Shinsenvember 9 - Fire

After the battle, there was the fire. It spread quickly, engulfing a good chunk of central Kyoto, including a southern portion of the Imperial estate. Days later, when the last flames were extinguished, twenty-eight thousand buildings had been destroyed.

No one had to point out the irony to Hijikata Toshizo. The Shinsengumi had raided the Ikedaya to thwart rebel plans to set fire to Kyoto. Then the Ikedaya raid had become one of the causes pushing the rebels on to war. It wasn't the Shinsengumi's fault that Kyoto had burned, but it seemed as though they had been caught up in the workings of a terrible and unstoppable fate.

Kondou's face was grey and drawn when he returned from his meeting with Aizu officials the second day after the battle. Hijikata had seen many expressions on his friend's face: joy, sorrow, worry, fear, but never that look of utter desolation. He rushed towards the other man, "What' s wrong, Kondou-san?"

Kondou shook his head. "Nothing's wrong. The fires aren't spreading any further. Forget about us warriors, Shinmon's fire brigade are the big heroes in this city."

"Course they are. They're from Edo," said Hijikata, with a local's pride. "Tell me more inside, though. You're not looking so well."

Kondou put his hand to his brow. "Am I not? All this smoke, I suppose … I'll get a drink of water first. Then I have some things to discuss with you and Sannan. Just the two of you."

When the three of them were settled privately inside, Kondou began with a piece of good news. The Shinsengumi's authority was indeed being expanded all the way to Osaka. They'd asked for the increased authority almost as soon as the fighting was over.

Despite these good tidings, Kondou still seemed strangely unsettled. He listened to Sannan's congratulations, then hung his head.

"You going to tell us what's wrong now, Kondou-san?" asked Hijikata bluntly.

Kondou looked up. "The prisoners at the Rokkaku were all executed yesterday."

"Fuck." Hijikata clenched his fist. "Why?"

"The governor of the prison feared the fire would overtake the prison, and the prisoners would escape. So he had every man dragged into the courtyard and beheaded."

"Did the fire actually reach the Rokkaku?" asked Sannan.

Kondou shook his head. "No. They were never in danger. He panicked."

"Or he just wanted to kill a bunch of Choshu bastards for himself," said Hijikata.

"They were prisoners, Toshi," Kondou replied sharply.

"Yeah I know. Our prisoners." The prisoners they had taken from the Ikedaya had been locked up there. "That man – Furutaka?"

Kondou nodded.

It was one thing to kill a man in battle. But Furutaka was the man Hijikata had tortured. He'd been desperate to live, so desperate he at last betrayed his companions' plans and location. And now he was dead, not because he'd been judged for his crimes, not at the hands of the warriors he'd faced, but dead from an incompetent official's panic or bloodlust.

"Fuck," was all Hijikata could say. It would have to be the man's epitaph.


Notes: The figures for the number of buildings destroyed in the fire are given in Donald Keene's biography of Emperor Meiji. This number included a lot of small shrines and temple buildings.

The massacre at the Rokkaku shocked nearly everyone. The official who perpetrated it was reprimanded at least. Am not certain what his full punishment was, but he certainly wasn't executed himself. The incident became yet another grudge for the Choshu and allied shishi to hold against their enemies.

Shinmon Tatsugoro, the legendary chief of one Edo's fire brigades was recruited by Hitotsubashi Keiki, aka the future last shogun, Yoshinobu, to bring his brigade to Kyoto as both muscle AND fire protection.