Takeda Kanryūsai (武田 観柳斎, 1830 or 1834 – died June 22, 1867) was the captain of the fifth unit of the Shinsengumi, a special police force for the Tokugawa regime.
Born Fukuda Hiroshi in Izumo (modern day Shimane Prefecture, in the Chūgoku region), it's said that Takeda wanted to become a doctor in his youth.
Takeda participated in the indoor battle after the arrival of Hijikata's group, bringing down the ceiling and killing a Tosa rōnin.
The investigation led to the seppuku suicide of a Tosa samurai and the Aizu retainer who had wounded him, an incident known as the Akebono Restaurant Affair.
When Nagakura Shinpachi and others petitioned the Aizu clan on account of Kondō's allegedly despotic leadership, Takeda attempted to mediate between the two sides.
However, the Shinsengumi were beginning to adopt more Western military techniques based on the French army by the time of Itō Kashitaro's enlistment, which rendered Takeda's Koushuu style obsolete.
But Itō Kashitaro's excellence in academics and martial arts was not ignored by Kondō, no matter how fond he was of his sycophant, Takeda.
Even without Itō's support, Takeda ambitiously planned to leave the Shinsengumi, contact Satsuma and start a new movement to overthrow the shōgun.
The other story is that he was not murdered until the 22nd day, sixth month, in the year Keiō 3 (July 23, 1867), on his way home along that highway from a farewell party organised by Kondō.
Saitō, and sometimes Shinohara, are usually credited in this version of the assassination as well, but they had both left the Shinsengumi months earlier as a part of Itō's group.
Kondō found him to be educated and erudite, and was impressed with his skills in strategy and medicine, but obviously his opinion of Takeda changed.
Unlike Itō, he lacked the charisma to successfully create a separatist group, and is remembered as a rather pathetic villain.