Kondo Isami: Last Samurai Standing

The samurai weren’t supposed to go quietly.

This week, host Ben Thompson is joined by guest Mike Primavera to tell the story of Kondo Isami the peasant-born swordsman who rose to command the most feared killers in Kyoto: the Shinsengumi.

As Japan cracked open under pressure from Western powers and internal rebellion, Kondo and his men became the iron fist of the collapsing shogunate — hunting assassins, cutting down rebels, and enforcing order with cold steel in the streets.

But when civil war erupted and the emperor’s modern army marched forward with rifles and artillery, Kondo faced an impossible choice: adapt… or die defending a dying world.

He chose the sword.

This is loyalty pushed to its breaking point. An era ending in blood. And a man who stood firm while history moved past him.