Shinsen-gumi Pilgrims

After getting off the train at Omiya Station we walked down for a block, and turned West into Aya-koji Alley, where we could already find a couple of sightseeing groups. The Mibu area, where we were visiting, was not a busy one. We scarecely found neighbouhood people walking or driving. All the visitors were wandering around looking for memorial buildings and monuments of Shinsen-gumi, a militia formed to maintain "the public peace of Kyoto" at the end of Edo Period, or 'bakumatsu' in Japanese. My family is not exceptional of course. My younger daughter is a Shinsen-gumi freak, rather a 'bakumatsu' freak. Any society at any time has varieties of freaks in it, I suppose. In today's Japanese society, some freaks love to have a pilgrimage to certain "sacred" places. The sacred places for Shinsen-gumi freaks are centered in Tokyo and Kyoto. Many central figures in Shinsen-gumi were born and raised in or around Edo, today's Tokyo. They moved to Kyoto, but some even visit the Nothmost island, Hokkaido, to visit Hakodate, where Hijikata Toshizo, a longtime comrade of Kondo Isamu, were killed in a fight against the new imperial government. My younger daughter is a Shinsen-gumi freak, too. In front of Yamanimi Keisuke's grave, I asked:
"Why was Yamanami killed?"
"It was Mr. Yamanami that was killed."
"Ah, yes, sorry. Then, why was Mr. Yamanami killed"
She gave me a detailed explanation of the incident. It is amazing (or relieving?) to find many more Shinsen-gumi freaks in the world, I mean, besides my daughter. In front of Kawai's grave, a girl in her teens screamed, "How happy I am to be able to see even his grave!" The grave feelings the pilgrims gave me reminded me of the fact that we Japanese people have prefered doing not only religious pilgrimage but also cultural one. A famous medieval poet, Matsuo Basho, for example, traveled around today's Tohoku area following the spots where ancient poets composed well-known poems. That type of trips used to be very popular during Edo period. Shinsen-gumi-freak young girls might be god-sent children in Japanese culture.