Shinsengumi Boom

[Christophe Thouny]

This is not another mail about the Onmyoji-Recent Japanese
Cinema discussion (I did not know contemporary japanese
cinema still had to be justified in this forum?!).

I happen to be now interested in the shinsengumi boom now
occuring in Japan (after the Onmyoji boom best represented
by the movie of the same name). The attraction for the
shinsengumi is not something new itself, and there have
been a few movies (among them Oshima's Gohatto) and novels
(Shiba Ryotaro) made on the subject, along with the undying
fascination of mutliple generations of shinsengumi fans.

But the actual shinsengumi boom seems to beis taking a new
scale, reaching all levels of the population, and working
through all the media (mostly visual) available : NHK TV
drama staring a SMAP member, RolePlayingGame for
PlaystationII, Manga (Peace Maker), countless books of
hitorical vulgarization along with maps of the old Kyoto, a
growing popularity of tourist sites linked with the
shinsengumi history...

This may be just another ephemeral fashion boom (and the
onmyoji boom can be shown to have had similar
characteristics), yet even in that case, it still raises
interesting questions regarding the interconnection of
history (monumental and national), newmedia (as a locus of
production of media space) popular culture and fashion (and
regarding film study the role played in the history of
japanese cinema by the bakumatsu era in the construction of
a national identity from the Taisho era).

I just raise the issue, and hope some people would like to
share his-her thoughts on the question.

Also, I take the opportunity to introduce myself. I am a
PhD candidate in east asian studies at McGill University,
currently in Tokyo to work on issues of urban space,
cartography and modernity (Meiji-Taisho now).


Christophe Thouny



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