Primary and Secondary Control are perspectives - a framework of thinking in which a person determines if a situation should be changed (primary control), or if they should adapt to the new situation (secondary control). I cannot think of a better topic to finally discuss my favorite character in Gintama: Takasugi Shinsuke.
This entry will be a lot of necessary context, so bear with me for a minute.
Takasugi Shinsuke was born the only child to a strict, lower-class samurai family. He was abused by his father and incredibly disillusioned with the way of the samurai and with his peers at the prodigious military school he attended. His only friend at school is Katsura, a poor boy living with his grandmother who attends the school on merit but is bullied. Takasugi often gets in fights at school and usually wins, calling his opponents useless rich kids as he walks away unharmed.
One day, Takasugi is targeted by the older siblings of some of the boys he fought, and he and Katsura are put in immediate danger as they are outnumbered by boys far older than them. Yoshida Shouyo arrives, a cocky and lazy student their age in tow (a young Sakata Gintoki), and saves them. There, the boys learn about the strength of the strange traveling school Shouyo runs to teach poor students for free - Shouka Sonjuku.
Takasugi and Katsura spend a lot of time at Shouka Sonjuku, even skipping school in favor of Shouyo’s lessons. There, Takasugi learns he can determine for himself what it means to be a samurai. He develops a particular interest in Gintoki, and they spar nearly every day (Gintoki always wins, and Takasugi is determined to beat him). Takasugi’s father does not take kindly to this, angry that Takasugi would throw away the prestigious school he’s in just to train with some anti-bakufu, poor-loving teacher.
Takasugi and Katsura decide to run away and follow Shouyo wherever he goes, and are informed on the way that the students Shouyo defeated have reported Shouka Sonjuku and is about to be burned to the ground for spreading anti-bakufu ideals. They warn Shouyo and Gintoki, and Shouyo accepts Takasugi and Katsura.
Takasugi, Gintoki, and Katsura grow up under the tutelage of Shouyo during the first half of the Joui War. Because of the war and the new Shogun, those opposed to Edo opening their doors to the amanto (samurai, mainly, which is why they are later outlawed post-war) are often rounded up and killed by the government and an elite group of amanto assassins, the Tenshouin Naraku. This includes Shouka Sonjuku, eventually.
When the three students are teenagers, Shouyo is arrested as part of the Kansei purge. The three spend nearly the next ten years involved in the war, fighting for their beliefs and their teacher’s honor. They firmly believe he is still alive. They become massive leaders in the second half of the Joui War, along with Sakamoto Tatsuma, and this is where Takasugi forms the Kiheitai. Eventually, the three students of Shouyo are captured and brought to Shouyo, who is still alive.
There, Gintoki, as Shouyo’s first student, is given a choice: kill Shouyo and he and his friends will be unharmed and released, or refuse to kill Shouyo and all four of them will die.
Gintoki kills Shouyo.
Takasugi, at this moment, is broken. Still tied up, Takasugi runs for the pair in an attempt to stop it from happening, and a Tenshouin Naraku assassin throws a knife that lodges in his left eye, permanently destroying it.
After Gintoki kills Shouyo, the three are released. Takasugi and Gintoki are unable to reconcile, and they lose the war. Samurai are outlawed as terrorists, the sacrifices they made over ten years of fighting are rendered null and void as soon as they lose and everything they fought against becomes reality, and Shouyo - their teacher, their guide, their reason for fighting - is dead.
I’ve discussed what happened to Gintoki in the immediate aftermath of the Joui War at length in almost all of my blog entries by this point. He is aimless and lost, but he finds his way and finds things to care for in the world he no longer recognizes as his home.
Gintoki demonstrates secondary control. He can’t change his circumstances, so he adapts to the world instead. He finds individuals to care for, expanding into groups of people, into communities, and later into the country and the planet itself. He doesn’t pretend to care for or respect the bakufu in its current state or the amanto control of the shogun. Gintoki is able to separate his grief from losing both the war and his teacher from how he feels about everyone in Edo.
On the other hand, Takasugi is Gintoki’s foil. Takasugi is unable to cope with the grief of losing the war and of losing Shouyo, and blames the amanto and the bakufu for their fate. He leaves with his Kiheitai and lays low for the next ten years, building connections with important people, and committing acts of extreme violence and terrorism in order to take down the entire government of Edo and the amanto groups responsible for Shouyo’s death.
Takasugi is a shining example of primary control. Unable to grapple with his grief and with what the country turns into, he sets about changing the environment instead of adapting into it.
Ultimately, Takasugi’s primary control mindset is what kills him. He sets about killing Gintoki for losing his spine and becoming part of a system that killed Shouyo while Gintoki has adapted to his situation and made a home. Takasugi has the Kiheitai, yes; but Gintoki has a family and a home, and Takasugi had the Kiheitai since before they even lost the war. Takasugi was never supposed to win - his stubbornness, his unwillingness to change as is required of him, is what prevents him from succeeding. It’s Gintoki, who can do those things, that prevails.
And, technically, Takasugi does succeed, in his own way - but only after meeting Gintoki in the middle and coming to terms with his grief.
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