Yamano Yasohachi (山野八十八)
Yasohachi YAMANO (1841 - 1910) was a lowly member of the Shinsengumi (a special force that guarded Kyoto during the end of Tokugawa Shogunate), and one of the binan goninshu (five men of beauty).
He was born in Kaga Province. In 1863 he joined the Shinsengumi with Kai SHIMADA and Shuntaro OGATA. He did not took part in the Ikedaya Incident, because he was in duty at an army post. He was one of the binan goninshu, together with Kojuro KUSUNOKI, Aijiro SASAKI, Saburo MAGOSHI, and Ryutaro MAZUME. Although it is not fully reliable, but there is a description that he belonged to the Ichibangumi-tai (first squad) of the Shinsengumi lead by Soshi OKITA.
It is said that after the Shinsengumi lost the Battle of Toba-Fushimi, he returned to Edo (present Tokyo), but he continued being a member. He left the Shinsengumi before it surrendered in Hakodate City, and after the Meiji Restoration he worked as a janitor at Kikuhama Elementary School in Kyoto and retired in 1896.
In 1908, he reunited with his ex-lover, with whom he broke up before the Boshin War, and since then he lived with her for his entire life.