OKITA

In the early summer of 1868, a young man lay dying of tuberculosis in a borrowed room on the edge of Edo. Again and again, he asked for news of his teacher, Kondō Isami. No one could bring themselves to tell him that Kondō had been executed a month before.

The young man was Okita Sōji, the most feared swordsman of the Shinsengumi, the special police force that hunted the shogun's enemies in the streets of Kyoto.

He had come to Kondō's sword school as a fatherless boy of nine and grown up there, the best swordsman in the school. When Kondō and Hijikata Toshizō went to Kyoto in 1863, he went with them. He laughed and played tag with the village children of Mibu, and he killed in the city's streets. He went into the Ikedaya inn with Kondō on the night of the famous raid. Then tuberculosis took him out of the fight, and he was left behind as the others marched to their last battles.

Told as a narrative history from beginning to end, with a cast of characters, a map, and a travel guide to the places you can still visit today, this book says plainly what the records show, what historians still debate, and which famous stories are only legends — including the blood at Ikedaya and the black cat in Sendagaya.

Inside, you'll find:

A fatherless boy, and the country sword school that became his home
Kondō, Hijikata, and the young men of the Shieikan
To Kyoto, the birth of the Shinsengumi, and the killing of Serizawa
The laughing captain of Mibu, and the Shinsengumi's deadly rules
The night of the Ikedaya raid
Yamanami Keisuke's escape and death
Tuberculosis, the shogun's doctor, and the end of the shogunate
The last battles without him, and the death of Kondō
A borrowed room in Sendagaya, and how a sturdy, cheerful young man became a pale, beautiful legend
A guide to visiting the places in this story today, from Tokyo and Hino to Mibu and the Ikedaya site in Kyoto
If you want the pale genius of the anime, this is not your book. If you want the real story of the boy from the Shieikan, turn the page and meet the real Okita.