Tokugawa Iemochi
The squad's nominal commander was the hatamoto Matsudaira Katamori, and their leader was Kiyokawa Hachirō, a "rōnin" from Shōnai Domain. The Rōshigumi's mission was to protect Tokugawa Iemochi, the 14th "shōgun", during an important trip to Kyoto to meet with the Emperor Kōmei. There had not been such a meeting since the third "shōgun" of the Tokugawa Bakufu, Tokugawa Iemitsu, had visited Kyoto in the 17th century. Tokugawa Iemochi, the head of the military government, the Bakufu, had been invited to discuss how Japan should enact the recent imperial edict calling for the expulsion of foreigners.