According to wikipedia, the historical Saito was the youngest of his family but if I remember correctly in Hakuouki he was the oldest (which changes a lot of things)... I am making researches for writing purposes and I wouldn't mind having your opinion on this. 2/2
[From ½: “Do you have any idea about what I am talking about? If I not would you mind talking a bit about Saito and his family?”]
Hi, I’m completely in sympathy with you: tumblr’s ‘search function’ is indeed truly ‘excellent’. :P
Unfortunately, I’m not familiar with the post you mention. However, I’m happy to put this out there and see if others might be familiar with it:
“a post … about the Hakuouki boys and their relationship with their families and with their sibling.“
For what it’s worth, I’m happy to share what I’ve come across during my own research. As far as I’ve found, Saito was the youngest of three siblings, and had an older brother and sister. His first name “Hajime” was most likely taken from being born at the beginning of the new (lunar calendar) year. I don’t recall Hakuouki implying any differently. However, the name Hajime can also refer to a first child/son, so maybe somebody speculated about that somewhere?
Unlike other Shisengumi families (notably Kondo Isami, Hijikata Toshizo, and Okita Souji), there is very little known about Saito’s mother and siblings (and not a great deal known about his father). This is most likely because Saito’s father was a samurai of the lowest rank; he was a former foot-soldier (ashigaru) who purchased his rank as a samurai. In comparison, Kondo’s and Hijikata’s families were of the farming class, but (comparatively) wealthy, established families. Okita’s family was a samurai family (though fallen on hard times). Aside from the wealthier/higher-status families having better records, Kondo and Hijikata had families to write to, and Kondo also felt responsible to Okita’s sister, who brought Okita to Kondo’s dojo (then Kondo’s predecessor’s dojo). This kind of written correspondence either doesn’t exist for Saito, or hasn’t been released by his family.
As you have probably found, Saito’s original family name was Yamaguchi, which he changed after being forced to flee his home domain for killing a man in a duel. The man he killed was somebody important; accounts vary slightly, but the man was either a hatamoto (highly-ranked samurai), or the son or protégé of a hatamoto. The family name Saitou (Saitō) is relatively common in Japan.
Hakuouki hints at Saito having a difficult past from a fairly young age, due to his stubborn left-handedness. This informs the context of Saito’s unfortunate duel with the hatamoto’s protégé, expulsion from the domain, and loss of his original family name. [Saito explains some of this to Chizuru in-game.] Thus, my own Saito head-canon is that he wasn’t on good terms with his older siblings, or father, who were frustrated and/or embarrassed by Saito’s notoriety.
Unlike the others (Okita, Harada, Nagakura, Toudou), Saito was never a full-time or live-in student of Kondo’s dojo [this was also true in real life]. In Hakuouki, he is portrayed as person who was either cut off from or rejected by others, and by implication his family, so that his acceptance among Kondo’s students was especially important to him. [In real life, it is most likely that his father never truly cut ties with him, as records suggest that he ultimately helped Saito to find a good place / employment in a reputable dojo.]
All of this is to say that there is no evidence of Saito’s interactions with siblings one way or the other. My own Hakuouki head-canon of distant siblings who were closer to each other than to him, including a jealous older brother, are just that - my own thoughts, based on stated in-game facts, and what little we have to go on from historical records. It seems to be fact that Saito was tremendously talented, and extremely disciplined (his tendency toward correct dress, sitting in seiza, and training hard are based on contemporaneous commentary). I reasoned that an extremely talented younger son, born to a former (and apparently talented) soldier, who then ruined all his hopes of advancement by insisting on being left-handed (Hakuouki-fact, not historical fact) would be an object of jealousy to a less-talented (and maybe originally more-valued?) older son, and an object of anger to his father (who had already demonstrated a taste for social advancement). I find it interesting that so little is known of his siblings.
I wish I could contribute more to your search for either historical or Hakuouki records on Saito’s siblings. There’s much more information available for some of the others. Best wishes with both your writing and with tracking down what you’re looking for!
