- Tanaka Shinbei
Tanaka Shimbe (田中 新兵衛 "Tanaka Shimbē", 1832–
July 11 ,1863 ) was one of the four members of thehitokiri , elite samurai, active in Japan during thelate Tokugawa shogunate in the 1860s. The hitokiri including Shimbe were working under the command ofTakechi Hanpeita , the leader of theLoyalists of Tosa , who sought to overthrow theTokugawa shogunate and restore theEmperor of Japan to power.Hanpeita ordered Shimbe and the other hitokiri to seek "Heaven's Revenge" against supporters of the Shogunate and supporters of foreign access to Japan. A hitokiri from the Satsuma District, Shimbe came from a peasant background. After his first high-level assassination, he was elevated to samurai status despite the traditional samurai disdain towards peasants.
Shimbe was involved in the assassination of
Ii Naosuke , the head of theEdo Council of Elders who was the head of administration for the Tokugawa shogunate in 1860. This assassination sparked years of violence in Japan especially inKyoto where assassinations became commonplace. TheShinsengumi was formed in 1863 to suppress the hitokiri and Tosa loyalists and restore law and order.Shimbe's sword was found at the scene of the assassination of a senior official
Anenokoji . He was taken for questioning in Kyoto and asked to see the sword. He committedseppuku when he was given the sword.References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.