Yamanami Keisuke, the man known as the “Conscience of the Shinsengumi”

Yamanami Keisuke, who served as vice-captain alongside Hijikata Toshizo. He was loved by many squad members, including Soji Okita, but met an unfortunate death by seppuku due to desertion. What happened to this cultured and gentle man?

The Shinsengumi had strict rules. They were called “Kyokuchu Hatto”. These were rules for governing the Shinsengumi. In particular, the five rules of “Do not turn your back on Bushido; Do not desertion from the bureau; Do not raise money on your own; Do not handle lawsuits on your own; Do not engage in private death battles” stipulated that violators must always commit seppuku. Many squad members were forced to commit seppuku or were purged because of this law. Yamanami Keisuke was one of those victims.

Yamanami was born in Sendai in 1833 as the son of a Sendai domain samurai. He was a master of swordsmanship, having received a license from Chiba Shusaku of Hokushin Itto-ryu. He was also skilled in jujutsu and studied Isami Kondo’s Tennen Rishin style. In the Shinsengumi, he could be called a homegrown member of the Shieikan.

His personality was gentle, and even in the vicinity of Mibu (Mibu), where the Shinsengumi barracks were located, Yamanami’s personality was well-regarded as a “good person.” The squad members also admired Yamanami.

However, Yamanami himself showed quite flashy behavior in scenes such as cracking down on unruly ronin in the Shinsengumi. He was not just a “kind” or “good-natured” squad member. In the early days of the Shinsengumi, he became vice-captain along with Hijikata Toshizo. And after the purge of Serizawa Kamo’s faction, he was promoted to the position of general.

He also did fall in love. He was said to have mutual affection with a woman named Akesato, who had been a prostitute. She was in a brothel in Shimabara, where Yamanami fell in love with her and paid for her to leave the brothel.

Akesato was a woman who possessed both good manners and education, to that point that could be said she was too good to work in a brothel. Even after becoming Yamanami’s wife she maintained an attitude that followed the manners of a samurai’s wife.

But then Yamanami suddenly left the Shinsengumi. There are several reasons for this but one theory is that there was a difference in ideology and position because Yamanami himself had a pro-royalist mindset. Another theory is that there was a conflict between him and Hijikata that surfaced and it is also said that the presence of Ito Kishitaro who joined the Shinsengumi later diminished Yamanami’s shadow. In addition it is said that he deserted in opposition to Kondo’s intention to use Nishi Honganji’s assembly hall as the Shinsengumi’s headquarters.

In any case Yamanami fled eastward. But he was caught by Okita Soji who pursued him when he arrived at Otsu. Okita had been close friends with him since their days at Shieikan like brothers. The captured Yamanami was sentenced to seppuku according to “Kyokuchu Hatto”. On February 23rd 1865 Yamanami committed seppuku with Okita as his second-in-command (kaishaku). Nagakura Shinpachi and others tried to let Yamanami escape.

Yamanami finished his last farewell with his wife Akesato thanks to Okita and Nagakura’s kindness and died peacefully. He lived for 32 years.

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