remnants of the forces learned that the Shōgun had abandoned them, they departed as well. The Mimawarigumi first moved to Kishū by foot, and sailed back to Edo, where they were tasked to defend the Edo Castle. On April 10, 1868, the Mimawarigumi was renamed to Sogekitai (狙撃隊), but on the following day the Tokugawa surrendered to the new Meiji government. In June, the Meiji government decided to move the Tokugawa family to the Sunpu Castle in Suruga (present day Shizuoka). However, many of the Sogekitai members were not allowed to move to Suruga, and the unit was disbanded. Even after their unit's disbandment, Imai Noburō and others would continue to fight alongside the Shogunate remnants of the forces against the Imperial Army. They eventually surrendered by the end of the Battle of Hakodate, the last battle of the Boshin War. In 1870 Imai Noburō, a former member of the Mimawarigumi confessed to a Military Judiciary Panel that he and other Mimawarigumi members, including Sasaki Tadasaburō had assassinated Sakamoto Ryōma in 1867, although the veracity of his confession remains a matter of historical debate. Notes References Hillsborough, Romulus. Shinsengumi: The Shogun's Last Samurai Corps, Tuttle Publishing (2005) Jansen, Marius B. (1961). Sakamoto Ryoma and the Meiji Restoration. Princeton: Princeton University Press. OCLC 413111 Japanese warriors Meiji Restoration Law enforcement in Japan