The Ikedaya incident , also known as the Ikedaya affair or Ikedaya riot, was an armed encounter between the shishi which included masterless samurai (rōnin) formally employed by the Chōshū, Tosa and Higo domains (han), and the Shinsengumi, the Bakufu's special police force in Kyoto on July 8, 1864, at the Ikedaya Inn in Sanjō-Kawaramachi, Kyoto, Japan.
Ikedaya in April 2010
The commemorative plaque standing at the former site of the Ikedaya Inn
This stone marker stele next to the site of the Ikedaya is engraved with the name of Furutaka Shuntarō, a man tortured by Hijikata Toshizō of the Shinsengumi and the one who gave the information necessary for them to start the famous Ikedaya incident.
The Shinsengumi was a small, elite group of swordsmen that was organized by commoners and low rank samurai, commissioned by the bakufu during Japan's Bakumatsu period in 1863. It was active until 1869. It was founded to protect the shogunate representatives in Kyoto at a time when a controversial imperial edict to exclude foreign trade from Japan had been made and the Chōshū clan had been forced from the imperial court. They gained considerable fame in the Ikedaya incident and the August 18 coup events, among others. The men were drawn from the sword schools of Edo.
Ancient Kondō Isami's quarters at Nagareyama, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. One of the former Shinsengumi headquarters
Mannequins dressed in Shinsengumi uniform
Coat of mail and helmet of Kondō Isami
