Emperor Kōmei and the Aizu and Satsuma clans preferred a unification of the bakufu and the imperial court.

The Shinsengumi arrested one of the shishi, Furutaka Shuntarō, for being a member of an anti-Shogunate group, triggering the Ikedaya incident.

Furutaka had a strong relationship with the Chōshū clans, and wanted to build trust with Mōri, a member of the court, in order to take power.

With the prisoner unresponsive, Hijikata was said to have suspended him by his ankles, restraining his wrists, and driving five-inch spikes into the heels of his feet.

Another version of the confession claims that Furutaka planned to burn Prince Kuni Asahiko with Kawamura Hanzō and Otaka Matajirō.

[3] Katsura Kogorō (later Kido Takayoshi) who was at the Ikedaya claimed many years later that they had only met to discuss how to rescue Furukata from the Shinsengumi.

Whether or not Hijikata actually employed such a cruel interrogation method is also in some doubt, as conflicting reports from those in attendance (such as Nagakura Shinpachi) exist.

[3] Some popular fiction, like the account in Moeyoken (a novel by Shiba Ryōtarō) seems to ignore Hijikata's potential participation.

[5] This incident is commonly portrayed as having unfolded in the dark, but in fact parts of the inn were moderately lit.

Kondō tried to induce shishi to come down to the 1st floor because there was a light called Hachiken that illuminated 14.5 meters down the hallway.

[4] Sugiyama Matsusuke who was in the Chōshū mansion, worried about Katsura when he heard about the incident, and he tried to go to Ikedaya.

[2] More than half of the shishi escaped from the back entrance, and people who were killed inside of Ikedaya were Miyabe Teizō, Ōtaka Matajirō, Yoshida Toshimaro and Fukuoka Yūjirō.

Many messengers from lords went to visit the Chōshū mansion to nurse injured people back to health.

He believed that the incident happened because some people from Chōshū clans revealed a secret meeting in Ikedaya to the shogunate.

[2] This incident made it clear to all that the Shinsengumi were a powerful force in Kyoto to be feared by the sonnō jōi rōnin.

[3] Since the incident happened, people from Chōshū clans tended to be arrested without investigation of Shinsengumi.

[2] Some historians credit this incident with delaying the eventual Meiji victory by a year or two, whereas others claim it actually hastened the fall of the bakufu by triggering a cascade of bloody retaliations and assassinations.

For many years a pachinko parlor sat on the grounds of the Ikedaya, with the only remnant being a stone memorial tablet relating the events that occurred on the site.

In 2009, Chimney Group opened a restaurant named Ikedaya Hana no Mai on the site, designed and decorated with an Ikeda-ya Shinsengumi/Bakumatsu theme including extensive exhibits and dioramas.