Hello and welcome to Conflicted, the history podcast where we talk about the struggles that shaped us, the tough questions that they pose, and why we should care about any of it.

Conflicted is a member of the Evergreen Podcast Network, and as always, I'm your host, Zach Cornwell.

Welcome to episode 14, Showdown at the Ikedaya Inn. When the sun rose over the city of Kyoto, Japan, on June 5, 1864, a man named Kotaka Shuntaro had been hanging

by his feet for hours. He was still alive, barely. His back had been shredded by whips.

His limbs had been beaten till they were purple. His breathing was ragged and strained. And all of this torture

was part of a pitiless interrogation that had lasted for almost eight hours. And all Kotaka had to

do to make it stop was give his captors the information they wanted. His silence, they assured him, was slowly killing him.

Throughout the night, they had asked him lots of questions over and over again.

But Kotaka wouldn't say a word.

According to an eyewitness, the prisoner, quote,

closed his eyes, clenched his teeth, and passed out.

But he would not open his mouth.

End quote.

Eight hours earlier, Kotaka had been asleep in his bed.

He owned a small shop in the mercantile district of Kyoto, and he was exhausted after a long

day of running the store.

But in the middle of the night, he was woken by a noise, the sound of someone walking up the steps to his bedroom.

Before he could even get up, the door to his room slid open. And Kotaka saw several silhouettes

step into the cramped room.

He could see that all of these men were heavily armed.

They each wore two swords on their hip, a long one and a short one.

And Kotaka knew what that meant.

...