Tani Sanjuro — The Shinsengumi Captain Whose Brother Kondo Adopted

No one in the Shinsengumi held a closer family connection. Tani Sanjūrō's youngest brother was adopted by Kondo Isami himself.

Contents

Who Was Tani Sanjuro?

Tani was captain of the seventh unit of the Shinsengumi.

He was born in 1832, the heir of Tani Sanjirō Tomoyuki, a retainer of the Bitchū Matsuyama domain — banner magistrate, 120 koku, a proper samurai household. He learned martial arts from childhood from his father, himself an instructor of the Jikishin school.

He had two younger brothers, Mantarō and Shūhei. They are the key to his life.

He died on 15 May 1866 at the Gion shrine in eastern Kyoto, aged thirty-three or thirty-four. The cause is still unknown.

Why the Tani House Was Extinguished

His early life contains a fall.

He inherited the headship in January 1853 and served as an attendant to the domain lord Itakura Katsukiyo. A place at the lord's side. It was going well.

Then, on 13 October 1856, a scandal extinguished the Tani house.

The reasons come down to us but are not settled. That Sanjūrō had an affair with the lord's daughter. That he had an affair with the chief retainer's wife. There is also an account that the offender was not Sanjūrō at all but his brother Mantarō.

With the house gone, Sanjūrō left home with Mantarō and opened a training hall in Minami-Horie in Osaka; one source places him at Hakkenya in Tenma instead.

A man who has lost samurai standing living off his sword. That is the standard route into the Shinsengumi.

Was Tani Sanjuro Really a Spearman?

The conventional account makes him an instructor of Taneda-ryū spearmanship who taught Harada Sanosuke the spear.

It is doubted.

His descendants transmit something different: that Sanjūrō was a swordsman only, an instructor of Shinmei-ryū fencing.

The spear reputation may be a confusion with his brother Mantarō, who did use the Taneda-ryū spear — and whose Osaka hall is where Shinohara Tainoshin stayed on coming up to the capital.

Two brothers running halls in the same city is exactly the situation in which later records blur.

Tani Sanjuro's Service in the Shinsengumi

When he joined is unknown. By June 1864 he was an assistant vice-commander, by December of that year captain of the eighth unit, and by April 1865 captain of the seventh unit and instructor in spearmanship.

At the Ikedaya Incident he served in Hijikata Toshizo's party and received a reward of seventeen ryō.

His notable work was done in Osaka.

In January 1865, with his brother Mantarō and three others, he forestalled a plot to burn Osaka — the affair known by the sweet-shop where it came to a head, the Zenzaiya incident.

He then acted as negotiator in the corps' demand for a contribution from the Osaka merchant Kagaya Shirōbei, and came away with 31,500 ryō. That went straight into the corps' finances.

And in this same stretch, his youngest brother Shūhei was adopted by Kondo Isami.

There is no stronger connection available. The conventional account has Tani trading on it and being disliked for it. Whether Tani engineered the adoption is not known.

What Tani Sanjuro Admitted

The most revealing thing preserved about him is something he said to a prisoner.

To Nakada Kuichirō, whom he captured during the Kinmon incident, Tani said: "There is no one in the Shinsengumi as strong as we look, so I always get put in front."

He was leaking the corps' condition to a captive — and complaining while he did it.

That may be what the inside of a captaincy actually felt like. Anyone weighing how formidable the Shinsengumi really was has to account for that sentence.

What Killed Tani Sanjuro

On 1 April 1866 by the old calendar, Tani died at the Gion shrine in eastern Kyoto.

The Shinsengumi reported it to the Aizu domain like this: "Tani Sanjūrō, captain of the seventh unit, has met a sudden death at the foot of the Gion steps."

The cause is unknown. Assassination by Saito Hajime is one account. A stroke brought on by heavy drinking is another.

The phrasing — a "sudden death" — can be read as the corps declining to explain. The same stretch of months holds the questionable deaths of Matsubara Chuji and Kawai Kisaburō.

His grave is at Honden-ji in Kita ward, Osaka.

Frequently asked questions

Who was Tani Sanjuro?

Captain of the seventh unit of the Shinsengumi. Born into a samurai house of the Bitchū Matsuyama domain, he opened a training hall in Osaka after the house was extinguished and joined the corps later.

Was Tani Sanjuro a master of the spear?

Conventionally he is called an instructor of Taneda-ryū spearmanship, but his descendants say he taught Shinmei-ryū fencing. The spear reputation may be a confusion with his brother Mantarō.

How did Tani Sanjuro die?

Unknown. The Shinsengumi reported a "sudden death at the foot of the Gion steps." Assassination by Saito Hajime and a drink-induced stroke are both proposed.

What was Tani Sanjuro's connection to Kondo Isami?

His youngest brother Shūhei was adopted by Kondo Isami. The conventional account has Tani trading on this and being resented for it, though whether he engineered the adoption is unknown.

Tani Sanjuro Timeline

For a contemporaneous questionable death see Matsubara Chuji; for the spearman, Harada Sanosuke; for the roster, the Shinsengumi members; for the corps, the Shinsengumi.