The Vampire Kageura

This past weekend, I started another blog, titled, "The Vampire Kageura."  It can be found at www.thevampirekageura.blogspot.com.  It is my thought process as I write the sequel to the novella, Sword of the Undead.  It takes place in modern day Los Angeles. Kageura is set upon raising an army of vampires, and will once again battle Yagyu Jubei. It only has two entries thusfar, but please check it out.

I'm Back

A couple of months after my last post, I contracted meningitis, spent two months in the hospital, and the disease had left me temporarily paralyzed from the waist down.  Slowly, I started regaining movement, and had to earn how to walk again.  I t's been six months since I last used a wheelchair, and three and a half months since returning it to the medical supply company that I had been renting it from. 

Now, that I'm back, I'm planning on starting a couple more blogs, one a "sequel" to Sword of the Undead, title, "The Vampire Kageura," and another one which will focus on spinal cord injury.  

Great Photo I found on pininterest

Here is a great photo I found on pininterest, so I re-pinned it

Source: 27.media.tumblr.com via Steve on Pinterest

Sakamoto Ryoma Folk Song

Sakamoto Ryoma is such a popular figure in the former Tosa domain, that there is a folk song about him. 

Battle of Sekigahara

The Battle of Sekigahara was the one which would bring the Tokugawas into power, which they held onto for over 250 years.

Sakamoto Ryoma

Sakamoto Ryoma is one of the heroes of early modern Japan.  He was one of the key figures during the struggles to overthrow the Tokugawa Shogunate.  In his early political days, he was part of a movement to overthrow the Shogunate and supported Imperial rule.  He went to Edo to assassinate a high ranking Tokugawa official by the name of Katsu Kaishu (an advocate of modernizing Japan in order to eventually repel the Western powers which had gained much influence in Japan), but instead became Katsu's protoge.  Under Katsu's direction, and help from Western powers, he help build a modern navy that defeated the Shogunate navy.  He was assassinated on his birthday, in 1867.  The actual group that assassinated Ryoma is not (and probably will never be known), but most accounts assign the assassination to the shinsengumi.  However, the Mimawarigumi (another group of samurai assigned to protect the Shogun's interest in Kyoto) took credit for the assassination. The following year, the Tokugawa Shogunate fell, directly related to Sakamoto's negotiations with the Shogunate to cede control to the Imperialists.

This period of Japanese history is very confusing.  Although both the Imperialists and the Shogunates wanted the Western Powers to leave Japan, both sides seeked Western technologies, especially in weaponry.  Sakamoto himself wanted the foreigners expelled, but also wanted to model a "new" Japan after the ideals set forth in The United States' Declaration of Independence - a Japan free of fuedal structure.   As far as the struggles between the Imperial forces and the Shogunate,  as enjoyable as Tom Cruise's movie, The Last Samurai was, it is an inaccurate portrayal of the two sides, as far as weaponry goes.

Samurai Photos- repost

I posted this before, but recently came across it again on YouTube.  Photos of samurai from the 1860's to the (ex-samurai) around 1880 or so.