NHK's history program "History Detective" (General) will broadcast "Shinsengumi Episode Zero" from 10:00 pm on October 15th. Why did Tama farmers such as Kondo Isami and Hijikata Toshizo change the course of history? The program follows the footsteps leading up to the birth of the Shinsengumi.
The Shinsengumi, one of the most popular groups in the history of the late Edo period, was born out of a major upheaval in the Edo period's class system. Kondo Isami was born into a peasant family, but he held the ideal image of a samurai in his heart and tried to follow his own style of "shido."
The program will thoroughly investigate how Kondo created the Shinsengumi, and explore the life of the Shinsengumi and what it meant to be a "samurai" during the late Edo period.
