Four Hitokiri of the Bakumatsu

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The Four Hitokiri of the Bakumatsu (幕末四大人斬り) was a term given to four samurai during the Bakumatsu era in Japanese history. They were against the Tokugawa shogunate (and later, in support of the Meiji Emperor.) Hitokiri, literally meaning "Man Slayer", is a superlative name for this particular caliber of samurai. These four samurai were warrior elite and widely considered undefeatable by normal people. Along with the title of Hitokiri, the four men were also referred to as "The Four Butchers" or "Heaven's Revenge against the enemies of Imperial restoration". Most of them came from the Chōshū-Satsuma provinces, which were largely anti-Bakufu at the time. These notable men were Kawakami Gensai, Nakamura Hanjiro (also known as Kirino Toshiaki), Tanaka Shimbe, and Izo Okada.

[edit] Hitokiris in Fiction

Hitokiri is a 1969 film directed by Hideo Gosha and starring Shintaro Katsu as Okada Izo.

The anime series Rurouni Kenshin is about a former hitokiri based loosely on Kawakami Gensai.

• Hitokiri at the Internet Movie Database