A long-requested dive into the ronin police force known as the Shinsengumi. Who were the members of this group, and how, despite their rather marginal role in the history of the 1860s, have they become one of the most famous organizations in Japanese history?
This week: Emperor Komei attempts to protect tradition in a nation beset by crisis. However, his efforts will be brought…
This week, the biography of one of the most unusual figures of Bakumatsu Japan: the peasant Matsuo Taseko, whose career…
This week, we’re wrapping up our look at Sakamoto Ryoma’s life and legacy to see how he was transformed from…
This week: Sakamoto Ryoma commits fully to the loyalist cause, but ends up on a turbulent journey that will take…
This week: the “short-lived” part of “the short-lived Ezo Republic” comes to fruition, and what is now Meiji Japan begins…
This week, we’ll cover the military campaigns of 1868. Edo will (surprisingly anticlimactically) fall, the north will rebel, and Matsudaira…
In early 1868, the armies of the loyalists and the Tokugawa bakufu will clash outside Kyoto. We’ll discuss the…
This week, we’ll move into the tumultuous events of 1863. Challenges foreign and domestic are going to upset the…
This week, we’ll move into the messy early/mid 1860s and look at the doomed attempt to bridge the gap…