To Make a Shinsengumi
The annals of Kajiwara Daihachiro Shigetomo
Chapter one
As soon as I turned thirteen I knew what I wanted. A member of the Shinsengumi! How heroic they looked in their light blue and white Haori jackets and headbands. It had taken me years to realize it but this was my life's calling, to be a swordsman. On the eve of my sixteenth birthday I went to the Shinsengumi head quarters and spoke with the commander, Kondo Isami, he said that the Shinsengumi was always looking for new recruits and they would be honored to have me join their ranks. I was not the only new recruit; there were several other boys my age that were competing to become members of one of the ten squads.
To be in any of the squads was an honor in itself but to be in one of the first three was especially honorable. To serve under what were supposedly the three greatest men in Tokugawa history Okita Soji, Nagakura Shinpachi and Saito Hajime. Believe it or not Soji was only two years older than me but he was considered to be one of the three greatest swordsmen in the Shinsengumi, possibly even the best. I wanted to either become a member of his squad or of Saito-sama's; either would have suited me since I looked up to both of these great men. I had come from a small samurai family where I was the only son. I have a sister named Katsu, she is ten now.
Seeing as my family barely had any money we didn't have a very good family sword, it was a relic passed down from the Sengoku era so it was pretty beat up and most of the other boys laughed at me for even showing it in the presence of full members of the Shinsengumi. Then one day a miracle happened, I was training in the hall with the other boys when suddenly the vice commander, Hijikata Toshizo, entered and requested to speak to me. "Shige-chan, I want you to go into town and pick something up for me". "Of course Hijikata-sama," was my response, "I shall do it immediately". "Very good, run into town and pick up my new sword from the smith and in gratitude as well as recognition of your skill young one, you may have this", and with those words he drew from the sheath at his side the most beautiful sword I had ever seen, an Izuminokami-Kanesada.
I rushed out of the headquarters towards the smith that Hijikata-sama had instructed me to go to. I arrived at the smith and found that he had already been paid for the sword, this came as a relief to me seeing as I had forgotten that I might have to pay for the sword. With the sword in hand I ran as fast as my legs would carry me back to the training hall and presented the new sword, a Nagasone Kotetsu to Hijikata-sama. He thanked me dearly and rewarded me promptly with my new sword. It was on that day that I was also assigned to the third squad under Saito-sama, my dream had become a reality, and I was a member of the Shinsengumi.
It was then that we received our orders, a group of revolutionaries from the Choshu clan were having a meeting at an inn called Ikeda-ya. We were to eliminate them before they could carry out their plan to set Kyoto aflame, but one thing we were told to be wary of, supposedly the recent string of assassinations of important shogunate figures along with other members of the Shinsengumi were thought to be linked to one exceptionally skilled hitokiri. We did not think he would be present at the meeting but were told to be wary anyway. As our attack on the Ikeda-ya went underway we began to face problems, members of our squad were getting cornered by the Ishin-shishi and were cut of from the main unit. Then he showed up, I was fighting with one of the groups that had been cut off from the main group and suddenly we were ambushed by the hitokiri. As I stepped to the left of the incoming blow from his blade I slashed to the right side of his neck, which was parried by the hitokiri's blade.
Never had I seen a man who wielded a sword as this man, even with my knowledge of Tennen Rishin-ryu taught to me by Hijikata-sama himself, I could not find a weakness in his technique. I was fighting with all of my skill but this man, my opponent, seemed not even to break a sweat as he skillfully dodged and parried blow after blow. Finally when I though if the fight continued that I would collapse from exhaustion a man charged at the hitokiri from behind with a great shout. It was Saito-sama! Surely he would be able to kill this assassin, but then after only striking a few blows which were easily parried on both sides of the conflict, the hitokiri turned and ran.
Chapter Two
I was after the hitokiri in a flash. "Wait", shouted Saito, "You are no match for him". I didn't listen, my pride as a member of the Shinsengumi would not allow me to submit to a nameless hitokiri. I chased him down Side Street after Side Street until I couldn't keep up with him any longer and finally collapsed from lack of strength. When Saito finally caught up with me he said "You are lucky Shigetomo, that was the infamous Hitokiri Battousai that was you're opponent". I was sighing and gasping for breath, until I finally found enough strength to rise to my feet. When Saito escorted me back to our victory at the Ikeda-ya we returned home to the training hall, and removed our blood stained uniforms to change into clean ones. "That was impressive Shigetomo", said Saito, "To fight that infamous assassin and come out alive shows exceptional fighting prowess".
I have never considered myself a lucky person but when I heard that it was Hitokiri Battousai who was my opponent I couldn't help but have a feeling of luck. "So I think I will teach you something that only I know Shige-chan, this combined with your knowledge of Tennen Rishen-Ryu will help you to defeat the Battousai should you face him again". My eyes widened, surely Saito-sama could not mean his special move the Gatotsu. The Gatotsu is a single left handed Hirazuki technique that only Saito had mastered; the move was developed from Hijikata-sama's Hirazuki which has been taught to each member of the Shinsengumi. "Follow me Shigetomo", Saito commanded, as we walked to the hall, we replaced our real swords for bokuto and stood at opposite ends of the hall. With a slight smirk Saito shifted the wooden sword to his left hand and drew the hilt back to his shoulder while placing his right hand on the tip of the blade.
I was right, it was the Gatotsu. I barely had any chance to react, as suddenly, as if shot from a gun Saito launched himself across the room towards me. Before I had a chance to even raise my sword Saito's thrust knocked into my shoulder and sent me backwards into the wall. As I rose to my feet Saito commanded that we continue until I was able to either block or dodge the Gatotsu, only then would I be fast enough to perform it. So after repeatedly being struck repeatedly I finally stood up and raised my bokuto to a defensive stance, It was then that something amazing happened, I thought that I was able to see where Saito's blade would land before he even moved. Then, he threw himself at me with an amazing speed and his blade went exactly where I had seen it. Putting my bokuto to the side I was able to deflect the Gatotsu, and then I spun around and sent a counter blow to Saito's right abdomen.
"Excellent", said Saito, "Now I shall teach you the other forms". And with that he took the basic Gatotsu stance only this time lowered the tip of the wooden sword just a little. Yet as before my developing sixth sense which belongs to all adept swordsmen allowed me to predict the motion of his sword, so as he launched himself into the charge I was able to take a leap up into the air avoiding the stab, but then Saito immediately shot his bokuto up into the air as though he knew I would jump. I had forgotten, Saito was a far more experienced swordsman that I was, his sixth sense was more developed.
As the bokuto approached me time seemed to slow down. I felt my body move without even being instructed to. I bent instinctively and his bokuto narrowly missed my chest, but again Saito had read my move and implemented the secret of his famed Gatotsu. I could barely move to avoid the side-slash in time, but somehow I managed it and rolled to Saito's right. "Very good Shigetomo, you no longer deserve to be called Shige-chan after avoid both the Gatotsu and side-slash". "I shall call you Shige-kun from now on", and with that recognition I had gained the trust of one of the strongest people in the world.
"There are actually four forms to the Gatotsu, Shigetomo, you have only seen two of them and if you hope to defeat the Battousai that will not be enough". Then the training truly began as Saito showed me the next form which had not been shown to me previously. The form which I had not seen was called Gatotsu-nishiki, a downward thrust against opponents coming from below, and then Saito instructed me in his secret move, Gatotsu-Zeroshiki. It is a move that utilizes the destructive power of the Gatotsu without implementing the charge, and it took a real long time to learn.
Chapter Three
It was not until the next year give or take a few months that I encountered the Battousai again, after I heard what had happened to him after he disappeared I knew that he had fallen in love with a girl named Yukishiro Tomoe. However, she had been killed by him after jumping between him and one of the ninjas hired by the shogunate to eliminate him. The Battousai had spent many idle months in Otsu province and had let his skills become lax, while I had been training relentlessly in Tennen Rishen-Ryu; also I had secretly perfected the knowledge of the Gatotsu that I had learned from Saito-sama. Also during these months I had proven myself after crippling movement after movement by the Ishin Shishi and had been promoted to a lieutenant of the third squad, directly under Saito-sama. I had given much honor to my family by becoming a great samurai, whose name would be passed down through history.
One night while we chased down a small group of patriots a lone man stepped in front of us barring our way, "Leave them alone, turn back the way you came or die", it was Battousai we realized once we lifted our lanterns. "At last Battousai, we meet again", was my reply to his statement, "Do you even remember me?" Without changing his expression the Battousai slowly reached for his sword, I could read it in his eyes; he regretted having left me alive that night. This time was different, I was no longer a fledgling swordsman, and my technique was equal to that of Saito's. We both drew our blades and were on each other in a flash, blow after blow, and slash after slash I had been matching the Battousai, who by this point had regained his skill, during a break in the fight I assumed the stance for Gatotsu. My Gatotsu had surpassed even Saito's at this point, the Battousai's death was assured; I sprang my legs with all my strength and shot my blade towards his chest.
As I expected he dodged this almost without effort, but he had not seen the side-slash that could accompany it, this victory was mine; I would surely receive a handsome reward for being the one to kill the infamous Hitokiri Battousai. Then he managed to avoid the side-slash which surprised me, and caught me off guard. What the Battousai didn't know is that I had done extensive research on ancient sword styles during his absence and had found his, the legendary Hiten Mitsurugi-Ryu, I had studied every known aspect of it and as soon as the Battousai's body left the ground I knew what his plan was.
He could use one of two possible techniques, one a variation of the other, the Ryutsuisen which would send a slash down on either my head or shoulders, or the Ryutsuisen-zan which instead of a slash would be a stab. I was prepared for both, once he fell within range I attacked with the Gatotsu Sanshiki to stab upwards into him. He rolled to the side as he fell and when he landed he charged me with a battoujutsu, which I immediately countered with a Gatotsu. We ended up on opposite sides of each other and when we turned to see if we were successful in dealing the killing blow we realized that all each of us had done was to cut the others kimono.
It was then that we each acknowledged the skill of the other with a nod. We turned and walked back the ways we had come, I ordered my squad to return to the headquarters and I turned watching the Battousai walk off into the night. I closed my eyes and smirked, I had not shown him my Gatotsu Zeroshiki.
To Be Continued…