Hirama Jusuke — The One Who Got Out of the Yagi House

Of the three of Serizawa Kamo's party who went back to the Yagi house, exactly one got away. Hirama Jūsuke. And having got away, he disappeared.

Contents

Who Was Hirama Jusuke?

Hirama was an assistant vice-commander of the Mibu Rōshi — the Shinsengumi's predecessor — and its paymaster.

Born in 1824. His date of death is unknown.

The roll of comrades in Nagakura Shinpachi's memoir lists him as having left the Mito domain. He learned swordsmanship from Shimomura Tsuguji — a name some identify as Serizawa Kamo's earlier one — and earned a Shintō Munen-ryū certificate.

Hirama Jusuke Held the Money

In February 1863 he went up to Kyoto with the Mito men — Serizawa at their head, along with Niimi Nishiki, Hirayama Goro and Noguchi Kenji — and joined the Rōshigumi.

Immediately after arrival, thirteen men including Serizawa and Kondo Isami stayed behind to form the Mibu Rōshi. Serizawa took the senior commandership, Kondo and Niimi the commanderships, and Hirama became an assistant vice-commander.

He also took on the paymaster's role.

Presumably because he could do arithmetic. The post Kawai Kisaburo later held in the Shinsengumi was Hirama's in the founding period.

The body split into Serizawa's Mito faction and Kondo's Shieikan faction, and Hirama was Mito.

Why Hirama Jusuke Lived

On 16 September 1863 by the old calendar — the 18th in some accounts — the Mibu Rōshi held a banquet with the geisha of the Sumiya in Shimabara, at Hijikata Toshizo's suggestion.

Serizawa, Hirayama and Hirama went back early to their quarters at the Yagi house — around six in the evening, by one contemporary record.

Serizawa and Hirayama were blind drunk. Hirama, who as a rule drank little, was not.

Where they slept differed too. Serizawa and Hirayama took the ten-mat room at the back; Hirama took the room to the left of the entrance, the furthest point from where the attack came.

Before dawn, several assassins forced their way in.

Serizawa and Hirayama were butchered. The Yagi family saw Hirama running through the house shouting after the noise woke him.

By the time Kondo and Hijikata arrived, Hirama had bolted.

How he got out is told two ways: that he was stabbed through the bedding and played dead, or that he took two cuts, played dead and fled. Neither is settled.

He had not been drinking, and he was sleeping in the far room. That is enough to explain it — though it also leaves open the possibility that he was never a target.

Where Hirama Jusuke Went

Niimi Nishiki had already been made to commit seppuku before the attack, and Noguchi Kenji was made to do the same that December. Serizawa and Hirayama were killed.

Hirama is the only senior man of the Serizawa faction who escaped purging altogether. Noguchi came through that night, only to be made to die three months later.

And after leaving the Yagi house he vanished completely. He is thought not to have gone home.

One account exists: that he wandered, ended up in Iwate as a teacher of sericulture, took the name Suwabe Jūsuke and lived until 1890.

His birthplace is likewise uncertain — Namegata in Ibaraki is proposed, but the documents do not confirm it. The local household register lists only a previous head named "Hirama Jūsuke" with no age and no father's name, and some scholars doubt the identification altogether.

The men who ran leave no records. Even among survivors, those who wrote — Shimada Kai, Nagakura Shinpachi — and those who simply disappeared, like Hirama, come down to us in wildly different quantities.

Frequently asked questions

Who was Hirama Jusuke?

An assistant vice-commander and paymaster of the Mibu Rōshi, the Shinsengumi's predecessor, and one of the Mito faction around Serizawa Kamo.

Why did Hirama Jusuke survive?

He had drunk little that night and was sleeping in the room furthest from the attack. Accounts also have him playing dead after being stabbed through his bedding.

What happened to Hirama Jusuke afterwards?

He vanished after fleeing the Yagi house. One account has him living in Iwate as a sericulture teacher under the name Suwabe Jūsuke until 1890, but this is unconfirmed.

Who survived from Serizawa Kamo's circle?

Only Hirama Jūsuke. Serizawa and Hirayama Goro were killed, and Niimi Nishiki and Noguchi Kenji were made to commit seppuku — Noguchi three months after surviving the night of the attack.

Hirama Jusuke Timeline

For the men killed that night see Serizawa Kamo and Hirayama Goro; for the same faction, Niimi Nishiki; for the roster, the Shinsengumi members; for the corps, the Shinsengumi.