Happy St. Valentine's Day, everyone! Specially on this day, I would like to share Okita Souji's Romance. There were rumours about this particular gallant swordsman. Art by Aude
Okita souji is famous as shinsengumi's sword. He was shinsengumi's first unit's captain. Ever since Kondo found his talent in swordsmanship, okita found his purpose in life along with other comrades in Shieikan dojo. Being such a gallant swordsman, do you know he has sad romance? His first encounter with romance was during his stay in Shieikan dojo as an instructor. A maid there had a penchant on him. His second romance was during shinsengumi's stay in Kyoto. (please remember that history states that Okita was not good-looking which means he had great personality) The first romance was when a maid fell in love with him and she knew she was going to be rejected. Okita, focusing on his only talent, did not realize it and had little encounter with women to know how to deal with this maid. The maid asked Okita to back yard to confess. As expected, Okita rejected her. Who could have guessed that the maid actually brought with her a knife to commit suicide. Okita was not swift enough to reach her but she did not cut herself badly to lose her life. After that, her family married her away to another man. The second romance Okita had is still a mystery. What is written here will be pure hypothesis. Do you know that there is a grave in Kyoto with 'Okita' written/carved on the tomb? The grave belonged to a woman who was given the name, 'Okita'. Who could the woman be? It is impossible for her to be Okita's sisters because they got married(thus, bearing another family name). One theory was, the woman was Okita's lover. But why were they not married? In edo period, there were castes. Okita and that woman were probably not allowed to be together by the society. Kondo, as the closest to Okita, must have known about the woman. There is a possibility that Kondo disagreed due to their statuses. Some documents wrote that Okita had a relation with a doctor's daughter and that she was pregnant, which was why Kondo strongly opposed. This theory was supported by the common cause of death for women; miscarriage during delivery. Supposedly, that woman died in Keio 3(i forgot where i read this) , a year before Okita's death in Keio 4. In Keio 3, Shinsengumi was appointed as 'bakushin', easily said, they were samurai with permission to see shogun without middleman. With such status, it made their marriage impossible. Another theory was, Okita had a relation with a married woman(wow, this escalates so quickly). Remember that Shinsengumi had strict rules,including not taking someone's wife. In order to save Okita's reputation and life, Kondo and Hijikata must have strictly 'ordered' him to break up with that woman.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorThis page will serve as information. It includes articles, travel journals and academic paper work. Archives
April 2020
Categories
All
|