"Yamaguchi Jiro. Age at death, 27. A former Tokugawa retainer, he joined Shinsengumi in Kyoto, serving as an assistant commander. He was a skilled and fierce swordsman. Coming to Aizu, he fought and won distinguishment, becoming unit commander. On the 4th day of the 9th month of Keio 4 (1868 ), he fought alongside 13 comrades at Nyoraido in Aizu, surrounded on all four sides by over 300 enemies. Taking the Choshu men down with him, he died a resplendent death. Truly he was a splendid, faithful, and brave warrior."
Sure, we were feared, but we were fools, too. Kyoto people don’t take outsiders easily. We could say we were Shinsengumi, under the command of Aizu-han, but if you looked closely, we were just a gathering of freeloading men with no station in life. Ill-behaved and ill-mannered. Anyway, we borrowed the local town hall north of the temple; this made our encampment larger, and we picked up recruits there. It worked better than we thought. After all, we'd been recruiting in Kyoto, Osaka, and Edo, too. I was hanging around Osaka then. Sure, I had name and sword, but I was the second son of a nameless foot soldier peon too small for chopsticks or staff, so I wasn't anyone important enough to be classed as a "deserter" from a clan. I was young, too, so I left home.
translations by Armen Bakalian ( you are a beautiful man !)
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