Aku Soku Zan

These are the english translations of the japanese kanji for Kill Evil Instantly. Sounds like routine dialogue from a Jerry Bruckheimer movie. However this phrase was not an empty threat or a dull low frequency warble from throats grown fat with speech. This phrase was the motto of the Shinsengumi in Bakumatsu Kyoto. In Japan during the 19th century, a movement arose to overthrow the power of the Shogun and restore the power of the Emperor. The shogunate, though strong at the time of its inception, had grown weak and was unable to control the growing power and independence of the daimyos or fiefs of the country. So Japan was plunged into the Bakumatsu No Douran or period of civil war with the shogunate on one side allayed against the major daimyos of Choshuu and Satsuma who supported the Emperor. Midway through the civil war the daimyo of Aizu which was still loyal to the shogunate set up the Shinsengumi. This was a company of swordsman that was the most loyal and the most lethal weapon of the Bakufu or the feudal government. The Shinsengumi achieved great success but in the end, they and the shogunate were defeated, relics of an ancient time. In this new age, the peasant with the gun could destroy a highly trained swordsman.

Aku Soku Zan. Kill Evil Instantly.