The Commander and the Kihitei
On May 10, 1863, Choshu
began bombarding ships at Shinomoseki in accord with court and Bakufu
directives to expel Westerners. On June 5, French warships retaliated
and the han government hastily restored Takasugi to official capacity,
dispatching him to Shimonoseki to assist iin military countermeasures.
On 6/6, he arrived
and on 6/14 he organized 60 men from Kusaka Genzui's Komyoji Party and
other origins into the Kihitei, a Western-style rifle company.
The Kihitei*
Takasugi was in his
element. In a letter dated 6/28/56, Takasugi had written to his father
that someday he wished to become "a vanguard commander." As
commander, Takasugi announced that feudal rank would have no place in
the corps -- like Yoshida's Sonjuku. Rather, rank would be based on
merit and not precedent or lineage.
The Kihitei was "irregular"
in that samurai and commoners both comprised the militia. Of
the 292 members in 4/64, 43% were samurai, 33 percent commoners, and
24% of unknown origin. Of the 97 commoners, 36 were hunters incorporated
into the subordinate Sogekitai, 50 were yamabushi (priests of a sect
of nature worshippers with Shintoist overtones), 3 were townsmen, 1
was a fisherman, and only 7 were peasants. Of the 125 samurai, various
ranks were represented, including 12 ronin from other han.
Craig's summary of
accounts of perceptions of these irregular militia is varied. "The
Kiheitai is a gathering of crows...and if not governed with despotism,
military discipline cannot be established." Despite the motivations
behind some of these observations -- the leaders expected and emphasized
"the precepts of bushido, the instruction in the Confucian classics
given to samurai and commoner alike,"... "to mold the various
class components into a unified disciplined military."
Commoners, however,
were not simply free to join the militia. According to han regulation,
"peasants and merchants may be permitted to enter the shotai if
they have someone to take their place in farming or commerce."
Those who would be abandoning their families would be expelled from
the shotai. This was enforced by requiring each commoner recruit to
obtain a letter of clearance from his local official. Runaways were
not welcomed.
What motivated these
commoners to join? Potentially the ideology "Revere the Emperor"
appealed to the Shinto priests that had joined. Also the pay may have
been attractive. But Craig asserts that the majority joined to obtain
the symbols of the feudal class. These commoners received names, wore
swords, and could distinguish themselves as fighting men.
Even so, these men
were still commoners amongst samurai, but appeared to be generally proud
of their heritage. The Sogekitai, the unit of hunters subordinate to
the Kiheitai, sang "Don't miss the boars ravaging the country,
you Sogekitai" proudly.
*Additional info from
"Choshu in the Meiji Restoration", Albert M. Craig, Lexington
Books.
