Ok, if you were a bit lost (like me) or needed a refresher I found a nice site (bascally googled it) with a short but comprehensive review on who/what the Shinsengumi, Choshu etc were. Basically I wasn't sure whether the Shinsengumi were pro or anti revolution (during/before Meiji revolution).

Site: http://www.ridgebackpress.com/heroes/shinsegumi.htm

If you just want the jist of it:

The Shinsengumi were recruited by the Tokugawa Bakufu to take care of the radical Choshu (pro-revolution/modernisation against Tokugawa) which was causing havoc in Kyoto. Basically a police-force to restore peace (ironically by violence).

Shinsengumi = pro Tokugawa
Choshu = pro revolution/anti Tokugawa

Hope that helped, but I'm sure you're all Japanese history experts...

I edited that post to remove the angry face as teh post icon it just didnt seem to go with an educational post like that.

Btw as an incentive to click on the link there's a RL pic of Kondo Isami.

It is a great link. thanks for sharing that with us

I was just going to say that.

There's not much Shinsengumi information to be found on the web (with exception of information from Shinsengumi-related manga/animes, which is highly likely to be inaccurate) and I'm alway greatful to see something like this.

As a new fan of the Shinsengumi I've started looking for books, et cetera on the subject. Unfortunately, I'm under the impression that the best books on the Shinsengumi can only be found in Japanese.

Thanks for posting that link.