of peace, these samurai, like their counterparts throughout most of Japan, had forgotten how to fight. Takasugi's plan to recruit commoners as well as samurai was nevertheless unheard of. The whole of Japanese society was based on the system of the different social classes into which people were born, and aside from a few exceptional cases, remained until death. Accordingly, only the samurai were allowed to bear arms, but Takasugi's Extraordinary Corps, living up to its name, challenged the very social structure of Tokugawa feudalism by arming the commoners. Naturally, Ryoma liked the idea. He too had gone beyond class to recruit men for his private navy. Ryoma, in fact, took the break from feudalism one step further: his navy would consist of men from all over Japan, with no question of han whatsoever.

"Takasugi is in jail," Katsura said, a vexed look on his race.

"For what?" Ryoma asked.

"Ostensibly for rig Choshu without permission, but actually to keep bun under control for the time being. But he'll soon be released. He's invaluable to us."

Ryoma wiped the sweat from his brow with his sleeve. "How many men does Takasugi have under his command?"

"About three hundred, I've been trying to explain to Kijima, Kusaka and Takasugi that before we go to war we must procure more warships and guns from the foreigners. But the only one who might listen to reason is Takasugi. And like I said, he's locked up." Katsura sighed, then continued. "The Bakufu has three thousand troops in Kyoto alone. I know as well as you do that we're going to need more than just rash determination to defeat them. Without more warships and guns our Hon doesn't stand a chance."

"No," Ryoma cut in hard, "that's where you're wrong. Forget about your turn. It's Japan we must be concerned for. Without Western technology and weapons, it's Japan that doesn't stand a chance. Can't you understand that the whole feudal system is rotten to the core? It's not only the Bakufu, but all

of the clans and our whole class-oriented society. The only way we are going to be able to compete with the rest of the world is if we unite into one strong nation where everyone is equal. Look at the United States of America. It has no clans, no feudal class system. The president of the nation is answerable to its citizens. There is freedom for everyone there. Freedom to think, freedom to conduct trade. And the only way we will ever be able to achieve this in Japan is by first overthrowing the Bakufu, and then abolishing the feudal system." Ryoma paused, his eyes on fire, his face dripping with sweat.

Katsura nodded slowly. "So it is, Sakamoto-san. So it is. I've been negotiating with representatives of different clans for the past six months to find a way for us to unite with one another. But, let me ask you this: How are the individual hart ever going to unite when there is so much turmoil between us? At this stage it's impossible. It has come to the point in Choshu where we feel more animosity for Edo, Satsuma and Aizu than we do for the barbarians."

Ryoma gave Katsura a hard look. "The only way to do it would be for Choshu and Satsuma to unite first," he said in a low voice. "If this could be realized, the other clans would certainly follow suit, and the Tokugawa Bakufu would fell."

Katsura looked wide-eyed at Ryoma, then laughed derisively. "Satsuma and Choshu unite? Surely you're not serious," "I've never been more serious in my life," Ryoma confirmed. "But Satsuma is the worst of them all," Katsura said bitterly. "They've forsaken the cause to overthrow the Bakufu by uniting with Aizu. Now, the Bakufu, Aizu and Satsuma are waiting anxiously for Choshu to make a suicidal march into Kyoto. They know very well how hotheaded the Choshu Loyalists are. Then when our hart has been proclaimed an 'Imperial Enemy,' the Bakufu, Aizu and Satsuma are confident that they will have no trouble enlisting troops from other clans to crush Choshu once and for all, then confiscate our domain. And," Katsura concluded, "That's why we hate the traitorous Satsuma," "What do you intend to do?"

"Exactly what I've been doing for the past several months." Katsura lowered his voice to a whisper. "Continue secret negotiations with other Loyalists in Kyoto to get as much support as possible among the other han,

and at the same time to keep the ronin in this city from doing anything drastic."

"Then help me recruit men to settle the northern territory," Ryoma said. Tm sorry, Sakamoto-san. It would be impossible at this time."

With no choice but to postpone his Ezo plans, Ryoma returned to Kobe headquarters. He was drenched from the hard rain and exhausted when he reached the barracks shortly after midnight. It was completely dark inside, the only sound the crashing of the waves, the falling of the rain and the heavy breathing of men sound asleep. "Where's Kame?" Ryoma roared, walking up everyone.

"What's that....? a voice called out. "Who's here?" called another. "It's me, Ryoma. Where's Kame and Kitsuma?" "I'm right here." The voice was Kameyata's. "And where's Kitsuma?"

"I'm over here." Although Kitsuma was not a member of the academy, he was friendly with most of the men, and needed a place to stay before returning to Kyoto to take part in the uprising. "Someone light a lantern," Ryoma said. "I can't see a thing." One of the men obliged, and Ryoma looked around the room. All of his closest friends were present for the welfare of each he felt a heavy responsibility. "I talked to Kotaka today," he said. "He told me that there are some of you who would like to throw your lives away in an uprising in Kyoto that is doomed from the start." As he spoke, his face turned red with anger. "Of all the stupid ideas!" he roared. "We have a navy to build until we're strong enough to control the seas all the way from Nagasaki to Ezo, none of us can afford the luxury of dying." Ryoma paused, and the room became silent "If any of you really intend to leave, you'll have to kill me first," he said, before storming out of the room.

Exhausted, Ryoma went to his private room and slept, undisturbed until just after dawn, when Kameyata woke him.

"Kame!" Ryoma sat up. "Don't tell me!"

"I couldn't kill you," Kameyata said, "even if I had a mind to. But I have to go. Please understand."

"If you go, I'm afraid you'll die," Ryoma said grimly.

Kameyata struggled to hold back tears. "That's why f left Tosa in the first place. Please forgive me, but this is what I must do," he said before leaving Ryoma alone and frustrated.

Later in the day Ryoma received a message from Kaishu, summoning him to Edo. As he had one day to himself before his ship would sail, there was one person whom he very much wanted to see before he left.

Ryoma found Oryo at the Teradaya, where he had left her just two days before. The girl greeted him at the top of the stone stairway which led from the boat-landing on the river to the front gate of the inn. The fire in her eyes was gone now, and she was dressed properly in a clean kimono, her hair arranged neatly, a light brown boxwood ornamental hairpin stuck through one side. "I was wondering when I'd see you again," Oryo said, as the proprietress, Otose. also came out to greet Ryoma.

"I thought I'd stop by and see how things were," Ryoma said, then burst out laughing at the expression on the faces of the two women. Indeed, he looked comical standing there at the top of the stairs, this tough leader of one hundred TOHW, much in need of a bath, his clothes badly worn, hair a tattered mess. swords hanging at his side, but smiling ecstatically at the pretty young girl.

"Things are just fine," Otose assured. "But come in, Sakamoto-san. Please come right in. You look tike you could use a nice hot bath."

"I'd like a drink instead," Ryoma said.

"First a bath," the innkeeper insisted. "When you've finished, I'm sure Oryo will be glad to serve you sake. You can take the same room you always use upstairs." At thirty-five, Otose was like an older sister to Ryoma, her in a second home to him, a place where he knew he could find a brief moment's repose during these very troubled times. Being at the Teradaya is "like being buck in Tosa" he wrote to his sister Otome. "They really take good care of me there."

After bathing, Ryoma put on his dirty clothes and went upstairs to his room, where Oryo was waiting. She had set a small table with two large flasks of sake and a cup. "Why didn't you put on the clean bathrobe I put out for you?" she asked.

"I can't stay long. I have to leave this evening." Ryoma sat down next to Oryo, and placed a small pouch of gold coins on the table. "I'll have sake now," he said.

Oryo filled his cup. "I'm forever in your debt for your kindness," she said.

Ryoma said nothing until draining the cup and handing it to the girl. "I'm just happy to see that you're alright. Where's your sister?"

"In Kyoto with my mother." Oryo took Ryoma's hand. "You look tired."

"I haven't felt this good in a long time. Here, have a drink." He filled the cup for Oryo, then took a swig from the flask.

"Sakamoto-san, please use the cup. Here, let me pour for you."

"Don't bother. The sake tastes just as good this way." Ryoma laughed, and took another swig. "I'm tired," he said, lying down, resting his head on the girl's lap. "I haven't fell this good in ages. Not in ages." Ryoma was soon asleep.

Later that night Oryo came quietly into Ryoma's room.

"What time is it?" he started.

"Almost midnight."

"I have to go!"

"So soon? I thought you might at least stay the night"

"No, I have to leave now. Here." He picked up the pouch he had placed on the table earlier, and emptied the gold coins on the floor. He kept five for himself, and gave the rest to the girl. "Fifteen ryo ought to be enough for a while," he said.

"I couldn't.."

"Take it. You'll need it for yourself and your family. I'll come see you when I return from Edo." "When will that be?"

"I don't know." Ryoma stood up, and walked over to the alcove to get his swords. "But wait here for me."

That night Ryoma took a riverboat to Osaka, where he boarded a Bakufu steamer which set sail to Edo the next afternoon.
The night of June 4 was scorching, and Kotaka Shuntaro-alias Kiemon, owner of the Masuya Shop-had just fallen asleep when he was awaken by the sound of someone running up the wooden staircase of his two-storied house. Suddenly the sliding door burst open, and Kotaka noticed that his body was drenched in sweat.

"Who's there?" he called out, reaching for a dagger he kept hidden in his bedding.

"Kotaka Shuntaro!" a voice shouted.

It was at this moment, his identity discovered, that Kotaka Shuntaro realized he was going to die. He sat up immediately and saw the figure of a tall, heavily built, square-jawed man, his sword drawn, his full head of hair tied in a topknot, his eyes glaring in the moonlight which shined through the window. "Who are you?" Kotaka demanded, slowly sliding the dagger from its sheath, and maintaining a perfect calm. This was not the first time that the revolutionary spy had been confronted by a drawn sword.

I'm Kondo Isami, commander of the Shinsengumi," the man roared. "By the authority of the Lord of Aizu and Protector of Kyoto you're under arrest for conspiring to overthrow the government."

"Shinsengumi!" Kotaka gasped. "Kondo Isami!" The commander of the Shinsengumi, which had arrested scores of ronin in Kyoto and cut down many others since its formation in the previous year, was notorious. Despite the heat of the night, a shiver ran down Kotaka's spine. "I don't know what you're talking about," Kotaka insisted. "You have the wrong man. I'm Kiemon, owner of the shop downstairs."

Just then another, much younger man stormed into the room. "Commander Kondo," he said excitedly, "we've located a compartment in the wall of a closet downstairs filled with guns and ammunition. There must be enough gunpowder in there to Wow up the entire city. And this too." When the man handed the written conspiracy to Kondo, Kotaka's face turned the color of chalk. Kondo unfolded the document, and as he read his face contorted with safer.

It was only natural that Kondo should detest Kotaka; his corps was in charge of protecting Kyoto (and the Emperor himself) from the radical ronin who had turned the Imperial capital into a bloodbath of Heaven's Revenge. Ironically, however, Kondo and Kotaka shared the same basic ideals: imperial Reverence and Expelling the Barbarians. But when it came to the question of how to achieve these ideals, the Shinsengumi and the Loyalists clashed: Rondo's men were willing to die to maintain the present order of things, while the rebels were equally resolved to destroy it,

""Set fire to the Imperial Palace,"' Kondo read the conspiracy as incredulously as bad Ryoma a few days earlier. '"Kidnap the Emperor,'" he continued, seething. '"Car down the Protector of Kyoto.' "Scoundrels," he roared, grabbing hold of the much smaller man and jerking him to his knees. Just then Kotaka raised his dagger, but before he could plunge the blade into his own belly, Kondo delivered a powerful blow to his jaw.
"Traitor!" Kondo roared, grabbing the dagger, and kicking Kotaka several times in the abdomen, once in the groin. "We're not ready for you to die just yet. Tie him up," he told the other man. "I want him alive for questioning."

Kotaka's hate for the Shinsengumi was no less severe than was Kondo's hate for the rebels. The Shinsengumi, Kotaka claimed, was nothing but a band of traitors pretending to revere the Emperor, but which in reality was a vile organ of the corrupt Tokugawa Bakufu.

Actually, the Shinsengumi was apolitical. The conduct of the men of the Shinsengumi was ruled by the iron will of their two leaders, Kondo Isami and Hijikata Toshizo, neither of whom questioned the virtues of the Bakufu. The Tokugawa, they reasoned, had ruled well for two and a half centuries; it was under the authority of the Tokugawa Shogun-from whom they received a generous monthly stipend-that they were determined to achieve their goal of expelling the foreigners. As suggested by their symbol-the Chinese character for "sincerity"-Kondo and Hijikata were concerned with one basic tenet: if they commanded their corps based on the unwritten code of the samurai, then everything else would fall into place. Accordingly, they composed a list of prohibitions to be strictly adhered to by all members:

1) Violating the code of the samurai

2) Quitting the corps

3) Raising money for selfish purposes

4) Fighting for personal reasons

Violation of any of these prohibitions was punishable by death. Attached to the prohibitions was a list of rules, one of which particularly contributed to the ferocity for which the Shinsengumi was notorious. Conceived of by the bellicose mind of Hijikata Toshizo, the rule stated: "If any member of the corps should draw his sword, he must kill his opponent If he merely wounds him and let's him escape, then he must commit seppuku"

When questioned about the sanity of this rule, Hijikata replied, "It is designed to make our men fight harder."

"But don't you think that it might backfire? If one of our men thinks that an opponent is apt to get away from him alive, he might be tempted to avoid a fight in the first place."

"Then that man would be obligated to commit seppuku for violating the First Prohibition, which prohibits violating the code of the samurai."

'But with such a tough rule, some of our men are bound to quit."

"All cowards are accounted for by the Second Prohibition," Hijikata said. Anyone who quits must commit seppuku."

Kotaka had felt that for the past month the Shinsengumi was watching him. He had constantly worried that the corps was suspicious of the many tarn coming and going from his house, but did not realize that it was only recently that the authorities bad begun to suspect him. Actually, carelessness on the part of Miyabe had caused this suspicion, On the afternoon of June 1, the day after Ryoma had visited them, Miyabe had sent his elderly manservant, Chuzo, on an errand from Kotaka's house to Kumamoto headquarters in Kyoto. Chuzo lacked discretion. He was prone to boast of his close relationship with the famous Loyalist leader, and another "by the name of Kotaka Shuntaro." Rather than arresting Chuzo on the spot, the corps let him unwittingly lead them to Kotaka's home, thereafter posting one of their men, disguised as a beggar, to keep a constant watch on the Masuya Shop. Further investigation led the corps to confirm that Chuzo's claims were true: the man who called himself "Kiemon, owner of the Masuya Shop," was indeed a ronin by the name of Kotaka Shuntaro, who was acting as a spy for Choshu. Fortunately for Miyabe and Chuzo, they were away when Kondo and his men raided the Masuya, returning only to find Kotaka missing, the house ransacked, and the guns and ammunition they had planned to use for the uprising gone.

"Once Hijikata gets his hands on this one," Kondo growled, glaring at Kotaka, "he'll beat the truth out of him. Let's get him to headquarters."

Hijikata did not disappoint Kondo. Although Kotaka stoically endured hours of excruciating interrogation, adamantly refusing to divulge any more information about the conspiracy than had already been discovered, Hijikata's final method of torture proved too horrible to endure.

The afternoon was unbearably hot, and Hijikata had run out of patience. "This is your last chance," he seethed. Kotaka was hanging upside down from one of several heavy wooden beams which extended across the high ceiling, his feet and arms bound. "Where and when is the meeting going to take place?" Hijikata demanded, but Kotaka still refused to answer.

"Traitorous scoundrel!" Hijikata roared, then drove wooden spikes through Kotaka's feet, put candles on both spikes and lit the wicks. The hot wax dripped onto the open wounds, but still Kotaka refused to talk, although his terrible screams could be heard throughout the surrounding town. Kotaka wished beyond hope that he could either pass out from the pain or else get his hands on a sword with which to kill himself. Finally Kotaka reached the point where he could no longer stand the pain. "It's tonight, June 5," he said in agony, "at the Hour of the Dog, at the Ikedaya, just west of the Sanjo Bridge."

Choshu headquarters was quiet on the relentlessly hot afternoon of June 5. Katsura Kogoro sat silently in the formal position, with an older man, Miyabe Teizo, who wore an expression of anguish on his heavyset face. Miyabe had just brought Katsura the news of Kotaka's arrest the night before.

"We must rescue him," Miyabe implored. "Imagine the torture they must be putting him through. And what's more, if he talks our plans will be ruined."

"They're already ruined." Katsura spoke in a low voice, back straight, hands on his thighs. "If the Shinsengumi knew enough to arrest Kotaka, surely they know more. And even if they don't.." Katsura stopped short, staring into Miyabe's eyes.

"If they don't?" Miyabe asked, wiping the sweat from his brow with a handkerchief. "They'll torture it out of him." Katsura cast a downward glance

182

HL
"That's all the re reason for us to act immediately. We must move tonight before the enemy has a chance to react."

"Please understand," Katsura pleaded. "I can't allow my men to get themselves killed trying to save one life. As for an attack on the Imperial Palace. Bad kidnapping the Emperor," Katsura paused, took a deep breath, "there are five thousand Bakufu troops in Kyoto. How are we going to fight them with twenty or thirty men? We must return to our individual domains, raise Loyalist armies, and then return to Kyoto. That will be the time to strike." What Katsura did not mention was that as the highest ranking Choshu official in Kyoto, he was in no position to take part in an uprising; if the countercoup failed, and he was sure it would, the very rashness of the act would weaken his credibility as the key Choshu diplomat in the Imperial capital, if not bring about the final downfall of Choshu.

"But you will attend the meeting tonight at the Ikedaya?" Miyabe pressed. "All of the weapons we had stored at Kotaka's place have been confiscated. We must meet tonight to decide if we should carry out our original plan postpone it until a later date."

Katsura had no choice but to agree, although he disdained Miyabe's reckless plan. For the very reason he had explained to Ryoma, he was obliged to appease the radicals, because Choshu could not afford to lose their support. Katsura picked up a fan, opened it and began fanning his face. "I'll be at the Ikedaya tonight," he promised, "with some other Choshu men."

Miyabe smiled. "You're the leader of the Loyalists in Kyoto," he said. "1 knew you wouldn't let us down." Miyabe felt confident that even the headstrong Katsura Kogoro could be convinced to give his support to Kotaka's rescue, and after that to the uprising. "I'll see you tonight at around eight."

Katsura left Choshu headquarters alone just before eight o'clock-the Hour of the Dog-and headed southward down Kawaramachi Road toward the Ikedaya inn. He wore a beige jack of silk gauze, his swords hanging at his left hip, and his wooden clogs scraping on the cobblestone road. Although he was anxious to get to the house of his lover-spy to see if she had discovered any new information, he headed directly for the Ikedaya, assuming that Ikumatsu would not be home yet. In fact, Ikumatsu was entertaining a small group of very interesting men this evening: high-ranking samurai of Aizu Han.

Kyoto was alive with celebration on the eve of the annual Gion Festival. Red and white paper lanterns lit both sides of the main road, glowing in front of the various shops, teahouses and restaurants. The steady pounding of drums, the winding of flutes, and the continuous clanging of brass bells filled the heavy, humid air. As nightfall offered no relief from the intense heat and humidity of the day, throngs of people filled the streets. "The people can celebrate," Katsura thought enviously. He passed through the thatched front gate of the Ikedaya, noticed light shining from the lattice-covered windows on the second floor, walked across the small garden, and slid open the<

They're upstairs. Katsura-san," the innkeeper, a Loyalist sympathizer, greeted him in the dark entranceway, a musty odor lingering above the damp cement pavement Katsura removed his clogs, stepped up onto the wooden floor, then climbed the steep, narrow wooden staircase. "I would hate to fight my way out of here," the expert swordsman thought to himself, then turned left at the top of the stairs. "And the corridor is no wider than the staircase," he thought, as he heard voices coming from one of the rooms. Suddenly the door opened, and out came a servant dressed in a livery coat, his sleeves rolled up to the elbows. He carried two large empty sake flasks, one under each arm. "Pardon me, Master," the servant said obsequiously, bowed his head and quickly hurried toward the stairs. Paying little attention to the man, Katsura looked into the room, where ten men were talking and drinking. "Where are Miyabe and the others?" he asked.

"They haven't arrived yet, Katsura-san. Please sit down and have a drink while we're waiting for them."

"It doesn't look like the meeting will be starting for a while." Katsura did not conceal his irritation. He wasn't sure which annoyed him more, Miyabe's tardiness, or the lackadaisical atmosphere in the room. "I have some business to attend to at Tsushima headquarters," he tied. (Katsura kept his relationship with Ikumatsu a secret, even from his comrades.) "I'll be back shortly," he said, before slamming the door shut.

Katsura left the Ikedaya and headed for Ikumatsu'• house near the western bank of the Kamogawa, just a short walk to the west. With the loud clanging of the festival bells filling his head, be stole through the darkness, snuck though the front gate.

"You're safe," the girl greeted him at the door, a look of relief in her black almond eyes. "Come in, quickly."

"Did you learn anything?" Katsura asked anxiously once inside the house. "You're safe. I thought I'd never..." she stopped short. "Never what? Come on, girl, speak!" "Nothing. Really, nothing at all," she lied. "I can't stay long. I have to get back to the Ikedaya." "I see." Ikumatsu feigned nonchalance.

"Did you learn anything this evening?" Katsura repeated, annoyed at the girl's reticence.

"No," Ikumatsu lied again, a faint shadow covering her ivory face when she realized that there was nothing she could say to convince him not to return to the inn. "Nothing?" Katsura asked incredulously.

"Nothing at all." Actually, Ikumatsu had just returned from a small party of Aizu men, where she learned that the Shinsengumi planned to attack the rebels at the Ikedaya on this very night. "I'll be right back with some sake" she said, then went into the next room. "Here," she said after returning momentarily, and offering Katsura a cupful. After several cupfuls, the drug began to take effect, and soon Katsura lay safely asleep in the house of his lover.
When Katsura finally awoke, his head ached. Realizing that he was Ikumatsu's house, he immediately got up, rubbed the back of his neck, and called the girl. "What time is it?"

"One in the morning," she said.

"One in the morning!" Katsura gasped. "How could I have slept for four hours? I must go."

"No. You mustn't The Ikedaya has been attacked."

"Attacked?" Katsura shouted.

"I've just come from there. There must be a thousand Aizu samurai surrounding the inn. It's like a war zone."

Katsura took firm hold of his lover's hands. "Ikumatsu," he said violently, a crazed look in his eyes. "You knew about the attack, didn't you."

"Yes."

"You drugged me, didn't you," he shouted angrily.

"I had to. I couldn't let you go. For the sake of the revolution," she lied. "Please forgive me."

Katsura released the girl's hands. "I'm going," he said.

"No. It's too dangerous. Please stay here until morning."

"I must get back to Choshu headquarters immediately to make sure that Bakufu troops don't try to storm the place if they haven't done so already." Katsura was worried that samurai of the Protector of Kyoto might use the uproar as an excuse to force their way into headquarters and search the premises for evidence linking Choshu to the planned uprising. As usual, he was more concerned for the welfare of Choshu than the lives of his comrades. "But I don't dare leave dressed like this," he said.

Katsura changed into some old clothes which he had kept at Ikumatsu’s house for just such an occasion, and disguised as a beggar, walked quickly through the darkness, just one block to Choshu headquarters. When be arrived, he found that the outer gate was bolted shut. "Let me in.*' he shouted.

"Who's there?" called a voice from within.

"It's me, Katsura. Open up quickly."

The gate opened immediately. On the other side stood several samurai who had followed his orders not to leave until he returned.

"Katsura-san, you're alive," one of them said,

"Yes. Where's Sugiyama?" he asked anxiously.

"He joined the fighting at the Ikedaya," the man said, "along with Ariyoshi and Yoshida."

"Bolt the gates," Katsura ordered. "Under no circumstances is anybody to be permitted entrance tonight."

"But what about our own men? What if some of them should return?"

The faces of Yoshida, Ariyoshi and Sugiyama flashed through Katsura's mind. It's my fault they were at the Ikedaya tonight, he thought to himself. As he would find out on the next morning, of his three comrades, only Ariyoshi was still alive. "Nobody is to enter tonight," Katsura ordered. "Choshu must not be implicated."

When the fighting at the Ikedaya had finally ended, eleven rebels were dead and twenty-three arrested In addition to the two Choshu men, among the dead were, Miyabe, Kitsuma and Kameyata. Although completely out-numbered, the Loyalists had fought fiercely, killing three of the Shinsengumi, and wounding two of its top swordsmen. Outside the rebels killed fifteen Bakufu and Aizu troops, and wounded several others. At the Ikedaya, the Shinsengumi had cut its way into the very psyche of these turbulent times, becoming the most feared police force in Japanese history. When news of the slaughter reached Hagi Castletown two days later, it reunited those Choshu men who up until now had advocated restraint, with their more radical clansmen, as anti-Tokugawa sentiment spread like wildfire across the entire domain.

• * •

When news of the Slaughter at the Ikedaya reached Ryoma in Edo, he grew downcast and despondent, then suddenly confused. He was beside himself with anger over the rashness of the rebels in Kyoto, and the death of his comrades. As he told Jutaro: "I, Sakamoto Ryoma, vow to overthrow the Tokugawa Bakufu. The same Tokugawa Bakufu that has lived off the sweat of the peasants for these past two and a half centuries. The same Tokugawa Bakufu that killed Men of High Purpose under li Naosuke. The same Tokugawa Bakufu that caused the downfall of Hanpeita's Loyalists. The same Tokugawa Bakufu that drove Choshu from Kyoto. The same Tokugawa Bakufu that is only concerned about its own preservation at the expense of the rest of Japan. And the same Tokugawa Bakufu..." Ryoma paused, choking back tears, "the same rotten Bakufu that sent its men to slaughter Kame and the others at the Ikedaya."

The attack on the Ikedaya, Ryoma knew, was the beginning of a full-fledged war between the Bakufu and the Loyalists. The incident destroyed his plans to settle the northern territory, which the Bakufu would now certainly refuse to finance. What's more, Ryoma was worried that the Bakufu might even punish Kaishu for harboring Loyalists at his academy.

Bewildered Ryoma now considered drastic measures. He would ask Kaishu to secure for him the use of a Tokugawa warship. What he wouldn't tell his mentor, however, was his own resolve to join the Choshu radicals, sail with his men to Osaka, then march into Kyoto to fight against the Bakufu troops there. "Enough is enough," he thought. "The Bakufu has gone too far."

Ryoma called on Kaishu at his home in Edo, where he found the navy commissioner sitting at his desk, peering over some papers. "Ryoma, come in," Kaishu said, folding up a document. "I'm glad you've come. It saves me the trouble of having to send for you."

"Katsu-sensei, the reason I have come is..." Ryoma stammered, "I'd like to ask a favor of you." He felt uncomfortable, despite himself. After all, Kaishu was a retainer of the House of Tokugawa. "Well, what is it?" Kaishu said picking up a round paper fan, and fanning his face. Then changing his tone of voice, "I heard about the slaughter last night. I want you to know that 1 share your indignation."

"I know," Ryoma said with a downward glance.

Kaishu had, in fact, written about the Ikedaya Incident in his diary. "A group of ronin were slaughtered in Kyoto on the fifth of this month; it was the Shinsengumi who killed these innocent men. One of my own students, Tosa samurai Mochizuki (Kameyata) was among those kitted. Choshu is outraged and indignant, and say they will go to Kyoto to reinstate the Seven Banished Nobles...and expel the foreigners from Japan."

"Sensei," Ryoma looked up, speaking loudly now, as if to force himself to say what he must, "I want your permission to take command of a Bakufu

warship."

"We already have two warships in Kobe."

"I mean I'd like your permission to use a ship for purposes other than training."

"What purposes?" Kaishu gave Ryoma a hard look, as if reading his

mind.

"I've decided I must..."

"That's why I wanted to talk to you," Kaishu interrupted. "I want you to return with me to Kobe to make sure that our men don't do anything rash. I've heard reports that the Shinsengumi is looking for ronin around the academy."

"I've heard the same thing."

"Then we must get back there immediately. I don't want any more of our men getting killed." Kaishu paused, sighed deeply. "It's a shame about Kameyata," he groaned. "The academy's close proximity to Kyoto has me worried To be frank with you, Ryoma, if any more of our men should join the radicals in Kyoto, there's a very good chance that we'll lose the academy."

"I see," Ryoma said. Although Ryoma had also considered the same possibility, he was so indignant over the deaths of his comrades that he had temporarily lost his head.

"But 1 know how you feel," Kaishu said "The behavior of the Bakufu is endangering the whole nation. Edo suspects that both Choshu and Satsuma are scheming to usurp power from the Tokugawa. Perhaps that's true, but it still doesn't excuse the fact that most of the men in the government are primarily concerned about their own necks. This is the reason for the unpredictable vacillation on the part of the Bakufu between support of Expelling the Barbarians and Opening the Country. You are entirely right in saying that the House of Tokugawa is solely concerned about its own welfare, but as you know I'm a direct retainer of the Shogun, and the commissioner of his navy. Although it is our mutual duty to save Japan, it is my personal duty to do so without..." Kaishu paused "without completely destroying the Tokugawa."

"But Sensei," Ryoma said indignantly, "if things continue as they are, the barbarians are certain to take advantage of the inner turmoil and subjugate Japan as they did China."

"Again, you are absolutely right, Ryoma. But for now, I need you with me ""Kobe more than ever. You must trust me. I'm always on your side."

"I know, Sensei. I have never doubted you for an instant. "Good." Kaishu smiled warmly. "We sail tomorrow."

At the beginning of July Ryoma and Kaishu arrived in Kobe, where ominous news awaited them. 2,000 Choshu troops, divided into four divisions, had recently sailed into Osaka Bay, and set up camps at four points surrounding Kyoto.

From here Choshu intended to march into the Imperial capital to appeal to the court the innocence of the Lord of Choshu and the Seven Banished Nobles. The Loyalists would also inform the court of their intention to remain in Kyoto "to investigate the activities of the ruffians," which was tantamount to inflicting Heaven's Revenge on their enemies, namely Satsuma and Aizu. If Choshu's appeals were not accepted, then they would attack the Bakufu troops guarding the Imperial Palace, retake the court from which they had been ousted less than a year before, and reinstate the Seven Banished Nobles. This, I Loyalists claimed, was "for the dual purpose of returning Choshu to Imperial grace in order to finally topple the Bakufu, and revenging the slaughter of their comrades at the Ikedaya." Retaking the Imperial Court was tantamount to recapturing the Emperor, as a football team might recover the ball. This achieved, the Choshu side would run with Him to its home turf in Choshu. It was a match between Satsuma-Aizu on one side, and Choshu on the other, to see who could control the Son of Heaven, and in so doing rule the nation.

Despite Ryoma's natural inclinations to side with the Choshu men, he knew them well enough to suspect that they had ulterior motives.

"I seems that you and I are on opposite sides," Kaishu said to Ryoma. "You do, of course, hope that Choshu will win, don't you?" A sardonic grin appeared on Kaishu's face.

"I don't know," Ryoma said. "If Choshu wins this battle, it would only set up its own government, and we'd be no better off than we are now. And besides, that would only make Satsuma an 'Imperial Enemy.' But on the other hand, if Choshu is defeated, and it looks like it will be, then Choshu, instead of Satsuma, will be branded an 'Imperial Enemy.' So, either way we lose." "Who do you mean by 'we'?" Kaishu asked. "Japan."

"How's that?" Kaishu asked, although he knew the answer. "Unless we can somehow get Choshu and Satsuma together," Ryoma spoke slowly, "I'm afraid that Japan will have no future at all." Out of respect for his mentor's official position, Ryoma refrained from saying the obvious: that a Satsuma-Choshu alliance would be vital to overthrowing the Tokugawa Bakufu, the only way to save Japan.

Ryoma's reasoning was well grounded: it was inevitable that the fighting would indeed result in cither Choshu or Satsuma being branded an "Imperial Enemy." Until the previous August Choshu had been the darling of the Emperor, who was not only chronic in his hate for everything foreign but, in his own words, "unhappy with the Bakufu's failure to expel the barbarians. Having obeyed the Imperial decree to attack foreign ships off Shimonoseki, Choshu had gained the Emperor's praise, and replaced Satsuma as Imperial guard.

However, with the coup of the previous summer, Satsuma was restored to its position as guardian of the Imperial Court Satsuma's purpose for supporting a Union of Court and Camp was to regain Imperial grace while maintaining a semblance of friendly relations with the Bakufu, although Satsuma secretly detested the Tokugawa. And while the Bakufu had never mistaken Satsuma’s real intentions, for the time being it shared its would-be rival's desire to crush Choshu.

At any rate, it seemed that a Choshu invasion of Kyoto was imminent. Kusaka's Corps of Loyalty and Bravery was encamped on Mount Tenno, southwest of the city along the Yodogawa river, which connected Kyoto and Osaka. Fukuhara Echigo, a Choshu minister, had led his army into Fushimi, just south of the city. Kijima's unit was encamped at Tenryuji, "Temple of the Heavenly Dragon," in Saga, just northwest of Kyoto. The fourth Choshu division had marched into Hachiman to the east. And the heir to the Choshu daimyo, escorting the Seven Banished Nobles, was en route to Osaka with an additional 2,000 troops.

But the Bakufu forces outnumbered the Choshu Army nearly tenfold. Although the rebel commanders knew that there were now some 50,000 pro-Tokugawa troops on high alert throughout the city, they refused to retreat, but instead prepared their weapons and watched for an opportunity to retake the court. Meanwhile, several Imperial representatives who were secretly sympathetic to Choshu's demands to expel the foreigners urged the court to recognize Choshu. Other nobles, backing Aizu-Satsuma, insisted that yielding to Choshu's demands would only harm Tokugawa prestige, and so weaken the nation. "Resist Choshu now or it will be uncontrollable later." they warned. Lord Yoshinobu of Mito, recently appointed as the Tokugawa's Inspector General of the Forces to Protect the Emperor, proposed that the Bakufu try its best to convince Choshu to retreat, and only resort to fighting if the rebels persisted.

Yoshinobu's views were accepted, and the court issued an Imperial edict stating that the Satsuma-Aizu coup of the previous summer was in complete harmony with the Emperor's will, and that the Choshu troops must withdraw and await further Imperial orders. When the edict reached the Choshu commanders at their camps surrounding the city, they flatly rejected it as "mere treachery by Bakufu and Satsuma traitors" who surrounded the Emperor. The Bakufu then set July 17 as the deadline for the withdrawal of Choshu troops from Kyoto.

"I'm relieved that all of you are here," Ryoma said as he sat in his room at headquarters with his seven closest comrades, determined not to let any of them join what he considered a suicide attack. Sitting opposite Ryoma was his secretary, Mutsu Yonosuke, whom Ryoma had put in charge of the academy during his absence. Next to Yonosuke was Shingu Umanosuke, the peasant's son who had recently taken the name of his native village in Tosa as a surname, and grown a mustache in the style of the foreigners he had seen in Yokohama. The bean jam bun maker's son, Kondo Chojiro, who had been awarded samurai status before abandoning Tosa and becoming a ronin, sat next to Umanosuke. On Ryoma's right were Sawamura Sonojo and Chiya Toranosuke; on his left were Yasuoka Kanema and Takamatsu Tare. All of these men wore sullen faces, and a heavy gloom filled the room.

"Any news, Yonosuke?" Ryoma asked his right-hand man. Despite Yonosuke's razor-sharp wit and gift for rhetoric, Ryoma was painfully aware of the Kii man's inability to hold the group together during his absence. This was partly because of his age (Yonosuke and Kanema, just twenty, were the youngest among the group), partly because he was the only one not from Tosa, but mostly because of the subtle resentment he had aroused for having so readily earned Ryoma's favor.

"Not much that the report Katsu-sensei received hasn't already told us," Yonosuke answered in his typical monotone. "Except that the ran/n-hunters are keeping a close watch on us here in Kobe." Yonosuke paused briefly, and without changing his tone of voice said, "The significance of this has me very worried for Katsu-sensei personally."

Ryoma acknowledged Yonosuke's warning with a silent nod, then reached over and took his nephew's hand. "Taro, what are you going to do?" he asked, feigning his trademark nonchalance. "I'm staying right here with you, of course."

"Of course," Ryoma repeated with a grin. "Then let me ask the rest of you what your intentions are." Ryoma's expression darkened, as he scanned each man with his piercing dark brown eyes. "But before anyone answers, let me say a few more words." Ryoma singled out Kanema with a hard look. "I know that deep inside, every man here would like to join Choshu in Kyoto, as 1 would. But," he exploded, slamming his fist on the floor, "everyone of us here has a very important obligation to carry out before he runs off and die*."

"What could be more important than our obligation as Loyalists?" Kanema said, his eyes opened wide

"Nothing. That's why we must have the guts to remain here in Kobe to fulfill those obligations." Ryoma paused amid the tension in the room, which intensified with each word he spoke. "Our immediate purpose is to study navigation. Isn't that correct?" All but Kanema nodded.

"In order that we can establish a navy of good men, regardless of social class or han, who are dedicated to the development of a new, strong, modem Japan." Again Ryoma singled out Kanema with a hard look. "We can go to die in Kyoto for a losing cause, or we can stay here under Katsu Kaishu and really do something for Japan. The time to rant and rave about expelling the barbarians is over. It ended last summer with the defeat of Choshu and the arrests of the Tosa Loyalists. Now is the time for all of us to work together to accomplish something positive by developing a navy." Ryoma paused to take a deep bream. "Let me ask all of you once more: Is there anyone here who still intends to fight in Kyoto?"

The room was suddenly silent, the only sounds the crashing of the waves against the shore and the shrill of the cicadas in the pines.

"How can you say it's a losing cause?" Sonojo broke the silence. "Word has it that there are some thirty thousand reinforcements on their way right now from Choshu."

"Word has it," Ryoma snickered Sonojo, I know you're not stupid enough to give up everything we have achieved for hearsay." He wiped his sweaty forehead with his sleeve. "Even if it were true, there still wouldn't be enough troops to defeat the entire Tokugawa Army, with Satsuma on its side. Don't you men understand that the time just isn't right? We're simply not prepared to topple the Tokugawa."

"I'm staying," Tora said. He had been struggling with himself for the past several days over this decision. He and Kanema had recently visited Choshu headquarters in Osaka, where they met several men from Tosa who had already joined the Choshu Army, among them Tora's cousins.

Ryoma took firm hold of Tora's wrist. "I know this was a hard decision for you," he said.

"I'm staying too," Umanosuke said, tugging on his mustache.

"So am I," followed Chojiro.

"I'm not about to leave you," Yonosuke said.

"Nor am I," Sonojo said.

Only Kanema remained silent, his eyes burning with conviction. "Sakamoto-san," he began speaking slowly, "although 1 would very much like to stay here with the rest of you, I can't. I must fight with the Loyalists in Kyoto."

Kanema had, in fact, already enlisted with Kusaka's Corps of Loyalty and Bravery on Mount Tenno southwest of Kyoto, and had only returned to Kobe to inform the others of his decision.

"Idiot!" Ryoma flared, then regaining self-control, calmly added, "Kanema, do you want to end up dead like Kame, Kitazoe and the others?"

"That's the very reason I must fight. The Bakufu killed them. I must revenge their murders, and help restore Choshu to Imperial grace."

"Kanema," Ryoma groaned, "I can see in your eyes that there's nothing I can say to stop you. But if you insist on going, do me one favor."

"Of course. Anything."

"Don't get yourself killed." Ryoma paused, shook his head sadly. "And one more thing. Say good-bye to Katsu-sensei. He's in the house next-door."

"I intend to do just that," Kanema said, slowly stood up, thrust his long sword through his sash and left the room.

"Katsu-sensei," Kanema called from the threshold of Kaishu's study The navy commissioner sat solemn-faced at his desk as Kanema told him of his decision to join the Choshu Army in Kyoto. Even after Kanema had finished speaking, Kaishu remained silent, his eyes closed tightly, partly out of concentration, partly to suppress the tears welled up inside. He slowly stood up, walked over to a short wooden chest, and took out a kimono of pure white. "This is a parting gift," he said. "I want you to wear it when you go to die in battle." As Kaishu spoke, his head turned away so that Kanema could only see one side of his face; tears ran down his cheeks, and soon Kanema too was weeping.

After a long silence, Kaishu began speaking again. "When you get to Kyoto, I have a message I want you to give to Kusaka. Tell him that what is right and what is wrong will be decided in heaven. Tell him that he and his men should strive to achieve their purpose as soon as possible." Kaishu paused. "Tell him that's all I have to say." Then taking firm hold of the younger man's wrist, "Be sure to come back here as soon as possible," the Tokugawa Navy commissioner told his disciple who would topple the Edo regime.

Ryoma and the others spent the following weeks doing what they did best: training and preparing themselves to expand their navy, but constantly worrying about the fate of the Loyalists in Kyoto. Then, on July 19, Choshu attacked the Forbidden Gates of the Imperial Palace, in what would be the deathblow to the movement of Imperial Reverence and Expelling the Barbarians.

Of the Choshu Loyalist leaders in Kyoto, only Katsura Kogoro had opposed the attack. Takasugi Shinsaku, who also called for restraint until Choshu could acquire the necessary warships and guns from the West, had recently been released from jail, but was now under house arrest in Hagi Castletown. The other leading Choshu Loyalists, including Kusaka and Kijima, were preparing their troops from their respective encampments surrounding Kyoto to storm the Imperial Palace.

Although Katsura remained adamantly opposed to an attack at this time, he realized that he could no longer restrain his comrades, and so tried in vain to recruit support for Choshu from the Outside Lords of western Honshu, particularly those of Tottori, Okayama and Hiroshima. While all three of these outside clans sympathized with Choshu and the movement for Toppling the Bakufu and Imperial Loyalism, they also realized that Choshu had no chance of victory, and so feared dangerous repercussions should they openly support Choshu. At dawn on Jury 19, after Katsura bad spent the entire night pleading for support at Tottori headquarters in Kyoto, the first cannon shots thundered through the city, from the direction of the Imperial Palace.

Katsura left Tottori headquarters with eight other Choshu men, and headed for Kamo Shrine, where the Emperor was expected to take refuge during the fighting. "I'm going to make a direct appeal to the Emperor," Katsura told Ms men as they passed through the high outer gate of the shrine, the sharp crackling of rifles and the booming of cannon filling the air. But no matter how long they waited, there was no sign of the Imperial carriage, and after several hours Katsura could no longer detain his men from joining the others in what he knew was suicide.

"We're going to fight with our comrades at the palace gates, they insisted, to die for Imperial Reverence and Expelling the Barbarians."

"Imperial Reverence and Expelling the Barbarians is a lost cause! There is no way we can win today," Katsura had wanted to tell them, but refrained, simply saying, "I'm going to wait here for the Emperor." Katsura, like the others, now realized that me Emperor would not be coming; but, unlike the others, he was determined to live, long enough at least to see the Bakufu destroyed. "I don't have the luxury of dying just yet," he told himself, as can-non boomed from the direction of the Imperial Palace, and clouds of black smoke spread above the northern part of the city.

Katsura stood motionless under the scorching sun. watching the last of his comrades march to their deaths. 'They have no chance," he muttered, as a large crow perched atop the gate above him cawed furiously, as if to torment this lone samurai who refused to die for a losing causing. "Satsuma and Aizu have surely sealed off the palace gates by now," he agonized. "They're armed with superior rifles and cannon, and are probably shooting down our men right now," he cringed, looking up at the crow still cawing from its perch atop the shrine gate. "Am I a coward?" he screamed, momentarily regretting his decision to remain behind, even doubting his own sanity. "Of course not!" he yelled angrily, stooped down to pick up a rock, straightened up and threw it at the crow. "1 only wish I could run off and die like the others," he thought, as the crow continued to caw tormentingly from its perch above. "But 1 must remain here alone, after the battle has been lost, after the Choshu Army has been driven from Kyoto and our han declared an 'Imperial Enemy.' Who else will be here to pick up the pieces after our defeat?" Katsura took another rock from the ground. "Who else will be left to see that the samurai who have died here today don't end up as mere carrion for moral scavengers from Satsuma?" he thought, looking up at the crow. "Choshu will lose this battle, but we will not be defeated," he vowed to himself, took careful aim and hurled the rock. The crow suddenly ceased its furious cawing, and fell to the ground "I can't say I don't envy you," Katsura muttered, kicking the bird's carcass, "or the others who will be fortunate enough to die here today."

The Choshu Army was easily defeated. Although the Choshu fighters were among the toughest in Japan, so too were the samurai of Aizu and Satsuma. While the Matsudaira of Aizu was a direct blood relation of the Tokugawa, the Shimazu of Satsuma had supposedly been subjugated by toe first Tokugawa Shogun, but was actually left quite alone in the remote southwestern-most comer of Japan. This, and a determination to keep their domain strictly closed to outsiders, were perhaps the biggest reasons that the Satsuma samurai retained their warlike qualities throughout the two and a half centuries of Tokugawa peace.

A traditional game among Satsuma samurai displayed their mental fortitude and bravery. A group of young men would form a circle around a rope which hung from the ceiling. At the end of the rope would be tied a loaded musket, so that it was positioned horizontal to the floor. After the men had drank two or three rounds of potent white liquor, one of them would light the matchlock, and spin the musket. The matchlock would soon bum down to the pan, at which time the musket would, of course, fire; and as it would still be spinning, nobody knew in which direction. Nevertheless, the men would continue drinking, literally ignoring the loaded gun which might fire into any one of their chests at any moment. Any man who lost his presence of mind or showed the slightest inkling of fear would be branded a coward in this severe test of nerve.

This it the kind of men that Choshu was up against. Although Kusaka's Corps of Loyalty and Bravery fought as ferociously as its name indicates, it was completely outnumber by the enemy. The other three Choshu divisions never even made it to the palace. The Battle At the Forbidden Gates which had begun at dawn, ended in disaster for Choshu on the same afternoon, as its entire army was forced to retreat, and having been branded an "Imperial Enemy" for firing on the palace gates, returned to Choshu in disgrace. The ill-fated countercoup resulted not only in the end of the movement to expel the foreigners from Japan, but also in the loss of over one hundred Loyalists' lives. Although the actual fighting ended in a matter of hours, Kyoto continued to bum for three days, as much of the city was consumed by flames.

• • *

"Ryoma, come out here quickly!" Kaishu called from the front of his house at Kobe headquarters shortly after sundown on the nineteenth of Jury.

Ryoma rushed out of the barrack next-door, alarmed by the impact of Kaishu's voice. "What is it, Sensei?" "Look!" Kaishu said, pointing toward the northeast. "Kyoto is burning!" "Damn it," Ryoma exclaimed. "Choshu's finally done it!" "My feelings exactly. But we have no time to stand here cursing. I must get to Osaka Castle to find out exactly what's happened. Prepare the Kanko Maru to sail. After I've taken care of business at the castle, I'll send for you to meet me. Until then, stay here."

Kaishu had recently become concerned for the safety of the ronin at his academy, particularly Ryoma's. Since the Ikedaya Incident, the Shinsengumi had been patrolling in and around Kobe. Although Ryoma had done nothing to provoke the authorities in Edo, Kaishu worried for the safety of his right-hand man, whose reputation as leader of dissident ronin had grown among Bakufu circles, both in Edo and Kyoto.

"I'm more worried for your safety, especially now that the fighting has broken out," Ryoma said when Kaishu mentioned his concern.

"I'll be fine. But 1 must say that I am worried what those fools in Edo Castle might be planning. Most of those potato-heads were never happy about my taking you in. They might use the fighting in Kyoto as an excuse to lake action against us." Kaishu had good reason to worry: his naval academy, which the Bakufu was officially sponsoring, was a haven for revolutionary min. And furthermore, two of his students, Kameyata and Kanema, had joined the Choshu rebels.

Upon landing at Osaka, Kaishu reported directly to the Tokugawa stronghold of Osaka Castle, only to find out what he had expected: not a single official in the entire city knew exactly what was happening in Kyoto. Left with no alternative, the navy commissioner took it upon himself to investigate the matter, but first sent word to Ryoma and Tora to meet him at the Teradaya in Fushimi on the morning of August first.

From the Teradaya, the three men traveled northward by riverboat to Kyoto. The city was badly burnt. As they traveled slowly up the Takasegawa, they were struck hard by the damage around them, the effect of which was intensified by the sweltering heat of the early afternoon not a cloud in the crystal blue sky. The fire, having raged for three straight days, had spread five miles from the Imperial Palace in the north to the southern extremities of the city, and over an area of one mile from east to west.

"It looks like Tosa has survived," Ryoma sneered, as they passed beneath Shijo Bridge, Tosa headquarters standing unscathed just beyond them on the left bank of the canal.

"The Hikone estate was saved, too," Tora said with contempt for this close Bakufu ally, whose troops had fought alongside Aizu and Satsuma.

The boat continued up the canal. Soon it passed Sanjo Bridge, and the Toranote Inn, Hanpeita's headquarters during his reign of terror. "I wonder if he's locked up in jail, or even alive," Ryoma agonized silently. Now they could see the black tile roof of the Ikedaya glistening in the sunlight This monument to the slaughter of their comrades had not been touched by the flames, and in spite of himself Ryoma felt a sudden chill in the pit of his stomach. This was the first time he had been in Kyoto since the slaughter two months before. "Kame," he muttered to himself.

"Just as I expected," Kaishu broke the hot silence, "the Choshu estate has been burnt down." Cinders were all that remained of Choshu "s Kyoto headquarters, which for the past four years had also served as headquarters of anti-Bakufu Loyalists in the city.

Soon the canal veered sharply to the right, where it merged with the Kamogawa. Here the three men landed, and went directly to an inn in the Sanbongi district, just three blocks south of the Imperial Palace, at the gates of which the fiercest fighting had taken place.

"I'm going to report to Nijo Castle, to find out exactly what has happened hero," Kaishu said, as the three men sat drinking cool barley tea in a room overlooking the Kamogawa. The air was humid, and on the grassy banks of the river they could see lines of small makeshift shacks built by the townspeople whose houses had been destroyed by the fire.

"Sensei," Ryoma said, "I don't know how to explain it, but I have a strange feeling that Katsura Kogoro is close by."

"Katsura?" Kaishu said, "The Choshu men have fled the city. I seriously doubt he's remained behind."

"I understand, but somehow I can't help but feel that he has." Ryoma took a sip of tea, squinted hard as he stared out the window at the river below, the green mountains looming in the distance. After a short silence, Ryoma said, "If he is here, I think I know where I can find him."

"Where?" Tora asked.

Ryoma stood up without answering.

"Are you going to look for him?" Tora asked,

"I must," Ryoma said. "That is, if you don't have any objections, Sensei," he said, in deference to Kaishu.

"Even if I did, I know I couldn't stop you," Kaishu said. "Do as you will Ryoma. Do as you will."

A lone ronin walked through the front gate of the Yoshidaya inn. "Is anyone here?" he shouted at the doorway. The door slid partially open, and an elderly woman eyed the stranger cautiously, nervously. He was tall, solidly built, and wore a thin black kimono, frayed badly along the lapels, collar and cuffs, the family crest just below both shoulders indiscernible from wear. His faded gray hakama was wrinkled and dusty, and at his left hip was only one sword, as if poverty had compelled him to sell the shorter blade. His hair was unkempt, his sweaty face streaked with grime. "Another ronin" the old woman thought. "Not to be trusted." After all, most of the ronin remaining in Kyoto were desperadoes who would not hesitate to kill to get what little money they could. "Or perhaps this is a Bakufu spy," she thought. "What do you want?" the old woman asked bluntly, frightened.

"My name is Saitani," the ronin said. "Saitani Umetaro, from Tosa." Then, whispering, "I've come to see Katsura Kogoro." "Who's there?" called a woman's voice from the dark corridor. "I'm looking for Katsura," Sakamoto Ryoma, alias Saitani Umetaro, continued to whisper. He had recently taken as an alias the name of his relatives, the proprietors of the Saitani enterprise in Kochi Castletown.

"Oh!" Ikumatsu gasped when she recognized Ryoma. "Come right in," she said in a bushed voice, leading him to a small room at the rear of the house. "Who's there?" came a voice from the other side of the screen door. "It's me," Ikumatsu said. "You have a visitor.'* "Who?"

"Saitani-san," the girl said. With so many houses having been destroyed by the fire, the inn was nearly filled, and Ikumatsu took this precaution, lest one of the guests should overhear her utter the real name of the notorious outlaw from Tosa.

"Saitani?" Katsura said calmly, taking hold of his long sword which he kept within teach at all times. "Come in." The door slid open. "Sakamoto-san," Katsura gasped in relief, albeit in a low, muffled voice. "Ikumatsu, bring sake."

Ryoma entered the room, closing the door behind him. "I'm glad to see you're safe," be whispered, grinning.
"Safe?" Katsura snickered. "With Choshu headquarters burnt down, this is the only place in the entire city where I can hide."

"I know. That's why I came."

"As you probably also know, Choshu has been declared an 'Imperial Enemy,' and all Choshu men have been banned from Kyoto. I can't even go outside without fear of arrest."

"You can't stay here either. Come with me to Kobe."

"No. I must remain in Kyoto to report to Choshu of the situation here."

"Do you have word of the casualties?" Ryoma asked.

"Yes. Ikumatsu's informed me. We lost about one hundred men. Kusaka and Kijima are both dead."

"Kusaka!" Ryoma gasped.

"Yes. They found his body in the grounds of the Takatsukasa mansion near the palace. He fought fiercely at the Sakaicho Gate, but was shot and apparently wounded badly. He died bravely, committing seppuku in the end."

"Damn it!" Ryoma cursed. "You must get away from here. The danger is too great, and Choshu needs you alive. Now more than ever. Please come with me to Kobe."

"I'll leave when the time is right." Katsura paused as he heard footsteps in the corridor. "Ikumatsu," he called out, "is that you?"

"Yes," the girl answered, slid open the door. She held a tray with two flasks of sake and cups.

"I don't feel like drinking now," Ryoma said. "I don't suppose you've heard about one of my men who was fighting under Kusaka's command. His name is Yasuoka Kanema, from Tosa."

"Yes, he's fled to Choshu with the others."

A look of relief covered Ryoma's face. "I think I'll have a drink," he said.

Shortly after, Ryoma got up to leave. "What are you going to do?" Katsura asked.

"I'll return to Kobe."

"Be careful. The streets are crawling with ronin-hunters."

"I'll be with Katsu-sensei. 1 doubt that even the ronin-hunters would try anything with the navy commissioner present."

Ryoma left the Yoshidaya, walked northward up the narrow cobblestone street, empty on this hot August afternoon. He turned left onto the main Marutamachi Road, which extended east and west across the city, along the south side of the Imperial Palace grounds. Homes of court nobles were located just to the north, on the opposite side of the high white earthen wall which stood parallel to the road; beyond them was the palace. Soon Ryoma reached Sakaicho Gate, closed and heavily guarded from within. Here Choshu Loyalists had fired on the Satsuma guard less than two weeks before and it was at this very gate that Kusaka Genzui had been shot. Just beyond were the charred remains of the mansion of the Takatsukasa family of court nobles, where Kusaka had taken his own life. But as entering the Imperial grounds was forbidden, Ryoma simply paused before the gate, his back to the road. "This is Sakamoto Ryoma speaking," he whispered, tears welling up inside his head. "Kusaka-san, if your spirit or those of any of the others that died here can hear me, please listen. I swear on my life that none of you will have died in vain. 1 vow to topple the Tokugawa Bakufu."

"Ryoma," a voice called from behind. Ryoma immediately reached for his sword, and turned around. "Katsu-sensei," he said, relieved.

"Gel in, Ryoma." Kaishu was sitting alone in a palanquin. "I wish you'd be more careful. The Shinsengumi are patrolling this city day and night."

"But I'm with you," Ryoma said, then climbed into the palanquin.

"Yes, you are, Ryoma. By the way, did you see Katsura?"

"Let's just say that he's safe for the time being." Ryoma avoided a direct answer in deference to Kaishu's official post.

"Then he's in Kyoto?"

"Yes."

"And what were you doing in front of the palace gate?" Kaishu asked.

"Promising to pay a debt to an old friend," Ryoma replied, drawing a strange look from his mentor.

"To whom?"

"Kusaka Genzui."

"Kusaka Genzui?"

"Yes. He committed seppuku back there. I just wanted him to know that we'd clean things up for him, that's all."

"Kusaka's dead," Kaishu sighed, slowly shaking his head. "Ryoma," he said in a low, sad voice, "are you going to topple the Bakufu?"

"What?" Ryoma started.

"Are you going to topple the Bakufu?" Kaishu repeated.

"Sensei, out of respect for you..."

"No need to hide your true thoughts," Kaishu interrupted. "The Bakufu has obviously won this battle. But the regime is old. It's been in power for over two and a half centuries. But being a direct retainer of the Shogun, 1 could never fight against him. So, Ryoma, it's up to you to do the job for me."

"Sensei, I..."

"Because if anyone can," Kaishu interrupted again, as if speaking to that part of himself that was also a part of Ryoma, "or should, you're the one."

Out of respect for the great man, Ryoma chose not to answer, and remained silent as the palanquin moved toward the small inn where Tora was waiting.

* * *

It seemed that one disaster always followed another for Choshu. In June, Great Britain, France, Holland and the United States had again informed Edo that unless their ships could be assured safe passage through Shimonoseki Strait they would bombard the Shimonoseki coast. Not only was Edo unable to control Choshu-which at that time had been planning the countercoup in Kyoto-but it secretly welcomed an attack. In fact, the Bakufu had even loaned maps of Japan to France, so that the foreigners could more easily punish the renegade clan.

Six months earlier, Katsura Kogoro's protege, Ito Shunsuke, and another Choshu man, Inoue Monta, had smuggled themselves out of Japan to sail to England, where it was their intention to learn as much about the West as possible, in order to better enable Choshu to expel the foreigners. When Ito and Inoue heard in London of the four nations' planned attack they returned immediately to Japan to ask the British consul in Yokohama for more time to persuade their clansmen of the folly of fighting the Westerners. Preferring diplomacy to war in Japan, the British were happy to oblige, and even provided the Choshu envoys with passage to their home domain.

The efforts of Ito and Inoue, however, were in vain. They returned to Yokohama with a message from their daimyo that he had no choice but to continue carrying out his policy of Expelling the Barbarians, as he had been thus ordered by both the Imperial Court and Bakufu in the previous year. The two Choshu envoys cunningly added that this was the only reason that their han had fired on the foreign ships in the first place, and that it was beyond the power of their daimyo to comply with the foreign demands without permission from Edo and Kyoto.

On the afternoon of August 5, the four-nation fleet, consisting of seventeen warships carrying a combined total of 288 cannon and over 5,000 troops, bombarded the Shimonoseki coast, destroying all the Choshu forts in a single day, before landing to easily overtake the 600 samurai defending the coast. On August 14, a peace treaty was signed between Choshu and the four nations.

Ironically, Choshu's unyielding anti-foreign sentiment led to the downfall of the anti-foreign movement. The completion of the peace treaty silenced once and for all the cries to expel the foreigners for the sake of the Emperor, for by agreeing to its terms Choshu automatically abandoned it xenophobic policy, and so its claim that it alone was the true champion of the Imperial Court. Rattier, from this time on Choshu would focus its energies on one great purpose: toppling the Tokugawa Bakufu. To this end, as Katsura and Takasugi had long ago foreseen, the foreigners, namely Great Britain, would play a crucial role: thus Choshu's sudden change in attitude toward the Westerners, at the expense of the Tokugawa. "Having beaten the Choshu people" Ernest Satow wrote, "we had come to like and respect them, while "g of dislike began to arise in our minds for the Tycoon's (Shogun's) people on account of their weakness and double-dealing, and from this time onwards I sympathized more and more with the daimyo party (Choshu and Satsuma), from whom the Tycoons government had always tried to keep us apart."

And so, by August 1864 Satsuma and Choshu, though bitter enemies, both enjoyed amicable relations with the British, relations which would prove invaluable in the turbulent years ahead. Through actual warfare with the West, these two leaders of the coming revolution finally realized the futility of trying to expel the foreigners by military means, a point which Sakamoto Ryoma had been trying to get across to his Loyalist comrades for the past several years.

If Ryoma and Kaishu were perplexed by the foreign bombardment of Shimonoseki, they were infuriated but not surprised at Edo's decision eight days later to issue a decree to twenty-one han to prepare their armies for a military expedition against Choshu. "Jumping on the bandwagon," Kaishu termed the decree when its news arrived at Kobe headquarters in mid-August. "I'm ashamed," Kaishu told Ryoma, "to represent a regime which would chastise fellow Japanese, when it should come to their aid in the face of foreign invasion. This is truly a disgrace to the nation." Ryoma, however, understood Kaishu's inability to act against Edo, and therefore kept his thoughts about the Bakufu to himself, whenever in the

presence of the great man.

The Bakufu now planned to use Choshu's recent misfortunes, including its present status as "Imperial Enemy," to strengthen its authority, which had been on the wane since the assassination of Ii Naosuke four years earlier, and had been very much in question one year before when Choshu was master of the imperial Court.

But in its attempt to regain its absolute authority of the past, Edo was losing the upper hand it had recently recaptured. First of all, a lack of consensus between the government ministers in Edo and Lord Yoshinobu, Inspector Genera! of the Forces Protecting the Emperor in Kyoto, delayed the expedition against Choshu. Yoshinobu, whose long stay in Kyoto gave him a better understanding of the situation there than that of his counterparts in Edo, took care not to disturb the delicate balance between the court and the various han. The ministers in Edo distrusted Yoshinobu, whom they mistakenly suspected of scheming with the court to wrest control of the political power for himself. Furthermore, some of the daimyo who had been ordered to take pan in the expedition had long sympathized with Choshu. Others preferred solving their own difficult financial straits to waging a costly war, which, if successful, would only strengthen the Bakufu at the expense of their respective domains.