Japanese Kanji Dictionary - Shinsengumi

2006-03-28T16:07:00.000-08:00

新撰組

English:
Shinseigumi

Kanji:
新撰組

Hiragana:
しんせんぐみ

Romanization:
shinsengumi

The Shinsengumiis a group of special police force tried to defend Japanese Tokugawa Shogunate at the late Shogunate period (The late 1860s).

The term Shinsengumibecame well-known overseas after Japanese television broadcaster NHK aired a year-long television drama series called "Shinsengumi!"in 2004.

North Americans started to notice this term Shinsengumiafter a historical fiction Japanese girl’s manga called Kaze Hikaruis translated into English. This manga is about a 15-year-old girl Sei Tominaga disguises herself as a boy named Seizaburo Kamiya to join the "Mibu-roshi" (later known as Shinsengumi) to avenge her murdered father and brother. You may think this manga is very violent but it is actually a humorous and heart-warming manga for readers from 16 year old and up by Taeko Watanabe.

Since Shinsengumibecomes famous, there are many Shinsengumiproducts available in Japan. Please click and look at a photo of Shinsengumi Hello Kitty cookie from weblog Hello Kitty Power.