Something I want to underline when I get to #FridayNightHistory Season 6 and the Shinsengumi is just how much it's a symptom of the old order breaking down. Most of its senior leaders were not born samurai, but were rather samurai because they said so (Hijikata) or sometimes by adoption (Kondo).

"defenders of the samurai order?" Sure. But what does that even mean, if you're not even samurai by birth, the government barely tolerates you, and you're in an era where everybody and his brother can be samurai if they say so, if they buy the status, or they secure an adoption? #JapaneseHistory #Bakumatsu