Abe Juro (阿部十郎)
Juro ABE (born on September 21, 1837 and died on January 6, 1907) was a member of the Shinsengumi (a special police force). Another name was Juro TAKANO. After the Meiji Restoration, he changed his name into Takaaki.
Biography
In 1837, he was born in Habiro Village, Yuri County, Dewa Province as a second son of Tarobe ABE, a farmer. He learned swordmanship from Mantaro TANI in Osaka and joined Mibu Roshigumi (later, it became the Shinsengumi) in 1863.. He played an important roll with Tani in Osaka Zenzai-ya incident (attack in a sweet-red-bean shop to defeat anti-Tokugawa shogunate samurai). It is said that he left the group in 1864 and later, in 1865, he returned to it.
In the Shinsengumi, he served as gocho (a corporal) and hojutsu shihan (instructor for gunnery). However, in March 1867, he left it and organized Goryoeiji (a group to protect Emperors' graves) with 12 people including Kashitaro Ito. Luckily, he was not involved in Aburanokoji no hen (Aburanokoji incident) because he was out at that time. Later, when he knew the incident, he escaped to the residence of Satsuma Domain. He and the remnants of Goryoeiji who were waiting for the day when they could get revenge attacked and injured Isami KONDO in Fushimi Sumizome. In the Boshin War, he worked under Hanjiro NAKAMURA, statesman of the Satsuma clan and joined in wars including the battle of Toba-Fushimi. Later, he joined in Sekihotai or Sekiho Amy (a group of Japanese political extremists).
After the war, he served as a public officer such as danjodai (police or supervisor for public servants) and a pioneer and also, he worked in the Hokkaido development commission (1886-1947). After he retired, he ran an orchard in Sapporo (Hokkaido Kaju Association), cultivating fruits such as apples. In 1907, he died in Tokyo. He died at the age of 71.
Notes
It is said that after the Meiji Restoraion, he killed Saisuke YASUTOMI, a former member of the Shinsengumi.
The record written by Kai SHIMADA described 'made in Oshu Nihonmatsu', but it is wrong.
In the 1890's, he attended the meetings where the participants talked about historic incidents and some valuable stories of the last days of the Tokugawa shogunate told there have been handed down for generations.