Shinsengumi

The Shinsengumi was a self-appointed law-enforcing militia loyal to the Tokugawa shogunate that emerged in Kyoto during the Bakumatsu era of the 1860s. At its peak numbering around 300 members, it appeared at a turbulent time in the nation’s history. The whole feudal applecart was on the cusp of overturning following the arrival of Commodore Perry’s “black ships” on the horizon in 1854 seeking to break open Japan’s trade barriers after 300-years of self-imposed isolation. Meanwhile there were other internal ruptures within the social fabric, namely the breakaway anti-shogunate groups of the Choshu and Satsuma clans, keen to push the country into a new age.