Ikedaya-ya
June 5, 1864 (Lunar)
July 8, 1864 (Western)
There
are varying opinions on exactly what happened at the incident
of Ikedaya. Traditionally, it is said that Yoshida was at
the Ikedaya inn with other like-minded Ishin discussing an
assassination plot involving the burning of Kyoto. The Shinsengumi,
however, had gotten news of this meeting, and therefore raided
the inn that very night. Yoshida managed to escape after being
seriously wounded, but reached the gates of the Choshu han
residence in the Kawaramachi district (of Kyoto) only to find
them shut, and thus committed seppuku on the spot.
Another
theory is that after he escaped, he managed to report to the
Choshu han residence, but then headed back to the inn with
a handgun -- presumably to help the comrades he had left behind
there -- and was killed outside the residence of the Kaga
han in the struggle to make his way back inside through an
encircling net of enemy troops.
Yet
another, more recent, theory states that Yoshida wasn't even
at Ikedaya when the Shinsengumi first attacked, but only hurried
there after hearing about the incident at the Choshu han residence,
and died in battle with the Aizu soldiers he encountered on
the way.
Of
course, popular legend also has it that he crossed swords
with the young prodigy and Shinsengumi captain Okita Souji
on this particular night; however, this tale is most likely
just a result of the many fictional depictions of the Shinsengumi
that have dramatized the Ikedaya incident over the years,
probably originating with highly respected historical novelist
Shiba Ryotaro's inclusion of a dramatic duel between Okita
and Yoshida in his trendsetting Shinsengumi novel Moeyoken
("Burning Sword").
