Shinchogumi (新徴組)

The Shinchogumi was a security force established by the Edo bakufu (a Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun) in 1862, during the late Edo period. In February of the same year, members of the Roshi-gumi, an organization of masterless samurais, were recruited in Edo and dispatched to Kyoto. Subsequently, they returned to Edo led by Hachiro KIYOKAWA, but after Kiyokawa was assassinated in April, the Roshi-gumi was reorganized as the Shinchogumi by the Edo bakufu, and they maintained vigilance inside Edo City and served as the naval defense and guard.

They were quartered at Honjo in Edo (the present-day Sumida Ward, Tokyo). They came under the custody of the Shonai clan in 1864. The organization was dissolved when the Edo bakufu ceased to exist by Taisei Hokan (the Return of Political Power to the Emperor) and Osei Fukko (the Restoration of Imperial Rule).

They had a relationship with the Shinsengumi (Tokugawa shogunate police force located in Kyoto), because Rintaro OKITA, who was the headman of this group, was an elder brother-in-law of Soji OKITA, who was one of the senior members of the Shinsengumi.

[Original Japanese]