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Hijikata Toshizō (土方歳三, May 31, 1835—June 20, 1869) was the deputy leader of Shinsengumi, a small-built and talented Japanese military leader who resisted the Meiji Restoration.
Hijikata Toshizō Yoshitoyo was born on May 31, 1835 in present-day Hino (a suburb of Tokyo, Japan). He was the youngest of six children, and his father, a well-to-do farmer, died shortly before his birth. Hijikata's mother also died when he was a young boy and he was therefore raised by his older brother and sister-in-law.
He was spoiled at an early age and was alleged to be mean to all but his friends and family. This changed, when a 21-year-old swordsman from the Aizu clan known for opposing the Loyalists was forced to commit seppuku (ritual suicide). When Hijikata attended the man's funeral, he apparently cried in public.
Hijikata spent his youth selling his family's Ishida Sanyaku (medicine for treating injures such as bruises and broken bones) while practicing his self-taught kenjutsu. His brother-in-law, Satou Hikogorou, managed a Tennen Rishin-ryu dojo in Hino; through Satou, Hijikata met the later Kondo Isami and was formally enrolled at the Tennen Rishin-ryu's Shieikan in 1859.
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