Takeda Kanryūsai Takeda Kanryusai ( 武田 観柳斎 ) ( ? – June 22 , 1867 ) was the fifth unit captain of the Shinsengumi which were a special police force for the Tokugawa regime . Background . He was a samurai born in Izumo , in the late Edo Period . Born " Fukuda Hiroshi " in Izumo ( modern day Shimane Prefecture , in the Chūgoku region ) , it ' s said that Takeda wanted to become a doctor in his youth . However , he left his clan to study the Koushuu Nagamuna style of military strategy in Edo . While there , he became close to the well - known Takeda family and was adopted by them , taking the name " Takeda Kanryuusai " . This branch of the Takeda clan were hereditary Aizu vassals , although Takeda Kouunsai was a well - known antibakufu activist involved with the Tengu - tou . Little is known of Takeda Kanryuusai ' s life before joining the Shinsengumi , but he was likely involved in academics and medicine . His sword style was most likely " Hokushin Ittō - ryū " , although he does not appear to have been very skilled . He was close to the influential loyalist Hirano Kuniomi . However , he was too outspoken an advocate of sonno joi and was arrested . He escaped imprisonment in 1863 and fled to Kyoto to join the Shinsengumi . Shinsengumi Period . Somehow he had been acquainted with Kondo Isami in Edo and joined his group early in the winter of 1863 or 1864 , at age 30 . He was appointed to a management position as a fukuchou ' s assistant based on his credentials in military strategy . There , he ingratiated himself to Kondou with cheap flattery and was despised by most of the other members . Takeda was assigned to assist in the arrest of Furutaka Shuntaro ( also known as Masuya Kiemon ) , which lead to the Ikedaya Affair . He was a member of Kondo ' s group and helped to secure the perimeter of Ikeda - ya . Takeda participated in the indoor battle after the arrival of Hijikata ' s group , bringing down the ceiling and killing a Tosa ronin . He received a 20 ryou bonus for valor in combat . Soon after , he was sent as an officer to the Akebono Restaurant incident , in which an Aizu retainer accidentally killed a Nagato retainer . When Nagakura Shinpachi and others petitioned the Aizu clan on account of Kondou ' s allegedly despotic leadership , Takeda strived to mediate between the two sides . After that , he turned to military affairs such as increasing the ranks of the Shinsengumi . In September he accompanied Kondo to Edo as his secretary ; in November , he went to Nagato as a military advisor . He outranked military advisor Ito Kashitaro at the time . However , the Shinsengumi were beginning to adopt more Western military techniques based on the French army by the time of Ito Kashitaro ' s enlistment , which rendered Takeda ' s Koushuu style obsolete . However , a clever appeal to Kondou earned Takeda the position of fifth Unit Captain in 1865 . He also taught strategy and tactics . But Itou Kashitarou ' s excellence in academics and martial arts was not ignored by Kondo , no matter how fond he was of his sycophant , Takeda . Takeda was left off an 1866 business trip to Hiroshima in favor of the other military advisor . In desperation , he sought whatever allies he could . Death . Takeda approached Itou about forming a separate party within the Shinsengumi , but Ito refused only to do exactly that in 1867 . Even without Itou ' s support , Takeda ambitiously planned to leave the Shinsengumi , contact Satsuma and start a new movement to overthrow the shogun . Although he had previously been loyal to Kondou , it is said that he was offered a large sum of money to leave . He obtained permission to leave the Shinsengumi and return to Izumo - however , the Shisnengumi ' s extensive network of informants discovered his secret communications with Satsuma . There are conflicting accounts of how and when Takeda was killed . The first is that he was assassinated on the 28th day , ninth month , of the year Keiou 2 ( November 5 , 1866 ) , on his way back from Izumo . He was making his way across the Zenitori Bridge of the Taketa Highway in Fushimi when he was confronted by Saito Hajime and Shinohara Tainoshin . Saitou Hajime is often credited with the kill , although Shinohara is said to be the true assassin . The other story is that he was not murdered until the 22nd day , sixth month , in the year Keiou 3 ( July 23 , 1867 ) , on his way home along that highway from a farewell party organised by Kondo . He had obtained permission to leave , but the Shinsengumi secretly plotted against him . He may have also attempted to join Itou ' s group at this time , but was turned down . He then intended to join Satsuma . Saitou , and sometimes Shinohara , are usually credited in this version of the assassination as well , but they had both left the Shinsengumi months earlier as a part of Itou ' s group . There is much unresolved confusion over when exactly Takeda left the Shinsengumi and when his treachery was discovered . The 1867 date is more widely used . Character . Takeda was a tall man with cropped hair . He was known to have been strict to subordinates that he seemed to wish to reduce them to tears , while fawning over superiors . Takeda was also said to be homosexual . Homosexuality was discouraged within the Shinsengumi for the violent love triangles it often generated . Takeda did not have any recorded liaisons with women , and several recruits apparently complained of harassment . The novelist Shimozawa Kan writes in his " Shinsengumi Monogatari " that Takeda had been harassing a beautiful young boy , Umagoe Saburō , but that Umagoe rejected him and appealed to Hijikata . It happened that Umagoe also saw Takeda leaving the Satsuma estate and reported such to Kondō . However , since Umagoe left the Shinsengumi three years before Takeda ' s assassination , this is probably untrue . However , Takeda did not have an attractive personality to either sex . He largely avoided the dirty work of the Shinsengumi and concentrated on pandering to his superiors . Kondō found him to be educated and erudite , and was impressed with his skills in strategy and medicine , but obviously his opinion of Takeda changed . Takeda ' s decision to join Satsuma was probably motivated less by political aspirations than by greed . Unlike Itō , he lacked the charisma to successfully create a separatist group , and is remembered as a rather pathetic villain . Takeda Kanryūsai ' s memorial is at the Shinsengumi cemetery in Kitaku Takinogawa 7 - chōme . " Rurouni Kenshin " author Nobuhiro Watsuki cites Takeda Kanryūsai as the inspiration for a character by the name of Takeda Kanryū , who appears for a few chapters in the manga , as well as in the television series of the same name .