The Shinsengumi: A Mini-Documentary on the Shogun’s Terror Squad

The Shinsengumi (新選組) was a special police force organized by the shōgunate during Japan’s Bakumatsu period in 1863. It survived for six years until its demise in 1869. It was founded to protect the shogun’s representatives in Kyoto at a time when a controversial imperial edict to exclude foreign trade from Japan had been made and the Chōshū clan had been forced from the imperial court. Under the battle cry of sonnō jōi (Revere the Emperor, Expel the Barbarians) there had been many assassinations of shōgunate supporters and representatives. As a result, the military government had to do something to protect them. Thus, the beginnings of the Shinsengumi was created.