The Rōshigumi (浪士組), the "Kyoto Defenders", was a group of 234 masterless samurai (ronin), founded by Kiyokawa Hachirō in 1863. Loyal to the Bakufu, they were supposed to act as the protectors of the Tokugawa shogun. Kiyokawa Hachirō formed the Rōshigumi with funding from the Tokugawa regime. Originally, he claimed it was formed for protecting the Tokugawa shogun in Kyoto and preparing for military action against Western countries. However, he lied to the regime; his goal was to gather people to work with the imperialists and not the Shogunate government.