Numajiri Kobungo (沼尻小文吾)
Kobungo NUMAJIRI (c.1835-1902) was a member of the Shinsengumi (a special police force who guarded Kyoto during the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate). He eventually became a corporal. Another brief states that he was born in 1843. It is said that he came from Bushu (Musashi Province), but the "Eimeiroku" (a list of Shinsengumi members) made by Kai SHIMADA states that he came from the Takasaki Domain of Kozuke Province. He mastered the swordsmanship of the Okuyama Nen-ryu school. Aijiro NUMAJIRI (a page) had the same family name but was a different person. The relationship between Kobungo and Aijiro is unknown.
Shinsengumi
Kobungo enrolled in the Shinsengumi around October 1864. In December 1864, he was assigned to the fifth squad led by Syuntaro OGATA.
In February 1866, he was in charge of assisting the suicide of the Accountant Kisaburo KAWAI, who was sentenced to commit suicide by disembowelment because for embezzlement.
It is said that he cut Kisabro's head in his third try after first hitting Kisaburo's shoulder and then, his head. It is said that Kobungo had said at the time: "I have never imagined people capable of making such agonizing sound." After that, Kawai's family held a grudge against Kobungo, and Kobungo was attacked by someone (probably a Kawai's relative) injuring his neck. He survived, but his neck was skewed because of the injury and inappropriate treatment. He was nicknamed 'Kobungo the Skewed Head."
He later became a corporal and fought in the Battle of Toba and Fushimi started in January 1868. He withdrew to Osaka because of injury and returned to Edo. He ran away from the Shinsengumi soon afterwards.
Folklore
According folklore, he is said to have died in 1902 of old age.