Tamura Ginnosuke (田村銀之助)
Ginnosuke TAMURA (born on August 30, 1856 and died on August 20, 1924) was from Iwakitaira Domain and a member of the Shinsengumi.
In 1867, he joined the Shinsengumi at the age of 12 with his older brothers, Ichiro TAMURA and Rokushiro TAMURA. He served not as a regular member but as a pageboy to the commander, Isami KONDO and the vice commander, Toshizo HIJIKATA, but soon, the Boshin War broke out. He followed the Shinsengumi and moved to Aizu through Nagareyama after the Battle of Toba-Fushimi. It is said that he was too young to join in combats (such as the Aizu War). When Old Shogunate military joined with the Takeaki ENOMOTO fleet in Sendai, he also joined them and headed for Ezo (inhabited area of Ainu).
In the Hakodate government (the short-lived Republic of Ezo), he belonged to rikugunbugyonami (military police) headed by Toshizo HIJIKATA and served as a pageboy to the President Takeaki ENOMOTO. He was also adopted into the family of Saemon KASUGA, the leader of the army. During the Hakodate War, he was treated as a noncombatant and learned French from an interpreter, Masachika TAJIMA.
When Toshizo HIJIKATA was killed on May 11, 1869 and Saemon KASUGA was killed on May 12, he was recommended to escape from goryokaku (the main fortress of the short-lived Republic of Ezo) by the president, Takeaki ENOMOTO and the head of the military police, Keisuke OTORI. However, he refused the offer outright. On May 18, the Old Shogunate military surrendered to the new government. After that, he served the Meiji government and joined wars including the Seinan War as a military officer and he also served as a development commissioner.
He attended a meeting where the participants talked about historic events in 1920. Some stories about the Boshin War told by him have been handed down for generations.
He died in 1924. He died at the age of 69.