night, assassins gathered at the door of the inn, one approached and knocked, acting as an ordinary caller. The door was answered by Ryōma's bodyguard and manservant Yamada Tōkichi (山田藤吉), a former sumo wrestler, who told the stranger he would see if Ryōma was accepting callers at that hour of the evening. When the bodyguard turned his back, the visitor at the door drew his sword and fatally slashed his back. The team of assassins then rushed in past the dying bodyguard and up the stairs to the guests' rooms. Ryōma and his associate Nakaoka Shintarō were resting and talking in one room. Hearing the scuffle on the first floor, Ryōma opened the door to yell at his bodyguard, thinking he was wrestling with a friend. The assassins charged the room, some tearing through the paper doors, and a confused melée ensued as lamps were knocked over and the room went dark. By the end of the fight, both Ryōma and Shintaro lay badly wounded, and the assassins fled. Ryōma died that night, regretting with his last words that his assassins caught him unprepared. Shintaro succumbed to injuries two days later, never regaining enough consciousness to identify the assassins, but mentioning hearing Iyo dialect among the killers. The night of the assassination was eventually called the Omiya Incident (近江屋事件). According to the traditional lunar calendar, Ryōma was born on the 15th day of the 11th month, and killed on his birthday in 1867. Initial reports of Ryōma's and Shintarō's deaths accused members of the Shinsengumi, a special police force of swordsmen from the Bakufu (Tokugawa military government) based in Kyoto. Shinsengumi leader Kondō Isami was later executed on this charge. However, members of another pro-shōgun group, the Mimawarigumi, confessed to the murder in 1870. Although Mimawarigumi members Sasaki Tadasaburō (佐々木 只三郎) and Imai Nobuo carry the blame, the identity of the true assassin has never been proven. Okuda Matsugoro, who was known for working since his early adolescence as a spy for Kondō, was rumored to have taken part in the assassination. Legacy Ryōma was a visionary who dreamt of an independent Japan without feudalism or the caste system, inspired by the example of the United States where "all men are created equal". Ryōma was an admirer of democratic principles and studied democratic governance, particularly the United States Congress and British Parliament, as a model for the governance of Japan