Kondō Isami: From His Last Camp at Nagareyama to Itabashi

Kondō Isami was born in 1834 as the third son of a farming family in Kamiishihara village, Musashi Province, in what is now Chōfu. The life later associated with the Shinsengumi’s command in Kyoto began in a village in Tama, before that organization and its familiar image existed.

The swordsmanship tradition he studied was Tennen Rishin-ryū. He became Kondō Shūsuke’s adopted son and later succeeded as a fourth-generation teacher. A person born into a farming household thus came to inherit a place in a swordsmanship household. This change preceded the formation of the Shinsengumi.

The document recording Kondō’s adoption survives as a designated cultural property of Chōfu. The heir to a swordsmanship tradition and the person born in a rural household are parts of the same life. Such surviving material offers a way to follow the relationship between those two settings.

Before he went to Kyoto, Kondō already had companions and supporters connected through practice. Places where swordsmanship was taught also brought him into contact with people who would later support the unit. His subsequent activities therefore rested partly on relationships formed before his better-known work as commander.

In 1863 Kondō and his companions joined the Rōshigumi, recruited to guard the shogun during his journey to Kyoto. They traveled to the city and later separated from those who returned to Edo. Kondō’s group remained in Kyoto, where its work developed in a new setting.

Placed under the charge of the Aizu domain, the Shinsengumi undertook security duties in the city. Through activities including the Ikedaya Incident, Kondō became known as its commander. The work of a man associated with Tama’s swordsmanship venues had expanded into the streets and political circumstances of Kyoto.

In 1867 he entered the shogunate’s service as a retainer. After that change in status came the return of governing authority and the restoration of imperial rule, followed by armed conflict between the former shogunate’s supporters and the new government. The unit’s circumstances changed again within that sequence.

The titles and duties acquired in Kyoto did not by themselves guarantee a footing in the next conflict. A unit that had undertaken urban security work now had to move and reorganize amid war. Its later history therefore needs to be followed beyond the city where it became famous.

On the way to Kōfu, the Kōyō Chinbutai fought the new government’s forces at Katsunuma and was defeated. Kondō’s men withdrew toward Edo once more. The unit organized after the return from Kyoto had again been forced to change direction, leaving the problem of what it could do next.

After defeat came the task of restoring a unit capable of acting. Scattered men had to be gathered, places to stay secured and preparations made for a further move. Time was spent on this work before the group entered Nagareyama, where the last camp is usually remembered.

Documents preserved by the Kaneko family at Gohē Shinden provide a more concrete view of these movements. Nagareyama City explains that their discovery led to a reconsideration of the unit’s stay and travels. The surviving record changed how the period before the final camp could be understood.

Looking at Nagareyama alone would leave this earlier reorganization out of the picture. Attention therefore needs to turn to Gohē Shinden, the village where Kondō’s men were gathering. The practical history of rebuilding a group belongs alongside the later account of its commander’s capture.

The unit entered Nagareyama on the second day of the fourth month of Keiō 4. The next day, the third, it was surrounded by the new government’s forces. Only shortly after moving into the town, Kondō and his companions faced another situation requiring a response.

An earlier understanding that the group had stayed in Nagareyama for about two weeks was reconsidered after the discovery of documentary evidence. The much shorter stay makes a substantial difference when considering the last camp. Time spent reorganizing beforehand should not be transferred into an extended occupation of Nagareyama.

Nagareyama City explains that a brewing household served as headquarters and that members were also lodged at places including temples. Names attached to the headquarters site differ between guides and reports of research. The common description of a brewing household can be retained while leaving such details qualified.

Why was Nagareyama chosen? The city’s explanation of the camp site explicitly says that the reason is not well understood. A more precise account of when the unit arrived does not automatically establish a single motive for choosing the place. The chronology and the explanation of intention remain different questions.

The new government’s forces had established headquarters at Itabashi post town. Captured at Nagareyama, Kondō was sent there. Itabashi’s guide explains that he was confined at the secondary official lodging in Hirao-juku until his execution, giving a specific place of detention within the larger post-town setting.

He was executed on the twenty-fifth day of the fourth month of Keiō 4, in the old calendar. After returning from Kyoto to Edo, suffering defeat at Katsunuma, reorganizing the unit and moving to Nagareyama, Kondō’s life ended at Itabashi. These successive places belong to different stages of the final period.

A tomb associated with Kondō now stands outside the east exit of Itabashi Station. The address in the guide is Takinogawa, Kita Ward. Visiting that tomb and tracing the detention site or the place of execution concern distinct locations; the name Itabashi should not collapse them into one point.

The explanations establish a movement from Nagareyama to Itabashi. They do not determine every road or ferry crossing used along the way. The commander’s final period becomes clearer by following places that can be supported individually, while leaving an exact itinerary unfilled where the evidence used here does not provide one.

Born into a farming household at Kamiishihara, Kondō inherited a place in a swordsmanship household and formed relationships through Tama’s practice venues. Before the departure for Kyoto and the role of commander came connections with people and land that continued into his later life.

After the return to Edo came the attempt to reach Kōfu, defeat at Katsunuma, reorganization at Gohē Shinden and the brief camp at Nagareyama. The last stage of the military story also intersects with village life: people had to provide food and places to sleep for the gathered unit.

Tradition and uncertainty remain around what Kondō thought when he presented himself to the opposing side. The sequence can nevertheless be followed through distinct places and dates: arrival at Nagareyama on the second day of the fourth month, appearance on the third, transfer to Itabashi and execution on the twenty-fifth, all in the old calendar.

The familiar commander in Kyoto can lead attention onward to this later journey. Reading Nagareyama and Itabashi separately, with the reorganization and regional support that preceded them, gives more people a place in Kondō Isami’s final history. A single memorable scene cannot contain all of those connected experiences.