Kawakami Gensai
| Kawakami Gensai | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
25 December 1834 Kumamoto, Higo Province, Japan |
| Died | 13 January 1872 (aged 37) Tokyo, Japan |
| Other names | Hitokiri |
| Organization | Ishin shishi |
Kawakami Gensai (河上 彦斎?, 25 December 1834 – 13 January 1872) was a Japanese samurai of the late Edo period. A highly skilled swordsman, he was one of the four most notable assassins of the Bakumatsu period. Gensai's high-speed sword discipline allowed him to assassinate targets in broad daylight.
Kawakami Gensai was born in Kumamoto in 1834, to Komori Sadasuke, a retainer of the daimyo of the Kumamoto Domain. Because Gensai's older brother Hanzaemon was chosen as the family's heir, at age 11 he was given in adoption to Kawakami Genbei (河上彦兵衛), another Kumamoto retainer. He then entered the domain's school, the Jishūkan (時習館), and followed its academic and martial courses of study. Given his later prowess, it is rather curious to note that during his martial training he apparently did not win many bouts. With regards to this he is said to have commented "Kenjutsu (swordsmanship) with bamboo shinai is nothing more than play." At age 16 he was called to serve in the Kumamoto castle town as a menial in charge of cleaning (Osōji-bōzu お掃除坊主). Although this was a low-level position, Gensai devoted himself wholeheartedly to it, using his free time to polish his martial and literary skills, as well as learn sadō (tea ceremony) and ikebana (flower arrangement). It was at this time that he met two men who would later be important in the activities of the ishin shishi: Todoroki Buhei and Miyabe Teizō. Thanks to his discussions with them, he took a serious interest in the concept of kinnō (勤王), or imperial loyalty.
In 1851, he joined the Kumamoto lord Hosokawa Narimori and went to Edo for his lord's sankin-kōtai rotation. It was during his service to the lord in Edo that Commodore Perry arrived in 1853. As the shogunate subsequently entered into a series of increasingly unfair unequal treaties, Gensai left Edo in anger and returned to Kumamoto, where he entered the Gendōkan academy of the kinnō scholar Hayashi Ōen. After a thorough schooling in Ōen's kinnō philosophy, Gensai returned to Edo.
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