Kayano Gonbei seppuku

[Owarikenshi]

Going to toss this out there to see if any of you with access to primary sources can tell me:

Was Kayano Gonbei's seppuku officially witnessed?

Kayano was the Aizu karo whose seppuku was ordered by the Meiji government to "take responsibility" for approving the Boshin War; apparently in a political maneuver to avoid the "martyring" of Matsudaira Katamori, whose death sentence was thereby commuted.

The reason I ask is that my data-mining turned up a statement that a rumor ran around at the time that he had actually been "executed in secret" instead.

Now, we all know the line between "seppuku" and "execution" was a very fine one in those days; but since they were "making an example" of an "Imperial Enemy," it should have been high-profile enough to have been witnessed with considerable pomp and circumstance with an official record left.

If, however, he was just found dead with a knife in his hand, one might well wonder . . . especially in light of later revisionist history in Meiji & Showa eras.

Can anyone shed light on this?

Owarikenshi

[shikisoku]