The political activity of Somo-Shishi in the last days of Tokugawa Shogunate - The concept of Kondo Isami’s Ideology

• Main Authors: Kuo,Chieh-Yi, 郭介懿
• Other Authors: Ho,Szu-Shen
• Format: Others
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/42880173576118401976

碩士 === 輔仁大學 === 日本語文學系 === 97 === The Meiji Restoration was a turbulent era yet full of outstanding heroes. It was said that heroes were created by the trend of times. However, during the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate Era, not only the Samurais but also the master-less-samurais, wealthy farmers, and merchants participated actively in organizing a " Somo group" at this historical moment. This group was formed mostly by local civilians . Some of them chose to join the new government to fight in the Boshin War, and some of them chose to remain with the Tokugawa Shogunate. The past studies of Meiji Restoration mainly focused on the Tokugawa Shogunate and domains, or the battle between the Imperial and the Tokugawa Shogunate. Recently, some of the studies had switched the focus to the activities of the plebs. Nevertheless, these studies still tended to concentrate on fields of groups and people who were anti-Tokugawa Shogunate. On the other hand, the portion of the Tokugawa Shogunate's supporters were almost overlooked. The author had tired to discuss and analyze, via historial documents, the commissioner of the Shinsengumi, Kondo Isami, a Somo-Shishi(loyalist). This essay was consisted of 5 chapters and 17 sections. It first explained the motivation of study, reviewed other related studies, and then explain the methods used and the essay structure. In addition, the essay noted the politic background at the end of Tokugawa Shogunate. Through out Kondo Isami’s political activities, the essay tried to specify why Kondo Isami, an non-samurai, showed up in this historical stage and the reasons that he supported the Tokugawa Shogunate. In the analyzing process, the Author classified Kondo Isami into the Somo-Shishi category. He was in the center of the political society . Kondo Isami had the same ideal of Sonnojoi (Revere the Emperor and Expel the Barbarians) as the other Somo-Shishi. The author realized that Kondo Isami’s behavior , however, was differed from the other Somo-Shishi. This difference was not caused by the ideology of Sonnojoi,but was mainly due to Kondo Isami’s characteristics and political judgment.