Monai Arinosuke (毛内有之助)
Arinosuke MONAI (March 26, 1835 - December 13, 1867) was a member of the Shinsengumi (a special police force of the late Tokugawa shogunate period) and Goryo-eji (guard of Imperial mausoleums). His imina (personal name) was Yoshitane, and commonly known as Kenmotsu (auditor).
Biography
In 1835, he was born as the second son of MONAI, a yonin (officer handling domestic economy) of Tsugaru Domain. After having left his clan, he worked as a private tutor in Edo (present Tokyo), making use of his academic knowledge.
In October, 1864, he went up to Kyoto with Kashitaro ITO and others with an intention to become a member of Shinsengumi. After joining Shinsengumi, he served as a master of literature, shoshi shirabeyaku (Shinsengumi's organizational post for investigating movements of the opponents) and kansatsu (Shinsengumi's organizational post for keeping its members under control) and others.
As he was appointed Goryo-eji, together with Mikisaburo SUZUKI, Tainoshin SHINOHARA and others, he withdrew from the Shinsengumi. On December 13, 1867, when Ito was assassinated by Shinsengumi at Shichijo-Aburakoji Crossing (Kyoto), he went there to recover Ito's dead body with Miki, and he was killed by Shinsengumi that was waiting to kill them. Died at the age of 32.
Remarks
The Satsuma Domain bore the financial burden to set up the squad of Goryo-eji.
When he was appointed as a member of Goryo-eji, he made an agreement with Kondo (Isami KONDO), that there would not be any more Shinsengumi members that would be allowed to leave the Shinsengumi. Therefore, those who solicited the their withdrawal from the force with the intention to follow Arinosuke MONAI, such as Tsukasa IBARAKI, Shimenosuke SANO, Juro TOMIKAWA and Goro NAKAMURA, were not allowed to join him, and they committed suicide at Kyoto residence of Aizu Domain.