Four Hitokiri of the Bakumatsu

{{Short description|Group of Japanese samurai}}

{{about|the four samurai known as Hitokiri|the 1969 film|Hitokiri (film)|}}

The {{nihongo|Four Hitokiri of the Bakumatsu|幕末四大人斬り|Bakumatsu Yondai Hitokiri}} was a term given to four samurai during the Bakumatsu era in Japanese history.『歴史ポケット人物新聞 回天ふたたび 坂本龍馬』p95 及川拓哉著 大空出版 2008年8月1日 The four men were Kawakami Gensai, Kirino Toshiaki (also known as Nakamura Hanjirō), Tanaka Shinbei, and Okada Izō.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gcRiDwAAQBAJ&dq=%E5%B9%95%E6%9C%AB%E3%81%AE%E5%9B%9B%E5%A4%A7%E4%BA%BA%E6%96%AC%E3%82%8A&pg=PT73|title=イケメン幕末史|publisher=PHP研究所|year=2010|author=小日向えり|language=ja}} They opposed the Tokugawa shogunate (and later, supported the Meiji Emperor). These four samurai were warrior elite and widely considered undefeatable by normal people. The word hitokiri literally means "manslayer" or "man cutter,"{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8_d2DgAAQBAJ|title=Samurai Assassins: "Dark Murder" and the Meiji Restoration, 1853-1868|publisher= McFarland|pages=60|author=Romulus Hillsborough|year=2017|isbn=9781476628004}} as the kanji 人 means person, while 斬 can alternatively mean slay or cut.