End of the Samurai - Gangs of Kyoto - Japanese History - Extra History - Part 2 

Gangs of Kyoto should be a Netflix series or something.

I love how the whole Ikedaya incident - which is always portrayed as a big deal in pop culture - was basically just a minor skirmish and 30 dudes really wrecking a slightly subversive get-together.

Small correction: Japanese emperors don't take a new name when they ascend to the throne. They get a new honorary name after they die. Japan traditionally divides its history into eras/periods and Meiji is the name of a historical era. One thing that changed at that time though is that the reign of each new emperor would become a separate historical era (that was not the case before, the Edo period lasted 265 years) and the name of the era would became (part of) the emperor's posthumous name, but only after they actually die. For example, emperor Akihito abdicated last year but his name is not Emperor Heisei yet because he's still alive. But that will be his posthumous name.

Whoa, Emperor Meiji is arriving, things are about to get crazy.

A wolf is a wolf. A Shinsengumi is a Shinsengumi. And a manslayer is a manslayer. Isn't that right, Battousai?

The Shinsengumi actually made up about 60% of Japan's mayonnaise consumption, their vice-captain loved the stuff.

The artwork is a lot better compared to the sengoku jidai extra history artwork, which was itself good

I haven’t watched extra credit in like a year i’m glad to be back

As a Japanese, Ryoma was a Japanese hero for industrialization and democracy even if he was living under the threat of government assassins and polices. He wore boots, he made a COMPANY with modern ships. He had, get this- single action army revolver from his friend. He also wro- *Ahem, I shouldn't say no further due to spoiler issues.*

3:30 - Fun fact, one of those samurais was Togo Heihachiro, future Admiral of the Imperial Navy and winner of the battle of Tsushima (1905).

Total War Fall of Samurai makes this history part of japan more interesting

I feel like Sakamoto Ryouma and the Shinsengumi deserve their own mini Extra History.

Brit strutting around Kyoto during Edo period: ACK! ACK ACK! Setsuna Samurai: ***cranks Slim Whitman up to 11***

I'm a fan of Ruroni Kenshin, a story of a famous manslayer from the Revolution, who clashed with the Shinsengumi and now lives in the Meiji era as a peaceful wanderer. I barely knew about the Revolution, except for what was mentioned in the show. Ever since you did the Sengoku Jidai, I was hoping that you would get to the Revolution so I could learn about it.

I hope this channel lives on and continues to educate for years to come.

Fun fact: There is a Yakuza game that only released in Japan called Ryū ga Gotoku Ishin. It's the same characters from Yakuza but they are samurai and representing other real life people. The story in that game is exactly this situation.

7:50 at that time Sakamoto Ryoma is no longer a samurai, he already left his han without his Daimyo permission at that time, known as Dappan. Satsuma chose Ryoma is because of his relations with Katsu Kaishu (responsible for the training and purchase of shogunate's navy, who was sympathetic to the restoration cause) and Katsura Kogoro (One of Chosu's great retainer), and most importantly his Satsuma funded company Kaientai. Kaientai is a trading and shipping company, that mainly deal with foreign weapons. The way the peace was brokered is when Satsuma offered Kaientai to sell warships and weapons to Choshu, to secure the alliance. Satcho Alliance wasn't formed because of overthrowing the shogunate, because both Choshu and Satsuma had things they wanedt, but the Shogunate was just in there way.

Ah Saigo Takamori. Get used to hearing about him, he pretty much is the IRL last Samurai.

Cat's meows must be very complicated if one meow translates as all those names

4:55 In an alternate universe, Sakamoto Ryoma dresses like Michael Jackson before Michael Jackson was even born, and has a dragon for a wife.

You can tame a dog with food You can tame a man with money But there is nothing that can tame the Wolves of Mibu (Shinsengumi)

I love watching your show so much. I've never been a big history buff, but thanks to you guys I've expanded my knowledge in an entertaining way.

"Open the country, stop having it closed") - Europe and the US

The Shinsengumi had a strong advantage in that pretty much all their officers were expert and experienced swordsmen but an even greater one in that they were all wearing armor. The plotters were trying to draw as little attention as they could during the meeting so they met wearing plainclothes.

My great-great-great grandfather, Adm. William Luard (at the time a Post Captain) captained the British ship HMS Conqueror during the bombardment of Shimonoseki. Never thought I would see that action in one of your videos - this helped me tremendously to understand the political circumstances surrounding the battle. Excellent video as always!

Me: Sees samurais fighting. Also me: Plays Wu-Tang Clan in the background.

I'm never a fan of giving someone free immunity from a country's laws. It's my belief that even diplomatic immunity should be only applied when the receiver is really acting in the role of a diplomat at the moment of the transgression, and only for things that may be honest mistakes.

I’ve been waiting for the Boshin war since 2014 And I just want to say I am not disappointed these past two episodes were very well done

"The plot is foiled, but Kyoto will still burn" Save roll 20 end me

Super pumped for the Boshin war

I hope they're going to mention Jules Brunet when they talk about the Boshin War. He was a French artillery officer and military advisor sent to Japan who espoused the cause of the Shogun's samurai and stuck with them, creating the basis for "The Last Samurai".

Make a random samurai of the war look like Kenshin Himura. Make this happen!

Ah yes, THE SHISENGUMI DA!!! I love Hijikata Toshizo, very much!

The scientific samurai is the sentence I always wanted to hear, and didn't know that I did.

We’re learning about Japan in school right now, very cool of you to help out🙂

Hey, I remember this from Rurouni Kenshin!

This channel actually helps me understand important people events and etc even better than my history classes

The fact i saw this in my recommended and immediately gasped in exitment proves that i like this channel way too much

The mention of an ex-Confederate steamship: the former CSS Stonewall. Ironclad Ram, with two seven-inch Brooke Rifles, a 300-pounder Armstrong, and at least one Gatling.

Waiting for Tom Cruise's entrance.

R.I.P. The Samurai… …I think… Man, and if we thought 2020 America was chaotic, we should look to this era in Japan. (Edit: And to think that this took place at the same time as the War between States in America. Wow!

I lived in Nagasaki for four years, so I knew all about Sakamoto Ryouma. Really cool to hear him mentioned again.

Is this what Rurouni Kenshin anime series is based on?

Babe wake up, Extra Credits posted !

Watching this series while playing Shogun 2 Fall of the samurai. Truly life is good

What's the most interesting part about revolutionary time periods such as these are the soup of ideas that come out. While some would argue that modernization is just another form of Westernization and cultural imperialism, both the result and the method matter, so we should be careful with our words and labels. But I think we see that this is a bit of a false dichotomy, as the various Japanese individuals and factions generally recognized things have to change, but they differed on how much to change.

The beginning is like a movie

I don’t think Emperor Kōmei was strictly anti-Shogun and wanted power for himself. He married his sister to the Tokugawa Shōgun and had a policy of joining the aristocracy with ‘the military’ (Shoguns). He was very anti-foreigner though for sure. This is the understanding I came to after reading Donald Keene’s ‘Emperor of Japan’ biography of Kōmei’s son, Emperor Meiji.

Never thought I heard "Pro-science Samurai".. He should have dual-wielded pistols instead of sword.

Can’t wait for episodes on Sino Japanese wars or the century of humiliation

A new extra credit history series? *NANI?*

Important lesson here. When you are in someone else's country, behave as a guest. Be polite and appreciative. Never be rude or demanding.

and the restoration goes full schwing...

You’d think foreigners would be told/ listened to the guys saying “ don’t do anything to anger those random guys with swords”

EC: No One: FGO player: I know these guys!

Extra credits: Acting more like a political gang. Shinsengumi gumi: *demonic laughter in Yakuza*

Anyone else now got Shiroyama by Sabaton blasting in their heads after watching this?

To me, the Shogunate Police kind of resemble an archetypal TV cop by how they're drawn. Something about their white and blue kimonos look like hawaiian shirts, they have headbands, and you open with a pair of them about to bust some some secret plot. There is a shogun-period buddy cop movie screaming to be made here.

I've never understood why the Shinsengumi has been so popular in Japanese culture. They were a bunch of violent reactionaries who didn't even win the war.

So the restorationists went from "out with foreigners" to "train me, foreigner"

TIL Shinsengumi was an actual thing rather than a Gintama reference

The story of Sakamoto Ryoma and the Shinsengumi is actually the plot of both the original version and the upcoming remake of "Like A Dragon: Ishin" a spinoff of the Yakuza series

I just can't stop watching this channel

This would make an awesome setting for a Blades in the Dark campaign

I now understand the setting of Rorouni Kenshin and the possible sequel of Ghost of Tsushima.

I came here for the historical content, I stayed for the Rurouni Kenshin quotes.

This series is so good, I'm dusting off my copy of Shogun 2

Emperor Meiji... Here...we...go...

"Nah fam. We're not setting up a war machine. That's our emotional support navy"

Honestly this one of my favorite part of Japanese history and I'm so sad the rest of the world on see the sengoku period

Cheso: No you can't just attack us while we are at the inn! Shesengomi: haha expert swordsmans go brrr.

Gr8 vid. Also pls make a series on a medieval Indian kingdom/empire. I'd prefer u make a series on Vijayanagara.

I’ve been playing Like A Dragon: Ishin for a while now, and I had no idea that the characters were real people!

Japanese history is real life anime

"His name was meji" HERE WE GO!

The artist that did the polio episode is good but the person that did this is AMAZING

Gintama makes so much more sense now... I never knew the shinsengumi were real!

As a Japanese THIS CHANNEL IS SO CORRECT THANK YOU

In the mind of Charles Richardson: hmm , I’m impatient and want to get through this road. Oh I know, I’ll try to gut check my way through a line of men with swords, and are very well trained and ready to use them

My problem with Japanese history is that I cant keep the names straight, which is why I love these pictures.

Great work guys! Artwork is outstanding. Although this is a really really really coles notes version of the events, it’s really well done. Thanks for doing such outstanding work. And as a asides, I can’t tell you how happy I am to see Sakamoto Ryoma on your channel. Made my day.

4:35 All FGO players here were waiting for this Rider to show up.

The Japanese would later own the most powerful Pre-Dreadnought of any Navy: The IJN Mikasa

When does Tom Cruise arrive?

Gintama fans will see this series very differently from others

gintama makes so much sense now

If Sabatons “Shiroyama” song is played in the last episode I will be so happy

aku soku zan kill evil quickly if you can delay the inevitable for a year you are strong indeed

fall of the samurai, whos here from shogun 2 total war

Im from Wyoming and literally everytime the name is brought up, everyone is like, "wait, are they mentioning our state? Guys our state is being mentioned!" Even in this case where its talking about a battleship presumably named for our state. Although at this time Wyoming still would've been a territory. We didn't become a state until 1869.

Why do i always get goosebumps from the closing statements. Always great videos.

why does this feel like spoilers for the next assassin's creed

This time period is the where the prequel to Ruronin Kenhsin (Samurai X) happened.

I love this series! Thank you!

And then Tom Cruise showed up...

*I am here for my usual accuracy report and random historical tidbits about the period:* As I've written one of my seminar papers on exactly how important were the shishi (the independent samurai actors, not the satcho alliance which had all the money in the world to fund a revolt) to the restoration, I've concluded that their effect peaked when murdering ii naosuke and they weren't even anti-shogunate guys who did it in the first place. Sakamoto Ryoma with as much as he's been romanticized by 40+ episode tv series, had a very negligible effect in the grand scheme of things and was basically a glorified messenger that both parties of the satcho alliance could deal with. Regarding Saigo Takamori I really think he is criminally overrated, I mean the man spent the first half of his life and the bakumatsu period either depressed, trying to kill himself or in exile, all the while men like Okubo Toshimichi were actually doing the hard work back in Satsuma. Heck to this day I am still certain the Satsuma rebellion was just an opporunity for him to die with glory rather than of the heart condition he started suffering from during the fighting against the Tokugawa (which also caused him to sit out the latter half of said fight, so again why is this guy such a big deal with this tendency to only do half the work if at all). Choshu is a rather funny case as a domain because the low ranking samurai and bureaucrats had so much power that their daimyo's opinion on anything really did not particularly matter The emperor, while hating the foreigners, hated the riffraff low rank and rankles and master less samurai trashing his capital, apparently in his own name no less, almost as much (which is partly why foiling the choshu coupe attempt was so easy. The other part is Satsuma cannon with a few whiffs of grapeshot). They were nothing better than commoner trash daring to speak for the emperor. THE EMPEROR GODDAMIT. Said trash were actually getting sponsored by various nobles in the court rather than the emperor directly. Meiji was still a teenager and his opinion on the restoration was irrelevant to the satcho alliance and their armies marching against the Tokugawa even while the Tokugawa were accepting the Tosa proposal of a restoration with the Shogun stepping down willingly and taking a position in the new government. The Sat-Cho alliance leaders received the notice of the shogun's resignation, and promptly ignored it, thus making the restoration war very hot. *Fun facts:* Satsuma did pay the British indemnities, however those indemnities were "loans" from the Shogun which they totally meant to pay back but woops shogunate is no more, oh no... In the standoff off Kagoshima against the British ships, if I recall correctly the only British loss was the commander of that flotilla getting hit by a satsuma cannon. Also if I recall correctly the main reason for the withdrawal was one of the ships losing its anchor so it could literally not stay. Also a Japanese dude was on the British ships. forgot what he was doing there exactly, but it's from his accounts that the above tidbits come from ^ The British at one point were planning on leading a 10,000 men expedition to land in Osaka, march on Kyoto and sieze the emperor to end all this anti foreign silliness once and for all. Never ended up happening. Don't remember why. probably too expensive. A "friend" of Sakamoto Ryoma from Tosa named Iwasaki Yattaro would go on to rise from his broke origins to found Mitsubishi. A true self made man. Also Iwasaki is by far the best character in the series about Ryoma, Ryomaden, and not just because he's the narrator and the whole thing is framed as him telling the story, he's just a good actor. In general it's a good show. Recommend anyone who's interested in the Bakumatsu period to watch it. Don't forget to take a shot every time Masaharu Fukuyama (Ryoma's actor) says OH in astonishment. Me and my friend played Shogun 2 Total War Fall Of The Samurai before I learned anything about the restoration and randomly picked Satsuma and Choshu respectively to play in the co-op campaign. Our campaign was more historically accurate than I knew xP

I wish Sakuma Shozan had a happy ending, I really sympathize with that guy. He was such a man of science

Finally something about the boshin war, a very interesting subject with little coverage in history, also am I the only one that came here because I played shogun 2 fall of the samurai?

wasn't there a badassoftheweek article on the shinsengumi, particularly on kondo isami?

I feel a need to play Shogun 2: Fall of the Samurai now