Saito Hajime

Captain of the Shinsengumi

Saito Hajime, Captain of the Shinsengumi, 3rd Unit died on this day, September 28, 1915.

Saito Hajime was born on February 18, 1844 in Edo (Tokyo), the third child of Yamaguchi Usuke, a low-ranking ashigaru vassal serving the Tokugawa affiliated 1,000 koku hatamoto ranked Suzuki clan.  At the age of 18 or 19, Saito Hajime had an argument with a hatamoto (an upper vassal of the Tokugawa) at the Koishikawa Sekiguchi checkpoint in Edo and cut him down. He then fled to Kyoto and went into hiding with a certain swordsmith and dojo operator by the name of Yoshida, a friend of his fathers’, and served as the head instructor of the Yoshida Dojo.