The Genius Swordsman “Soji Okita” Who Led the Shinsengumi with an Incurable Illness

Okita Soji is one of the most popular of the Shinsengumi members for his excellent swordsmanship and other skills. What was his life like as he ran through the end of the Edo period while suffering from an incurable illness?

Okita Soji was born in May 1844 at the Edo Shimoyashiki, the eldest son of Okita Katsujiro, a feudal lord of the Mutsu Shirakawa domain. When Soji was four years old, his father died, so the Okita family was succeeded by his sister-in-law Rintaro, and Soji became an stay-in disciple of Shuhei Kondo (later Isamu’s foster father) of the Tennen Rishin-ryu school at the age of nine. At the Shieikan, Soji is said to have been a better swordsman than Kondo, Hijikata, and others. He became a kaiden (master of the art of swordsmanship) at the age of 19, and even went so far as to teach as a master instructor, but Okita was a silent young man. He simply adored Kondo, and naturally followed Kondo’s lead in the formation of the roshigumi.

Okita’s true face was that of a young man with the innocence of a child who was well-liked by all. Among the Shinsengumi members who were feared as “Miburo-ro”(the group prior to Shinsengumi), Okita was probably the only one who was loved even by children. Okita also did fall in love. She was the daughter of a doctor in Kyoto. However, this love ended fruitlessly.

In the Shinsengumi, he was promoted from deputy assistant chief to captain of the first squad, and took the initiative in fighting the enemy (e.g., the Sonno Joi activists). However, Okita had an incurable disease, which was pulmonary tuberculosis. This disease had been secretly progressing in Okita’s body. It is said that he fainted after coughing blood during a sword fight with the enemy, while cutting his way into the Ikedaya Incident with Kondo.

Okita’s service as the first captain of the Shinsengumi lasted until the Battle of Toba-Fushimi. After this battle, in which the Shogunate forces were defeated by the Saccho forces (the new government army), Okita was unable to stand in battle due to his progressive illness. Okita was also unable to participate in the Koyo Chimbutai’s Katsunuma-Kashiwao War, the last battle of Kondo’s Shinsengumi. By this time, Okita had returned to Edo (now Tokyo), where he began to recover at the clinic of Matsumoto Ryojun, a government doctor. He began to live in a separate house owned by Shibata Heigoro, a gardener in Sendagaya, Edo. At the same time, Kondo, whom Okita admired, was captured and beheaded by the new government forces in Nagareyama, Shimousa. Okita is worried about Kondo, but he is unable to tell the truth to the people around him.

Okita eventually died a short and quiet death alone in a tree-planting house without being cared for by his acquaintances and friends. According to “Shinsengumi Shisatsuki” (lit. Records of Shinsengumi) by Hiroshi Komozawa and “Shinsengumi Kifu-roku” (lit. Record of Blood and Wind in the Shinsengumi) by Ryotaro Shiba, Okita had been trying to kill a black cat, but he ran out without being even able to kill it. On April 29, 1868 (Meiji 1), Okita fell into the futon with his hand on his beloved sword to slay a cat, saying “I can’t slay it,” but on the following day, April 30, he said to an old woman who was taking care of him, “That cat is probably here again today,” as if in a whisper and pulled his sword back to his side. He drew his sword and breathed his last that evening. Okita Soji was 25 years old.

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