 One of the main characters, Hajime Saitoh, was a real person. Saitoh  was a swordsman for the Shinsen Gumi throughout the last days of the  Bakufu (Shogunate) government and the fighting leading up to the  Meiji Restoration. After the defeat of the Shogunate, he did obtain  a job in a provincial police organization, where he spent his days  before this death near the end of the century.