The Meiji Restoration/Fall of the Samurai Era (Questions About the Hakuoki Time Period)

Afternoon, folks.

I did an LP of Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom earlier this year, despite not being young (I'm 30) or a girl (and a dude). While I think much of the aimed appeal of that game is the various Beautiful Men, as I constantly termed them, one of the main things that grabbed me about the setting was the time period.

I've had an interest in samurai culture/history ever since I saw pictures of the armor, but it's only been recently when I started to learn more about the actual era. I blame the Koei Samurai Warriors games for this, since they introduced me to the larger-than-life characters of the era, but it was fascinating to find out what wasn't embellished from that time period. The way Japan treats its own heroes, too, is curious to me -- I'm used to living in a country where the Founding Fathers are Noble Figures To Whom We Should Look Up And Admire, and certainly not recast as the Demon King (or Demoncrats, I suppose).

Specifically, it's the idea of one culture falling out of favor, out of relevance, and being replaced with a new one -- a completely alien one, with the Western influences dominating Japan during the US Civil War era. Most of my exposure to this is sadly from Hakuoki (which does a remarkable job with it, honestly) and the Total War: Shogun 2 expandalone Fall of the Samurai, which helped make it feel kinda real with the shift in battles from spears/swords to gatling guns and powerful cannons. But really, I'd like to learn more.

Are there any other games/shows/movies/books that deal with this time period, and do you recommend any of them to me?

First thing to come to mind is The Last Samurai - not a bad movie, despite Tom Cruise playing Tom Cruise. A good snapshot (albeit fictionalized) of the Westernization of Japan.

I only know of the Rurouni Kenshin manga which does deal with a few of the same themes - there's also some character overlap between it and Hakuoki - and I know the volumes my friend had had the author use his between-chapter pages for infodumps on the difference between his manga characters and their real world counterpart.

I'm not really the house authority - my brother did a high school paper on Japanese history, but I doubt he'd know of any media.

First thing that comes to mind is actually an anime/manga, Rurouni Kenshin. Set in 10 years after Meiji Restoration. There are tidbits of history and culture, but might not be what you are looking for? (It has Saito in it though!)

Second is a Japanese drama called Jin. It's about a brain surgeon who time travelled back to the Edo period. It has events leading up to the Meiji Restoration. It's quite interesting seeing things unfold from a different point of view. I think the show is also based on a manga.

I've heard a great deal about The Last Samurai -- I'll check and see if that's on Amazon Instant or anything. I have no idea where you go to rent movies anymore.

Hajime Saito's in Rurouni Kenshin, isn't he? That would at least give me a common starting ground.

I'll also keep my eyes open and update this in case I find something before anyone else does.

I love you, Japan.

Well I know that a lot of the Shinsengumi are featured in Gintama (never actually watched it myself though I seem to recall that Angie Gallant is a big fan).

What IS Gintama? I'm at work now, and hesitant to Google random things.

In that case, Gintama needs more love! Aliens invading and dominating Edo Japan. Okita with a bazooka!

Okay, not super relevant since it doesn't have much history in it. I'm only 20 episodes in though, so I could be wrong.

NINJA'ed.

EDIT: It's a slice of life comedy anime. It has its own running gags and pokes fun at A LOT of pop culture stuff. so it's safe for work.

Another Shinsengumi thing is the manga/anime Peace Maker Kurogane, which while somewhat entertaining might get too caught up in its own angst.

It's a rather silly take on the Edo period. Lots of historical figures in wacky situations.

Also, a bit off-topic, but I love how American historical figures are finally getting that sort of treatment (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter springs to mind). You guys take your Great Men too seriously, imo.

Taiga Dramas!
They're Japanese TV shows running for one year (around 50 episodes), focusing on one particular person from Japanese history. They are generally very nicely researched, but of course feature some historical romanticisations.

The 43rd Taiga Drama was dealing with the Shinsengumi - mainly Kondo Isami. It's a bit hard to get a hold of, but it's worth it.
2008's Atsuhime is set in the same period. Atsuhime was the wife of shogun Tokugawa Iesada, thus dealing with a woman's point of view on the Meiji Restoration. And I think next years Taiga Drama Yae no sakura will also deal with the late Edo/Bakumatsu time.

I've had Ryoma: Life of a Renaissance Samurai on my to-read list for a couple years now, which I saw once as a recommendation for a book on Sakamoto Ryoma, one of the most interesting leaders in the Meiji Restoration. I've been holding off because it's not an e-book yet, the remainder of my reading list is huge, and I haven't seen very many reviews for it. Has anyone here read it, and if so was it worth your time?

James Clavell's Gai-Jin also covers the timeframe slightly before the Meiji period and illustrates some of the early Western influences on Japanese culture.

Warning: it is, like everything Clavell has ever written, boring as shit.

Gintama is an anime nerd's anime. It's a long-running (250+ episodes now) slice of life comedy that is set in Alternate Universe 1800s Japan, where sword ownership didn't become restricted due to the government, but due to alien invasion. The aliens have more or less integrated into society and technology is at whatever the hell level they feel like is necessary for the story they are currently telling. It is a very silly comedy that has occasional serious and heartwarming arcs, which manages to actually pull off those serious and heartwarming arcs when it goes there.

I say it's a nerd's anime because there's a billion and one references to classic anime, current anime, games, manga, Japanese pop culture, history.... you name it. It's still a good show if you aren't into all the rest of it, but a decent chunk of the gags and even some multiple-episode arcs will go over your head without that background. Also, it's a huge time investment to get into it now.

I, uh, will go back and figure out what this thread was actually about in a little bit. Just wanted to drop some Gintama knowledge on ya.

Fuck off, James Clavell is not boring. Go huff some helium, noob.

That said, Gai-Jin is probably the worst. Shogun, Tai-Pan, and Noble House are great.

*For on-topic purposes, Shogun would be the most interesting, since it's all about early European contact with Japan during the Tokugawa period. Tai-Pan and Noble House are both set in Hong Kong.

I dug through my Statemaking books, and War and the Rise of the State by Bruce Porter does have a very brief rundown of the Meiji Restoration (pages 146-147). It's probably mostly not very interesting to people who don't think Charles Tilly's war made the state and the state made war thesis is very interesting and applicable, BUT...

I thought I'd share a very telling quote from it since it's related to the thinking of Meiji Japan. From the 1899 Hague Conference where Japan was invited as the only non-Western power:

"We show ourselves at least your equals in scientific butchery, and at once we are admitted to your council tables as civilized men."
- One Japanese diplomat (is what Porter credits him as).

In a broad view, initially Japan was trying to mimic France as much as possible, going to far as to borrow parts of the Codé Napoleon, and then changed focus to Prussia after Napoleon's defeat.

• Kaze Hikaru is a very well-done shoujo manga (still ongoing) that centers on this girl who pretends to be a boy and joins the Shinsengumi. It's fairly historically accurate and interesting because it shows the Shinsengumi earlier on (so during what would be covered by Hakuouki Reimeiroku).
• Shinsengumi: The Shogun's Last Samurai Corps, a non-fiction book by Romulus Hillsborough. I have some issues with his tone and it's obvious he doesn't actually care much for the Shinsengumi, but it's a great read and full of pictures and interesting little tidbits about the Shinsengumi from their beginnings to their ends.
• Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto, a historical/mystery anime set during the Bakamatsu era.

I think anything else I could recommend has already been listed... When I found out the main character of Peacemaker Kurogane was an actual person and read about what happened between him and Hijikata at the very end, I cried a whole lot. :(

I don't know how educational you'd find them, but The Last Blade and The Last Blade 2 are both great games.

Movies: Twilight Samurai, a very good film about the struggles of a low-ranking samurai, set in the Bakumatsu period.
Games: if you play Victoria 1 and 2 (especially modded) as Japan there will be a lot of events dealing with the Meiji restoration (including the lead up and the aftermath).
Anime: Hijikata Toshizou Shiro no Kiseki, a OVA about the leader of the Shinsengumi (heavily idealized).
Nitaboh, a film about the life of a blind musician set in the early Meiji period, with social changes/westernization as a reoccurring theme.
Other vaguely relevant titles: Taishou Yakyuu Musume and Ojii-san no Lamp deal with Japan's modernization, although not directly with the Meiji restoration. Oh, and Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto, but it's pretty bad.

It's not focussing on samurai, but is often seen as a reflection on the conflict of modern and traditional Japan in the late 19th century: Lady Snowblood by Kazuo Koike. It's quite the classic, but I guess nobody mentioned it because it's not exactly filled with historical figures - but it references several historic events of the time. It's an interesting one, because the heroine (?) is a rather old-fashioned model of the assassin, yet she is well educated about the Western way of things. The manga makes a good point about a weird feeling of "loss of morals" through the eyes of a cold-blooded assassin. Yes, the irony.

I realize I'm may not be selling this well. Ehm...
There's a lot of good articles about that manga somewhere, I'm sure, but I'm not a native speaker and don't have any English ones ready to link to.

There are a couple classic japanese movies set around the meiji restoration

Sword of doom, has shinsengumi as well, there is an alternative adaptation of the novel that this is based on that is inferior but deals with more of the novel and runs 4 or 5 movies, though I cant recall the name.
Samurai Assasin, set just prior to the restoration IIRC

Harakiri, I'm pretty sure is set around the time of the restoration but not 100% sure, you should watch it in any case. It also got a 3d remake 2011 by Miike as well, though the original is far superior

I have this monster tome (936 pages!), The Making of Modern Japan by Marius B Jensen, on my Amazon wishlist. I doubt I'll ever buy it, let alone get around to reading it, any time soon, but it might be exactly what Matt is looking for!

As for movies, I've seen a couple. Twilight Samurai is more of a gentle character drama/slice-of-life piece. It's set in the dying days of the Bakufu, a couple of years prior to the Boshin War, but from what I recall the politics are shoved well into the background. Still a pretty decent movie, from what I recall.

There's also Toshiro Mifune's Red Lion, which is actually set during the Boshin War, but I really really can't recommend this unless you absolutely must see live-action versions of the uniforms from Fall of the Samurai. The movie's not sure whether it wants to be a comedic farce or a tragic social commentary, and it falls painfully between two stools.

Then again, when you look at Canadian historic figures, it kind of explains why we're not as gun-ho about it. I mean, our founding father was Alcoholic. That says a lot about my country, actually. GIVE US BEER AND WE GET THINGS DONE-- *SHOT DOWN*

So I'm just going to shut up now and lurk this thread because it's relevant to my interests. And I'll stop making fun of my own country.

I'm pretty sure that if someone made an otome game about the American Civil War a bunch of people would throw fits.

I'd be all over that! Especially after seeing this trailer:

It's hard to imagine moe/bishonen Grant or Lincoln, since both of them historically had magnificent facial hair. To take that and their weather-beaten faces away from them would be to take away the very essence of 19th century America and of their characters.

I think cowboys would be fair game for an otome game, though. And if I really wanted to troll, I would make Oregon Trail the otome, where you can date anthropomorphizations of your wagon, oxen, bullets/gun, axles, hardtack, cholera, and dysentery.

SPOILER ALERT: If you date cholera or dysentery you die in their arms. If you date your gun you may die of exhaustion from trying to carry more than 200 pounds back to your crew. If you date your wagon you can get a bad end by forcing them to ford the river.

Would play that.

Pioneer-chan is worst protagonist ever.

Yeah, I wouldn't want to date a creepy moe Lincoln, anyways. I'm all for a hyper-realistic Lincoln dating game.

Dude, women in Lincoln's life tended to wind up like female characters on Supernatural.

IT WILL NOT END WELL FOR YOU.

Pioneer-chan is best protagonist ever, she hunts buffalo and doesn't afraid of grueling pace or bare-bones rations.

The main issue with a hyper-realistic Lincoln dating game is that if it were set in the Civil War, you would be cuckolding Mary Todd. In fact, the main problem with a hyper-realistic historical dating game is that generally, by the time historical figures got famous, they had wives. Thus why much I would like a President game with Teddy Roosevelt and Calvin Coolidge, the amateur historian in me balks at it.

Nikola Tesla is fair game, if you can handle the fact that he was celibate and only loved pigeons.

Well, if you set it in the era of law-school pro-wrestling Lincoln (I kid you not, the man invented the chokeslam) then it's fair game. You could compete with all the other Illinois honeys for the heart of the Great Emancipator.

EDIT: Since someone eventually asks, source for the chokeslam credit -

And here I thought my admiration for the man couldn't grow. I was wrong. Time for me to study American history in detail.

Wait, are we talking about Abraham Lincoln's badassery now? Then this video is totally relevant: Obama vs. Romney Epic Rap Battles of History

Lincoln won hands down. Everyone else, pack your bags and go home. Pioneer-chan will show you the way.

So, in this game you play as the pigeon?

Other than the Forty-Seven Ronin (which has multiple fictionalized accounts based on actual events during the Edo period), most of the stuff I know is period literature from the Nara period to the Kamakura period (when samurai came into power), with most of my knowledge centered around the Heian period. But if you're interested in that I can give you some suggestions? Oh, and there's a Tale of Genji manga. That's not period either.

He is, but he's way more like Hakuoki's Hijikata than Hakuoki's Saito. RK's Saito is kind of a huge prick.

That said, Nobuhiro Watsuki (RK's Mangaka) is supposedly a huge Shinsengumi fanboy, and while he only really prominently features a heavily altered Saito as a character (other shinsengumi characters show up, but are tiny bit roles), many of the main characters are based off of or inspired by the Shinsengumi; Sagara Sanosuke is based off Harada, Seta Sojiro is loosely based on Okita (Ironically, Okita does show up in one of those bit parts), and if I'm not mistake, Shinomori Aoshi is based on Hijikata.

Not just any Pigeons, Laser Pigeons.

Apologies for the derail, but this seemed as good a place to post Edo-era art as any. These are from Hiroshige's Eight Views of Omi and I sourced them from Wikipedia, where you can find the complete set (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight_Views_of_Ōmi#section_3). Enjoy!