Earlier this month my friends Minako Kohyama and Michio Tsuda and I visited the Hikawa Shrine in Tokyo’s Akasaka district, near the site of Katsu Kaishū’s residence. (Ms. Kohyama is a great great grandchild of Katsu Kaishū. Mr. Tsuda is a direct descendent of Katsu Kaishū’s friend, Tsuda Sen.) We had the special opportunity to view these hanging scrolls with calligraphy written by Katsu Kaishū, Yamaoka Tesshū and Takahashi Deishū – “Bakumatsu no Sanshū.”

It’s common knowledge that Ryōma knew Kaishū. But until I had read a recent book by my good friend Kiyoharu Omino, “Ryōma no Yuigon,” I did not know that Ryōma had actually met Tesshu and Deishu.

From the shrine we walked to the nearby statue of Katsu Kaishū and Sakamoto Ryōma, unveiled last month at the site of Kaishū’s residence. (Ms. Kohyama is in the photo below.)

I wrote about “Bakumatsu no Sanshu” in Samurai Assassins.