Okita Soji (1842-19 July 1868) was the captain of the first unit of the Shinsengumi during the last years of the Tokugawa bakufu.
Biography[]
Okita Soji was born in Edo, Japan in 1842, and he proved to be a prodigy at the Shieikan, mastering all the swordsmanship techniques and obtaining a license of total transmission in the ryu at the age of 18. He became the institution's head coach in 1861, and, in 1863, he cofounded the Shinsengumi police force of the Tokugawa bakufu. He soon became a vice-commander's assistant, and he took part in the assassination of Serizawa Kamo in 1863. He later developed tuberculosis, fainting during the Ikedaya incident. Okita became captain of the first unit of the Shinsengumi in 1865, but he fell ill during the Boshin War and died in an Edo hospital in 1868.