Tani Shuhei — Kondo Isami's Adopted Son
Kondo Isami had an adopted son. Tani Shūhei. And the adoption was dissolved.
Contents
Who Was Tani Shuhei?
Tani was a member of the Shinsengumi and Kondo Isami's adopted son. He was also known as Kondō Shūhei, Harita Masatake and Tani Senzaburō.
He was born on 20 June 1848, third son of Tani Sanjirō Tomoyuki, a retainer of the Bitchū Matsuyama domain. His elder brothers were Tani Sanjuro and Tani Mantaro.
He died of illness on 2 December 1901 in what is now Chūō ward, Kobe, aged fifty-three. His grave is at Honden-ji in Kita ward, Osaka.
How Tani Shuhei Became Kondo's Son
Between late 1863 and the spring of 1864 he joined the Shinsengumi with his brothers, aged fifteen or sixteen.
He was then adopted by Kondo Isami and took the name Kondō Shūhei.
He was at the Ikedaya Incident, attending his adoptive father, and received a reward of fifteen ryō afterwards.
A boy in his teens went into the Ikedaya as the commander's adopted son.
He later served as an officer responsible for the members, and on the corps' elevation to shogunal retainer status in 1867 was granted the rank of mimawarigumi, at forty bales of rice.
Why the Adoption Was Dissolved
After his brother Sanjūrō's death, the adoption was dissolved and he reverted to the Tani name.
Why is not certain. The accounts differ.
That Shūhei took to drink and women. That he failed in some way at the Ikedaya. That the Kondō house preferred to pass its headship to Kondo's own daughter Tama. Tama was born in 1862, before Shūhei ever joined or was adopted.
In 1868 Shūhei called on Kondo's wife Tsune with a woman in tow. Tsune told her nephew Yūgorō that "Shūhei too came to that on account of a woman," which is read as meaning he ruined himself on drink and women.
The conventional account has his brother Sanjūrō engineering the adoption and trading on it, though whether he engineered it is unknown. When Sanjūrō died, the adoption ended with him.
After the retreat from Toba-Fushimi, the Shinsengumi withdrew to Osaka castle and returned to Edo by sea; Shūhei is said to have deserted at Edo.
Tani Shuhei's Later Life
After the Restoration he went home and relied on the Tani house, which relatives had re-established.
Around April 1872 he became a policeman in Osaka prefecture under the name Tani Senzaburō, and resigned the following year.
In 1877 he moved in with Harita Tsuru, a sewing teacher ten years his senior, at Kobe, and on marrying her in 1880 took the Harita name as an adopted husband.
They divorced on 29 December 1887, and he is said to have been swindled out of his money by her.
He supported himself thereafter as a junior clerk at the Sanyō Railway's Kobe office.
He died of illness at Kobe in 1901, aged fifty-three.
One contemporary miscellany notes that his body was covered in old scars — "Shūhei's whole body bore old wounds; people wondered at it."
At the former Maekawa residence in Mibu, one of the corps' quarters, a shutter survives bearing graffiti attributed to Kondo Isami — "Aizu, Shinsengumi commander Kondō Isami," and a set of exhortations to diligence and effort. One theory attributes the writing to Shūhei.
Frequently asked questions
Who was Tani Shuhei?
A member of the Shinsengumi who was adopted by Kondo Isami and took the name Kondō Shūhei. He attended his adoptive father at the Ikedaya Incident and was rewarded fifteen ryō.
Why did Tani Shuhei stop being Kondo Isami's son?
It is not certain. Drink and women, some failure at the Ikedaya, and the Kondō house preferring its own daughter as heir are all proposed. The adoption was dissolved after his brother Sanjūrō's death.
Was Tani Shuhei Tani Sanjuro's son?
No, his brother. Shiba Ryōtarō's fiction makes him a son, but he was the third son of Tani Sanjirō Tomoyuki, younger brother to Sanjūrō and Mantarō.
What did Tani Shuhei do after the Restoration?
He went home, served briefly as an Osaka policeman, took the Harita name on marrying at Kobe, and after divorcing worked as a junior railway clerk until his death in 1901.
Tani Shuhei Timeline
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1848 | Born third son of a Bitchū Matsuyama domain retainer |
| 1863–64 | Joins the Shinsengumi with his brothers; adopted by Kondo Isami |
| Jun 1864 | Attends his adoptive father at the Ikedaya Incident; rewarded fifteen ryō |
| After 1866 | The adoption is dissolved after Sanjūrō's death; reverts to Tani |
| 1867 | Granted mimawarigumi rank on the corps' elevation |
| 1868 | Said to have deserted at Edo after the retreat from Toba-Fushimi |
| 1872 | Becomes an Osaka policeman; resigns the following year |
| 1880 | Marries Harita Tsuru at Kobe and takes her name; divorced 1887 |
| 2 Dec 1901 | Dies of illness at Kobe, aged fifty-three |
For his brothers see Tani Sanjuro and Tani Mantaro; for his adoptive father, Kondo Isami; for the roster, the Shinsengumi members.
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.
Ando Hayataro — The Shinsengumi's Record-Breaking Archer
He set the standing national record in the long-range shooting at the Tōdai-ji Great Buddha Hall, sending 8,685 arrows the length of the corridor. Nearly fifty, he joined the Shinsengumi and died of wounds taken in the back garden of the Ikedaya.
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.