Sengoku Basara Meets the Bakumatsu

[Kaji Motomiya]

So everyone knows about the famous game known as "Sengoku Basara," a fantasy-ish game that revolves around the Sengoku period (1463 to 1573) of Japan. Some may remember some famous characters in both the series and history, such as Yukimura Sanada, Sarutobi Sasuke, Oda Nobunaga, and Tokugawa Ieyasu. Sengoku Basara took a different twist in history, giving these historical figures mystical powers that aided in mowing down their enemies.

So...

I wanted to take the Bakumatsu, who a friend said was the end of the age of Samurais, and give it that "Sengoku Basara" feel. First, though, before I do, if someone is very knowledgeable of the Bakumatsu (think the war before the story of Rurouni Kenshin), can you educate me? I'm kinda confused with what Wikipedia gives me.

Factions in the roleplay that I want to make include...

Ishin Shishi
Shinsengumi
Shogunate
Sekihoutai

And popular figures may include...

Ōmura Masujirō
Sakamoto Ryoma
Kondo Isami
Hijikata Toshizo
Takasugi Shinsaku
Matsudaira Katamori
Saigo Takamori
Tokugawa Yoshinobu
Yoshida Shoin
Katsura Kogoro
Nomura Motoni
Matthew C. Perry

So yeah....first, some one tell me what "Basara" means so I can make a title, and someone help me out with historical facts regarding the Bakumatsu so I can make this RP, please.

 

[Demetrivamp]

KAJI Message me on skype and you will have all the help you will need

I doubt you'd think i would know anything about this XD.

Though i have no idea what basara means sadly.

 

[Zaku]

Wow err, it's not something easily explained. Since so much happened during the I guess about 20 years that the final Tokugawa. It's kinda a subject that probably would be hard to explain clearly since there si so many parts.

I'll try

Simply the isolationist policy ended when Commodore Perry came over, some people welcomed the foreigners some parts of the shogunate some clans. While the others didn't like the idea and would rather stay isolated, the main house that was against this was the Choshu and Satsuma clan nationalist.

At the time the shogunate controlled mostly everything while serving the emperor in kyoto. They were basically a government with the emperor having little say. Mostly because he doesn't want to get involved. The Clans would war against each other, and the foreigners are caught in between the cross fire.Some Ronins are recruited and made into the shinsengumi this force was made to protect the people in Kyoto from these uprising against the government. They became famous during a battle in Kyoto against the Choshu rebellion the first one i believe Then suddenly with all the political turmoil a shogun dies, and this caused even more chaos.

Afterward, the Emperor steps in and make the decision to "Expel the Barbarian" this is like the first time he stepped in, to do anything with the politics. Any who, they started to do just that hunt down the foreigner and deport them or just plain kill them off. So this went against some treaty signed by I think a dead shogun so the Americans and English are like you just declared war "Wahhhh cry cry cry this is an out rage this is MADNESS!!!"

and the emperor was like

"THIS IS NIPPON!"(Japan)

The Japanese were then like we must follow our emperor so they go and tell the foreigner "Fool this is ma House! Get out!" So the Americans, English and the French got mad and replied "Ok then we're going to commence bomb the crap out of your country until you let us back in" so thus began a pretty much war. The poor but honorable Samurai lost against the technologically superior westerners. Now people are confuse they are pretty much like the foreigner are stronger lets just submit, and the nationalist just plainly refuse. Eventually the Shougunate, decided to cooperate to some degree, and started to weaponized troops with the westerners stuff. This obviously piss of the nationlist.

So the Choushu rebel and try to take full control of Kyoto. At some point they had full control of the nation. But then in the end they lost and the shougun period ended thus, started the Meiji era. where the Samurai was banned.

Well I tried. If you have any other questions feel free to ask. Hopefully this makes more sense then Wiki =O And Basara is a name. Dunno if there is any significant meaning behind it. *shrug*

 

[Kaji Motomiya]

Actually....I think this kinda made less sense, but it did make me laugh. I understand it a little because it was shorter than Wikipedia.

 

[KouAidou]

The Bakumatsu isn't my strong point, but I'll try to explain it pretty simple.

--

Up through the 19th century, Japan was ruled by a centralized military government known as the Shogunate (aka bakufu). It was a highly structured feudal system designed to keep the lords and peasants in line. There were four societal castes, whose divisions were rigidly enforced: Samurai, Farmers, Craftsmen, and Merchants.

The country had also closed off its borders to foreign trade, except for very limited dealings with the Chinese and Portuguese. This was because of the fear of Christian missionaries. Christianity was thought to undermine the feudal state and incite rebellion, since it was thought that followers of Christianity would not accept the dominance of their "rightful" feudal lords.

Samurai lords (daimyo) were each assigned to their own domain in Japan, and forced to make a pilgrimage to Tokyo every two years to report to the shogun. These pilgrimages were massive undertakings, requiring hundreds of retainers. For lords who lived very far away, they were prohibitively expensive. Of course, this was an intentional scheme by the shogunate to keep potentially treacherous lords impoverished and therefore more easily controlled.

--

Under these tight restrictions, Japan remained in a state of relative peace and isolation for 150 years. The peace broke down for two main reasons.

First, the societal ladder had begun to reverse itself. Merchants, (who were supposed to be at the bottom rung of society), were becoming richer and richer, and the Samurai lords (who were supposed to be at the top rung) were becoming poorer and poorer. The shogunate was broke.

Second, imperialistic Western powers, especially America, were growing more and more aggressive about trying to get the Japanese to trade with them.

--

In 1853, the American Commodore Matthew Perry sailed into Tokyo Harbor with four massive steam-powered warships to force the Japanese to open trade. It was unprecedented technology to the Japanese, and the shogunate had no choice but to relent to their demands and sign a trade treaty.

Naturally, many Japanese people were not happy with this turn of events. They thought the shogunate was weak, and was cooperating with foreign barbarians. The Emperor Komei spoke out against the treaty, and those who were dissatisfied with the status quo under the shogunate began to cry out to restore the Emperor to power.

So basically, the Ishin Shishi were formed to try to spread dissent against the shogunate and restore the Emperor to power; the Shinsengumi were a group formed by the shogunate to try to quell such uprisings.

--

After a long period of fighting, the Emperor was restored to power, but the former Emperor Komei had died and his son Meiji took over. Meiji realized that there was no way their armies could oppose the Western powers through force. Instead, he sent the country through an unprecedented process of modernization, trying to convince the Western powers that the Japanese were "civilized" and didn't need to be colonized.

This modernization included sending emissaries to countries in Europe to find out about Western methods of schooling and military structures, abolishing the samurai class and feudal system of government, and establishing a basic constitution guaranteeing basic human rights.

--

And I think that's the basics of it... I tried to keep it as general as I could, so there's obviously a lot of details missing. Like I said, it's not my strong point in history, so I filled in some of the gaps with wikipedia as well. At any rate, I hope this comes off as a better general overview than what you were getting from wiki before.

 

[Kaji Motomiya]

I appreciate the help, Zaku and Kou, but...now I'm having second thoughts. Reading these, it seems that the Bakumatsu is more political compared to how the Sengoku period was depicted by Sengoku Basara.

If it was a full scale war for control and unification like Sengoku Basara was, the RP I had in mind would be easier to deal with.

Hmm...so the Bakumatsu was essentially a sort of civil war...hmm...

I could have the RP focus after the trade treaty, which should probably lead to the Isshin Shishi and Shinsengumi...and other important figures such as Sakamoto Ryoma.

 

[KouAidou]

Yeah, one of the problems I'd have with applying Sengoku Basara logic to the Bakumatsu period is that the narrative of the Bakumatsu is... at best, admirably pragmatic, and at worst, extremely depressing. I mean, it's ultimately about how, no matter how bravely the Japanese fought and no matter what they did to each other, they ultimately had to sacrifice a part of themselves to the inevitability of the empires from across the sea. IIRC, even Rurouni Kenshin has that kind of air of sadness to it.

Of course, it's also fascinating for that reason... but in a way that's kind of the opposite of the super-powered insanity of the Sengoku Basara. I think you'd need to alter your tone to acknowledge this.

(If you are looking something more along the lines of Basara, though, you might do better to go back in time to the 12th-13th centuries, the Genpei Wars as portrayed in the Tale of the Heike, and the character of Yoshitsune. You won't get the same dispersement of factions that you get in the Sengoku period, but you will get some pretty awesome larger-than-life characters and super-powered l33t.)

 

[Kaji Motomiya]

.......hmm...I think I can do something with this, then.

In a battle for the restoration of the emperor vs the move to modernization, (supernatural) power and politics take place in the world of the Bakumatsu.

While I still do wanna give the Bakumatsu that Sengoku Basara feel, I don't want to alter the historical story behind it. So major players like Sakamoto Ryoma and the Shinsengumi and others that I do not know about are in a battle for change.

The Shinsengumi should be depicted one of the most powerful factions during that time, having 10 squad leaders with supernatural powers, and other strong warriors of that time with those same powers. While following the course of history, the Shinsengumi slowly diminish as Japan heads towards modernization.

Hmm....I think it'd be easier to use mainly the Shinsengumi than the entire story of the Bakumatsu...I'd love to see the Ikedaya Incident in Sengoku Basara form. lol

 

[KouAidou]

Hmm, focusing on a smaller conflict does seem to be the way to go. It sounds interesting!

I am curious, though, what attributes would you assign to the Western powers, in a world where magic and superhumans exist? Is Japan the only country with superhumans? If so, how does their magic compare with the West's technology? If not, how do Japanese superhumans differ from those in the West?

Now, I don't imagine you'd be making the Westerners a major faction in the RP itself, but I think it's an important setting detail to consider. The degree to which the Japanese think they stand a chance of resisting the West would play a major role in the motivations of the members of the Shishi and the Shinsengumi, and the dynamic between them.

 

[Kaji Motomiya]

We cooould....do you think that samurais who can control lightning and fire are still stronger than those with upgraded technology?