Shinsengumi/Japanese History Information Repository (Recommendations?)

[rii_no_ame]

Wow, that's a hideous title for a post.  Anyway...

I know that, for a lot of people in this community, loving Hakuouki goes hand-in-hand with an interest in, or a desire to learn about, the shinsengumi in particular and Japanese history in general.  Maybe you tuned in to Hakuouki and now you'd like to find out more about the historical Shinsengumi,

Comments

[manaika]

From personal expierience I know, that the best solution is, to send a PM to tokio_fujita (easily found through the members of our affiliate community) and/or to read/browse through her journal (I do that always. Actually for the last shot I posted I needed to ask her 5 questions - she answered immediately and had absolutely no problems with it...and they were pretty dumb questions, mind you

[theablackthorn]

I have a few recommendations.

These ones mostly concern Japanese Swordsmanship and the spirituality surrounding it around that period in history.

Mushashi's Go Rin (Book of Five Rings) by Mushashi Miyamoto translated by William Scott Wilson
The Life Giving Sword by Munenori Yagyu translated by William Scott Wilson
The Unfettered Mind by Takouan Soho translated by William Scott Wilson
Hagakure by Tsunetomo Yamamoto Translated by William Scott Wilson
Yojokun by Ikiken Kaibara translated by William Scott Wilson

Also if you google the "Bakufu" you will get some information on the officials of the shogunate.
Wikipedia has some interesting info if searching "shinsengumi."

Factual Animation:
Musashi - tells of the development of Musashi Miyamoto's development of his sword style.

There are some more but these are the ones that came to mind first.

[nurissa]

I initially got interested in Japanese history initially through Rurouni Kenshin, mainly the late Edo period/Bakumatsu, and it was more the history that attracted me to Hakuouki than anything, though the art is a definite plus. As far as books, I can recommend one book I read recently. As far as I know, it's one of the only English language books available about the Shinsengumi. I would recommend it as it shows how bloody the era really was, because Hakuouki gives it a romantic feel.

The book is called Shinsengumi: The Shogun's Last Samurai Corps. I found it to be a good reference, but I would love to know about any other books on the Shinsengumi or the Tokugawa Shogunate or general information on the Edo period. ^_^

[mirien]

Another fantastic idea! These are off the top of my head, I'll probably keep popping back and adding stuff!

- Hijikata Toshizo museum: http://www.mustlovejapan.com/subject/hijikata_toshizo_shiryokan/

- The classic Shinsengumi reference work (not sure how I feel about this book, but it should be included, I think): Shinsengumi: The Shogun's Last Samurai Corps.

- Really informative website: http://shinsengumi-no-makoto.net/

- Another really great website on everything to do with the samurai! Banners, culture, battles, crests, you name it, it's there: http://www.samurai-archives.com/http://www.samurai-archives.com/

[arclights]

Thirding the Shinsengumi rec, as well Samurai Tales -- both by Romulus Hillsborough. I haven't read his Sakamoto book, but I imagine it's probably quite informative as well. Personally, I think Hillsborough is a bit of a smug douchecopter as far as his writing goes -- kind of ... idk, sneering and condescending in tone at times and a little too pleased with his own cleverness in others but it's so much of what you have to work with if you don't moonspeak. Samurai Tales is pretty interesting; they're definitely expanded upon, but each is based on historical events.

Uhm. Oh! Dan Luffey translated the first volume of Moeyo Ken by Shiba Ryoutarou, which is kind of ... the definitive Shinsengumi novel, as far as Japanese novels about the Shinsengumi go. It is a merging of fact and fiction, yes, but with a pretty heavy emphasis on the history part of it -- furthermore, a lot of the authors who use the Shinsengumi in their work (Peacemaker, Kenshin, Gintama etc) mention it as a reference that they used, so uh, there's that. (Warning

[mirien]

Thanks for the link to the Moeyo Ken translation! Looking forward to reading that. Despite Hakuouki Hijikata being my favourite, I'm well aware he wasn't like that in real life, so I'm really interested in this. What a shame he's not going to translate the rest :(

I absolutely agree with you about Romulus Hillsborough too. I'm not all that keen on his writing or his attitude, I wish he wasn't pretty much all we've got of that kind of book.

[arclights]

Oh my god, I was so excited when I came across it; seriously I was all over that from the moment Watanuki mentioned it as being his bible when dealing with the Shinsengumi in Kenshin back in like ... jesus, 2000? FOREVER AGO, and yeah, the lack of it sucked. But then this happened and I was ecstatic. I really dearly wish there was something to be done that could convince him, but ... life and stuff, it's a pain in the ass. I'm sure dollars would do it, but dollars are sort of elusive. This is what I get for not sticking with that Japanese major

I'm kinda torn between PM!Hiji and Haku!Hiji, myself, but probably leaning towards Hakuouki because I adore how ... painfully human he is. I get that the boys are going to get nice'd up since, y'know, dating sim thing but they miss a lot of good stuff in sweeping out the bad. Moeyo Hijikata is fucking glorious, a total egocentric ass at times but full of tactical prowess and cunning and cold-blooded dedication that tends to get overlooked. Kondou gets shafted in Hakuouki in comparison