Ando Hayataro — The Shinsengumi's Record-Breaking Archer
One member of the Shinsengumi held a national archery record. Andō Hayatarō, who sent 8,685 arrows down the corridor of the Tōdai-ji Great Buddha Hall.
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Who Was Ando Hayataro?
Andō was an assistant vice-commander of the Shinsengumi.
He was a former retainer of the Koromo domain in Mikawa province, now Toyota in Aichi. His birth is placed around 1816.
He died on 23 August 1864 of wounds taken at the Ikedaya Incident.
He was very old for the corps. The Aizu domain's compiled member roster lists him as "of Mikawa" and "forty years old" — roughly eighteen years Kondo Isami's senior.
Ando Hayataro's Record
His real discipline was the bow.
While in Edo with his father on official duty he studied the Ishidō Chikurin line under Toda Ichirōbei; back home in Koromo he learned the Ōshin school from Takagi Ōshinsai.
Then, in 1842, he attempted the tōshiya at the west corridor of the Tōdai-ji Great Buddha Hall.
He sent 8,685 of 11,500 arrows the full length, setting the national record of the day.
Tōshiya means shooting an arrow the whole length of a long corridor. Competitors shot for a full day and night, thousands of arrows, which tests endurance and precision to their limits. His rate was about seventy-five per cent.
Two contemporary paintings of the feat survive.
His fencing school was Hokushin Ittō-ryū, and he carried a two-shaku-five blade by Nankai Tarō Tomotaka, dated September 1826.
How Ando Hayataro Reached the Shinsengumi
In 1851 he left his domain and entered Isshin-ji at the Chion-in.
A domain retainer holding the national archery record walked away to a temple. Why is not recorded.
By May 1863 he had joined the Mibu Rōshi — his name is on a memorial submitted to the shogunate on 25 May — and in that June's organisation he became an assistant vice-commander. The name "Shinsengumi" was only granted after the coup of 18 August; at this point the body was still the Mibu Rōshi.
The Andō Hayatarō in Shimozawa Kan's Shinsengumi Ibun, drawn from interviews with former shogunal retainers, is depicted as twenty-five or twenty-six, which had led some to argue for two men of the same name. In 2018 the Toyota city local history museum published its view that they were one man, on the strength of the Aizu roster's "forty years old."
Ando Hayataro and the Ikedaya Incident
The Ikedaya Incident, June 1864.
Andō served in Kondo Isami's party and held the back garden of the inn with Okuzawa Eisuke and Nitta Kakuzaemon.
Activists trying to break out came at them hard, and he was badly wounded.
He died of it the following month, on 22 July by the old calendar.
The Shinsengumi's dead from the Ikedaya are these three men from the back garden. Okuzawa was killed outright; Andō and Nitta died later of their wounds. The Aizu domain subsequently granted twenty ryō in special payment.
His graves are at Mibu-dera and Monmyō-ji.
Ando Hayataro's Last Duty
Some six months before he died, Andō performed one office.
On 4 February 1864 he acted as second at the seppuku of Noguchi Kenji.
And then, it is said, went straight on to help the Yagi household pound rice cakes.
The hand that took a comrade's head, pounding mochi. As an anecdote it is only that — but the ordinary texture of life in this corps shows through a line like it.
Frequently asked questions
Who was Ando Hayataro?
An assistant vice-commander of the Shinsengumi. A former retainer of the Koromo domain in Mikawa, he was an archer who set the national tōshiya record at Tōdai-ji.
What was Ando Hayataro's archery record?
In 1842, at the west corridor of the Tōdai-ji Great Buddha Hall, he sent 8,685 of 11,500 arrows the full length — the national record of the day.
How did Ando Hayataro die?
He held the back garden of the Ikedaya during the Ikedaya Incident, was badly wounded by activists trying to break out, and died of it on 23 August 1864.
How old was Ando Hayataro?
His birth is placed around 1816, and the Aizu domain's roster records him as forty. He was among the oldest men in the corps.
Ando Hayataro Timeline
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| c. 1816 | Born in the Koromo domain, Mikawa province |
| Training years | Studies the Ishidō Chikurin line in Edo, then the Ōshin school at home |
| 1842 | Sets the national tōshiya record at Tōdai-ji: 8,685 of 11,500 arrows |
| 1851 | Leaves his domain and enters Isshin-ji at the Chion-in |
| By May 1863 | Joins the Mibu Rōshi; assistant vice-commander in that June's organisation |
| Feb 1864 | Acts as second at Noguchi Kenji's seppuku |
| Jun 1864 | Badly wounded holding the back garden at the Ikedaya Incident |
| 23 Aug 1864 | Dies of his wounds |
For the corps' other archer see Monai Arinosuke; for the man he seconded, Noguchi Kenji; for the roster, the Shinsengumi members; for the raid, the Ikedaya Incident.
Related reading
Abe Juro — The Former Member Who Talked
He deserted the Shinsengumi and rejoined under another name, shot at Kondo Isami as one of the Goryō Eji, and then grew apples in Sapporo. His late-Meiji testimony is where the ranking of the corps' best swordsmen comes from.
Hattori Takeo — Two Swords at Aburanokoji
A two-sword master and fencing instructor of the Shinsengumi who defected with the Goryō Eji. At Aburanokōji he alone wore mail, held a wall against the whole corps, and fell with more than twenty wounds.
Hirama Jusuke — The One Who Got Out of the Yagi House
Assistant vice-commander and paymaster of the Mibu Rōshi, and the one man of Serizawa Kamo's party who walked out of the Yagi house alive and escaped purging altogether. He then vanished from the record.