National Treasures & Important Cultural Properties
of National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, Japan

Sakamoto Ryoma was killed on the night of the fifteenth day of the eleventh month of Keio 3 (1867). The scene of the assassination was the upstairs room of Omiya, a soy sauce merchant and inn-keeper at Kawaramachi Takoyakushi in Kyoto. Nakaoka Shintaro, a member of the Tosa Rikuentai, was also killed with Ryoma in this room. This scroll was hanging in the tokonoma of the room. At the bottom, several blood marks can be seen. Later, Nagaoka Kenkichi, a member of the Kaientai, added a eulogy at the top of the bloodstained hanging scroll.