Tanaka Shinbei (田中 新兵衛, 1832 – July 11, 1863) was one of the Four Hitokiri of the Bakumatsu, elite samurai, active in Japan during the late Tokugawa shogunate in the 1860s.
The Hitokiri Shinbei worked under the command of Takechi Hanpeita, the leader of the Kinnō-tō, who sought to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate and restore the Emperor of Japan to power.
Besides Naosuke, his victims included politicians such as Shimada Sakon, Ukyo Omokuni and Homma Seiichiro.
[1] The Shinsengumi was formed in 1863 to suppress the hitokiri and Tosa loyalists and restore law and order.
Shinbei's sword was found at the scene of the assassination of senior official Anegakōji Kintomo [ja] near the Sarugatsuji.