Saitō Hajime

Early years

He was born in Edo, Musashi Province (now Tokyo). Very little is known about his early life. He was born Yamaguchi Hajime (山口 一) to Yamaguchi Yūsuke (山口 祐助), an ashigaru of the Akashi Domain, who had bought the rank of gokenin (a low-ranking retainer directly serving the Tokugawa shōgun), and his wife Masu (ます). He had an older brother named Hiroaki and an older sister named Katsu. According to the published records of his family, Saitō left Edo in 1862, after accidentally killing a hatamoto. He went to Kyoto and taught in the dōjō of a man named Yoshida, who had relied on Saitō's father Yūsuke in the past. His style of swordsmanship is not clear. According to a tradition of his descendants, Saito Hajime's swordsmanship style is considered to be Mugai Ryū that originates from Yamaguchi Ittō-ryū. Thus the style derived from Ittō-ryū (One sword style). He is also considered to have learned Tsuda Ichi-den-ryū and Sekiguchi-ryū.

Shinsengumi Period

The same age as Okita Sōji and another member named Tōdō Heisuke, the three shared the distinction of being the youngest in Kondō Isami's group and being among its most gifted swordsmen. As a member of the Shinsengumi, Saitō was said to be an introvert and a mysterious person; a common description of his personality says he "was not a man predisposed to small talk". Saitō was an unusually tall man at 5 feet 11 inches (180 cm). He was also noted to be very dignified, especially in his later years. He always made sure that his obi was tied properly and when he walked he was careful not to drag his feet. At rest he always sat in the formal position, called seiza, and he would remain very alert so that he could react instantly to any situations that might occur.

He was, however, known to be very intimidating when he wanted to be. Along with his duties as Captain of the Third Squad in the Shinsengumi, he was also responsible for weeding out any potential spies within the Shinsengumi ranks. Members had to constantly be mindful of what they said around him.

His original position within the Shinsengumi was assistant vice commander (副長助勤, fukuchō jokin). His duties included being a kenjutsu instructor. During the Ikedaya incident on July 8, 1864, Saitō was with Hijikata Toshizō's group that arrived later at the Ikedaya Inn.

On August 20, 1864, Saitō and the rest of the Shinsengumi took part in the Kinmon incident against the Chōshū rebels. In the reorganization of the ranks in November 1864, he was first assigned as the fourth unit's captain and would later receive an award from the shogunate for his part in the Kinmon incident.

At the Shinsengumi new headquarters at Nishi Hongan-ji in April 1865, he was assigned as the third unit's captain. Saitō was considered to be on the same level of swordsmanship as the first troop captain Okita Sōji and the second troop captain Nagakura Shinpachi. In fact, it is rumoured that Okita feared his sword skill.

Despite prior connections to Aizu, his descendants dispute that he served as a spy. His controversial reputation comes from accounts that he executed several corrupt members of the Shinsengumi; however, rumors vary as to his role in the deaths of Tani Sanjūrō in 1866 and Takeda Kanryūsai in 1867. His role as an internal spy for the Shinsengumi is also questionable; one common example being that he is said to have been instructed to join Itō Kashitarō's splinter group Goryō Eji Kōdai-ji faction, to spy on them, which eventually led to the Aburanokōji incident on December 13, 1867. However, this is disputed by Abe Jūrō, who did not believe he was a spy. It is probable that he also monitored other intelligence and enemy activity.

Meiji Restoration

Saitō, under the new name Fujita Gorō (藤田 五郎), traveled to Tonami, the new domain of the Matsudaira clan of Aizu. He took up residence with Kurasawa Heijiemon, the Aizu karō who was an old friend of his from Kyoto. Kurasawa was involved in the migration of Aizu samurai to Tonami and the building up of the settlements in Tonami (now Aomori Prefecture), particularly in Gonohe village. In Tonami, Fujita met Shinoda Yaso, the daughter of an Aizu retainer. The two met through Kurasawa, who was then living with Ueda Shichirō, another Aizu retainer. Kurasawa sponsored Fujita and Yaso's marriage on August 25, 1871; the couple lived in Kurasawa's house. It was also around this time that Fujita may have become associated with the Police Bureau. Fujita and Yaso moved out of the Kurasawa house on February 10, 1873, and started living in the Ueda household. When on June 10, 1874, he left Tonami for Tokyo, Yaso moved in with Kurasawa and the Kurasawa family records last entry of her is in 1876. It is unknown what happened afterwards. It was around this time Fujita Gorō began to work as a police officer in the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department.

In 1874, Fujita married Takagi Tokio. Tokio was the daughter of Takagi Kojūrō, a retainer of the Aizu domain. Her original name was Sada; she served for a time as lady-in-waiting to Matsudaira Teru. The marriage is believed to have been sponsored by the former Aizu karō Yamakawa Hiroshi and Sagawa Kanbei as well as the former lord of Aizu Matsudaira Katamori. Fujita and Tokio had three children: Tsutomu (1876–1956); Tsuyoshi (1879–1946); and Tatsuo (1886–1945). Tsutomu and his wife Nishino Midori had seven children; the Fujita family continues to the present day through Tarō and Naoko Fujita, the children of Tsutomu's second son Makoto. Fujita's third son Tatsuo was adopted by the Numazawa family, Tokio's maternal relatives (another family of Aizu karō) whose family had nearly been wiped out in the Boshin War.

During his lifetime, Fujita Gorō shared some of his Shinsengumi experiences with a select few, these included Aizu natives Yamakawa Kenjirō and Takamine Hideo, whose houses he frequented. He would drink sake with Yamakawa and Takamine and tell stories of his past. However, he did not write anything about his activity in the Shinsengumi as Nagakura Shinpachi did. During his life in the Meiji period, Fujita was the only one who was authorized by the government to carry a katana despite the collapse of the Tokugawa rule. In 1875, Fujita assisted Nagakura Shinpachi (as Sugimura Yoshie) and Matsumoto Ryōjun in setting up a memorial monument known as Grave of Shinsengumi in honor of Kondō Isami, Hijikata Toshizō, and other deceased Shinsengumi members at Itabashi, Tokyo.

Death

Fujita's heavy drinking was believed to have contributed to his death from a stomach ulcer. He died in 1915 at age 72, sitting in seiza in his living room. Upon his will, he was buried at Amidaji, Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima, Japan.

Saitō in fiction

He has featured in several anime and manga, and is also prominent in other media about the Shinsengumi.

Saitō's appearance in Nobuhiro Watsuki's Rurouni Kenshin series is likely the best-known of his manga and anime incarnations. The series introduces Saitō as an anti-hero and eventual ally to the protagonist Himura Kenshin, and depicts several of the known historical descriptions of him from real life, from his personality and role in the Shinsengumi to his being left-handed. As Watsuki is a self-proclaimed Hijikata Toshizō fan, Saitō makes in-series call-backs to his time in the Shinsengumi by peddling Hijikata's ishida san'yaku powdered medicine as a cover, and states that his Gatotsu attack is a perfected version of Hijikata's Hiratsuki. His famous 'swift death to evil' (aku soku zan) motto in the series was also the theme of an entry in the 2000 International Obfuscated C Code Contest, in which a series of programmed source code featuring his anime portrait in ASCII Art wrote other programs that eventually formed a loop spelling out aku soku zan. In the 2012 live-action film adaptation and its sequels Saitō is played by Yōsuke Eguchi.

Keiichiro Washizuka of The Last Blade games invokes Saitō Hajime's design in the Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal OVA while also sporting Kenshin's famous scar. He fights with a series of ‘sliding charge’ attacks that resemble the Gatotsu.

He is parodied in the anime Gintama as Saitō Shimaru, a narcoleptic with a fear of speaking. In the series, he holds the role of an internal investigator of the Shinsengumi, a post he was said to have held in real life, and is also regarded as its most deadly member by Okita Sougo, the Gintama proxy of Okita Sōji.

Saitō is the third unit captain of the Shinsengumi in Peacemaker Kurogane. Here he is perpetually sleepy with droopy eyes and a soft voice and the supernatural ability to see ghosts. And similar to his depiction in Rurouni Kenshin, he is shown with a fondness for soba.

He is portrayed as a quiet and serious spy in Kaze Hikaru. He is also the protagonist of the manga Burai, a fictional story about the Shinsengumi during the later part of the Tokugawa shogunate.