The was a special police force created by the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

during the late Bakumatsu period to restore public order to

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

History

In the unsettled period after the ending of the national isolation policy, the political situation in Japan became increasingly chaotic. Anti-government and anti-foreign

rōnin In feudal Japan to early modern Japan (1185–1868), a ''rōnin'' ( ; , , 'drifter' or 'wandering man', ) was a samurai who had no lord or master and in some cases, had also severed all links with his family or clan. A samurai became a ''rō ...

congregated on the old imperial capital of Kyoto, and many of the ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and no ...

s'' from the western feudal domains also established residences in Kyoto in an attempt to exert influence on the Imperial Court to pressure the shogunate towards the ''

sonnō jōi was a '' yojijukugo'' (four-character compound) phrase used as the rallying cry and slogan of a political movement in Japan in the 1850s and 1860s, during the Bakumatsu period. Based on Neo-Confucianism and Japanese nativism, the movement sou ...

'' movement ("Revere the Emperor, Expel the Barbarians") against the foreign powers.

Establishment

In 1864, the '' Kyoto Shugoshoku'' Matsudaira Katamori authorized the establishment of a militia of approximately 200

samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...

formed into two companies under the command of Maita Hirotaka and Matsudaira Yasutada to restore public order to Kyoto. The two companies took their names from the courtesy titles of their commanders: the ''Sagami-no-kami-gumi'' and the ''Izumo-no-kami-gumi''. The headquarters for the force was

Nijō Castle is a flatland Japanese castle, castle in Kyoto, Japan. The castle consists of two concentric rings (Kuruwa) of fortifications, the Ninomaru Palace, the ruins of the Honmaru Palace, various support buildings and several gardens. The surface area ...

in Kyoto. The purpose of the Mimawarigumi was very similar to that of much more famous '' Shinsengumi.'' The Mimawarigumi was composed entirely of higher-ranking ''samurai'' and sons of ''

hatamoto A was a high ranking samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate of feudal Japan. While all three of the Shōgun, shogunates in History of Japan, Japanese history had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred ...

-''class retainers, all of whom were direct retainers to the Tokugawa Shogunate, predominantly through the Hoshina-Matsudaira clan of the

Aizu domain was a Han (Japan), domain of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1601 to 1871.Ravina, Mark. (1998) ''Land and Lordship in Early Modern Japan,'' p. 222 The Aizu Domain was based at Aizuwakamatsu Castle, Tsuruga Castle in M ...

, as opposed to the ''rōnin''-based ''Shinsengumi''.Jansen, Marius. (1994). Indicative of this difference in status, the Mimawarigumi was assigned primarily to protect the

Kyoto Imperial Palace The is the former palace of the Emperor of Japan, located in Kamigyō-ku, Kyoto, Japan. Since the Meiji Restoration in 1869, the Emperors have resided at the Tokyo Imperial Palace, while the preservation of the Kyoto Imperial Palace was ordered ...

and area around Nijo Castle, whereas the Shinsengumi was assigned to the Gion entertainment district and areas of the commoners and shopkeepers.

Boshin War

In January 1868, the Mimawarigumi moved to

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

and stationed at Honkakuji Temple. On January 8, 1868, the Mimawarigumi was renamed to Shin Yūgekitai (新遊撃隊), but later on January 19, only to rename back to Mimawarigumi. In the Battle of Toba-Fushimi of the

Boshin War The , sometimes known as the Japanese Revolution or Japanese Civil War, was a civil war in Japan fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and a coalition seeking to seize political power in the name of the Impe ...

, they engaged with the

Satsuma Domain The , briefly known as the , was a Han system, domain (''han'') of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1600 to 1871. The Satsuma Domain was based at Kagoshima Castle in Satsuma Province, the core of the modern city of ...

forces at the Toba Highway. However they were not equipped with firearms, struggled and retreated with other Shogunate forces. Later, They engaged in a battle near Hashimoto. However during the battle, Sasaki Tadasaburō, who was the leader of the unit, was fatally injured and died a few days later. The Mimawarigumi retreated back to Osaka to regroup with other Shogunate forces by January 31, 1868.

Disbandment

However in the evening,

Tokugawa Yoshinobu Kazoku, Prince was the 15th and last ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan. He was part of a movement which aimed to reform the aging shogunate, but was ultimately unsuccessful. He resigned his position as shogun in late 1867, while ai ...

, accompanied by the ''daimyōs'' of Aizu and Kuwana, slipped away from

Osaka Castle is a Japanese castle in Chūō-ku, Osaka, Chūō-ku, Osaka, Japan. The castle is one of Japan's most famous landmarks and played a major role in the unification of Japan during the sixteenth century of the Azuchi–Momoyama period. Layout Th ...

and headed to Edo. When the remnants of the forces learned that the Shōgun had abandoned them, they departed as well. The Mimawarigumi first moved to Kishū by foot, and sailed back to Edo, where they were tasked to defend the

Edo Castle is a flatland castle that was built in 1457 by Ōta Dōkan in Edo, Toshima District, Musashi Province. In modern times it is part of the Tokyo Imperial Palace in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is therefore also known as . Tokugawa Ieyasu established th ...

. On April 10, 1868, the Mimawarigumi was renamed to Sogekitai (狙撃隊), but on the following day the Tokugawa surrendered to the new Meiji government. In June, the Meiji government decided to move the Tokugawa family to the Sunpu Castle in Suruga (present day Shizuoka). However, many of the Sogekitai members were not allowed to move to Suruga, and the unit was disbanded. Even after their unit's disbandment, Imai Nobuo and others would continue to fight alongside the Shogunate remnants of the forces against the Imperial Army. They eventually surrendered by the end of the Battle of Hakodate, the last battle of the Boshin War. In 1870 Imai Nobuo, a former member of the Mimawarigumi confessed to a Military Judiciary Panel that he and other Mimawarigumi members, including Sasaki Tadasaburō had assassinated Sakamoto Ryōma in 1867, although the veracity of his confession remains a matter of historical debate.

Notes

References

* Hillsborough, Romulus. ''Shinsengumi: The Shogun's Last Samurai Corps'', Tuttle Publishing (2005) {{ISBN, 0-8048-3627-2 * Jansen, Marius B. (1961). ''Sakamoto Ryoma and the Meiji Restoration.'' Princeton: Princeton University Press
OCLC 413111
Japanese warriors Meiji Restoration Law enforcement in Japan