Aizu
Encyclopedia
Fukushima Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region on the island of Honshu. The capital is the city of Fukushima.-History:Until the Meiji Restoration, the area of Fukushima prefecture was known as Mutsu Province....
in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. The principal city of the area is Aizuwakamatsu
Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima
is a city located in the Aizu region of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan.As of May 2011, the city has an estimated population of 125,341. The total area is 383.03 km².-History:...
.
During the Edo period
Edo period
The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....
, Aizu was a feudal domain
Han (Japan)
The or domain was the name of the estate belonging to a warrior in Japan after the 17th century. The fiefs of the daimyos of the samurai class of Japan during the Edo period were called han.-Edo period:...
known as and part of Mutsu Province
Mutsu Province
was an old province of Japan in the area of Fukushima, Miyagi, Iwate and Aomori prefecture and the municipalities of Kazuno and Kosaka in Akita Prefecture...
.
History
Daimyo
is a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in pre-modern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...
over much of the Edo period
Edo period
The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....
was from the Hoshina family. They had been senior retainers of the Takeda family
Takeda family
The ' was a famous clan of daimyō in Japan's late Heian Period to Sengoku period.The Takeda were descendants of Emperor Seiwa and are a branch of the Minamoto clan , by Minamoto no Yoshimitsu , brother to the Chinjufu-shogun Minamoto no Yoshiie...
, and in the early 17th century the head of the family, Hoshina Masamitsu, adopted the illegitimate son of the second Tokugawa shogun Hidetada
Tokugawa Hidetada
was the second shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty, who ruled from 1605 until his abdication in 1623. He was the third son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate.-Early life :...
. As a result, the Hoshina family's fortunes rose, with larger and larger fiefs being given to them, until finally they were moved to Aizu, then rated at 240,000 koku, in the mid-17th century. Hoshina Masayuki, the adopted head of the family, rose in prominence while his half-brother Tokugawa Iemitsu
Tokugawa Iemitsu
Tokugawa Iemitsu was the third shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty. He was the eldest son of Tokugawa Hidetada, and the grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Iemitsu ruled from 1623 to 1651.-Early life :...
was shogun, and later acted as a regent for his successor, the underage fourth shogun Tokugawa Ietsuna
Tokugawa Ietsuna
was the fourth shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty of Japan who was in office from 1651 to 1680. He was the eldest son of Tokugawa Iemitsu, thus making him the grandson of Tokugawa Hidetada and the great-grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu.-Early Life :...
. By the end of the 17th century, the Hoshina family was allowed the use of the Tokugawa hollyhock crest and the Matsudaira surname, and from then on was known as the Aizu-Matsudaira clan, with the name Hoshina being used mainly for internal documents.
In the house code set down by Masayuki, there was a specific injunction to serve the shogun with single-minded devotion, and it was this injunction which the family took great pains to show its adherence to, even if its true objectives were those of improving status and prestige.
Aizu was known for its martial skill, and maintained a standing army of over 5000. It was often deployed to security operations on the northern fringes of the country, as far north as southern Sakhalin
Sakhalin
Sakhalin or Saghalien, is a large island in the North Pacific, lying between 45°50' and 54°24' N.It is part of Russia, and is Russia's largest island, and is administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast...
. Also, around the time of Commodore Perry's arrival, Aizu had a presence in security operations around Edo Bay.
The domain's two sets of formal rules for its army, the Rules for Commanders (将長禁令 shōchō kinrei) and Rules for Soldiers (士卒禁令 shisotsu kinrei), written in the 1790s, laid down a professional, modern standard for military conduct and operations, including the following two items in the Rules for Soldiers which codified the human rights and protection of enemy noncombatants, over 70 years before the first Geneva Convention of 1864:
During the tenure of the ninth generation lord Matsudaira Katamori
Matsudaira Katamori
was a samurai who lived in the last days of the Edo period and the early to mid Meiji period. He was the 9th daimyo of the Aizu han and the Military Commissioner of Kyoto during the Bakumatsu period. During the Boshin War, Katamori and the Aizu han fought against the Meiji Government armies, but...
, the domain deployed massive amounts of their troops to Kyoto, where Katamori served as Kyoto Shugoshoku
Kyoto Shugoshoku
The ' was a Japanese bureaucratic office of the Tokugawa shogunate from 1862 through 1868. The officeholder was responsible for keeping the peace in the city of Kyoto and its environs, and in this role, largely supplanted the extant office of Kyoto Shoshidai, though the two offices existed side by...
. Operating under the orders of the Shogunate, they also acted as the first official supervisor and patron of the Shinsengumi
Shinsengumi
The were a special police force of the late shogunate period.-Historical background:After Japan opened up to the West following U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry's visits in 1853, its political situation gradually became more and more chaotic...
. Earning the enmity of the Chōshū Domain, and alienating his ally, the Satsuma Domain, Katamori retreated with the shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu
Tokugawa Yoshinobu
was the 15th and last shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan. He was part of a movement which aimed to reform the aging shogunate, but was ultimately unsuccessful...
in 1868. Though the Satsuma-Chōshū controlled Imperial Court, following Yoshinobu's resignation, called for the punishment of Katamori and Aizu as "enemies of the Court," he took great pains to beg for mercy, finally acquiescing to calls for war later in 1868, during the Boshin War
Boshin War
The was a civil war in Japan, fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and those seeking to return political power to the imperial court....
. Though the Aizu forces fought as part of the greater efforts of the Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei
Ouetsu Reppan Domei
-External links:**...
, they were eventually besieged at Tsuruga Castle, the seat of the Aizu domain, in October 1868.
The Byakkotai
Byakkotai
The was a group of around 305 young, teenage, samurai of the Aizu domain, who fought in the Boshin War .-History:Byakkotai was part of Aizu's four-unit military, set up in the domain's drive to finalize its military modernization, in the wake of the Battle of Toba-Fushimi. The other three units...
("White Tiger Force"), a group of young, predominantly teenage, samurai
Samurai
is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...
, committed seppuku
Seppuku
is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. Seppuku was originally reserved only for samurai. Part of the samurai bushido honor code, seppuku was either used voluntarily by samurai to die with honor rather than fall into the hands of their enemies , or as a form of capital punishment...
(a form of ritual suicide) on a hillside overlooking the castle after seeing its defences breached.
Notable people
- Dewa ShigetōDewa Shigeto- Notes :...
(1856 – 1930), an admiral of the Imperial Japanese Navy, elevated to the peerage with the title of danshaku (baron). - Hideyo NoguchiHideyo Noguchi, also known as , was a prominent Japanese bacteriologist who discovered the agent of syphilis as the cause of progressive paralytic disease in 1911.-Early life:...
(1876 – 1928), a doctor who made considerable contributions to the fight against syphilis and yellow fever. His portrait is currently (2007) featured on the 1,000 yen bill in Japan. - Shiba GorōShiba Goro-External links:*- Notes :...
(1860 – 1945), prominent at the Siege of the Peking legations, 1900. - Niijima Yae (born: Yamamoto Yaeko, 1845 – 1932), female warrior, co-founder of Doshisha UniversityDoshisha University, or is a prestigious private university in Kyoto, Japan. The university has approximately 27,000 students on three campuses, in faculties of theology, letters, law, commerce, economics, policy, and engineering...
, instructor in the women's division of Doshisha and wife of Niijima Jo (Joseph Hardy NeesimaJoseph Hardy Neesimawas a Japanese educator of the Meiji era, the founder of Doshisha University and Doshisha Women's College of Liberal Arts.Neesima was born in Edo , the son of a retainer of the Itakura clan of Annaka...
), nurse, tea master - Yamamoto KakumaYamamoto Kakumawas a Japanese samurai of the late Edo period, who went on to become an educator and politician in the Meiji era.-Biography:A native of Aizu, Yamamoto claimed descent from the famed military strategist Yamamoto Kansuke. A child prodigy, he could read at age four, and recite Chinese Jueju poetry at...
(1828 – 1892), former samurai, co-founder of Doshisha University. - Takamine HideoTakamine Hideowas an administrator and educator in Meiji period Japan.-Early life:Takamine was born to a samurai family in Aizu-Wakamatsu domain in 1854...
(1854 – 1910), former samurai, graduate of Oswego Normal School in New York State, Meiji-era educator and head of the Tokyo Normal School, Tokyo Art School, Tokyo Women's Normal School and Tokyo Music School. He is best known for introducing Pestallozian teaching methods to Japan and educational reform. - Ibuka KajinosukeIbuka Kajinosukewas a Japanese samurai of the late Edo period, who became a Christian during the Meiji period. He was born in Aizu, and fought in the Boshin War. In his adult life, he also became an ordained minister, and was an educator.- References :...
(1854 – 1935), former samurai turned Christian pastor, responsible for bringing the YMCA to Japan. - Matsudaira TsuneoMatsudaira Tsuneowas a Japanese diplomat of the 20th century.- Diplomatic and political career :The son of Matsudaira Katamori of Aizu, Tsuneo served as Japanese Ambassador to the United States. In 1929–1935 served as Ambassador to Britain, and in that capacity represented his country at the London Conference on...
(1877 – 1949), son of Matsudaira Katamori, ambassador to the U.S. and UK. - Matsudaira Setsuko (1909 – 1995), daughter of Matsudaira Tsuneo; later married Prince Chichibu no Miya, Emperor Hirohito's brother.
- Yamakawa KenjirōYamakawa Kenjirowas a Japanese samurai of the late Edo period who went on to become a noted physicist, university president, and author of several histories of the Boshin War...
(1854 – 1931) , graduate of Yale University, physicist, researcher, academic administrator, President of Tokyo University and Kyoto University - Yamakawa Sutematsu (1860 – 1919) graduate of Vassar College, after marriage to Oyama Iwao, she is known as Oyama Sutematsu, an organizer at the Rokumeikan, supporter of numerous organizations such as the Red-Cross in Japan and Women's Patriotic Society. She assisted in the founding of Tsuda College (which was organized by her close life-long friend Tsuda Umeko)
- Yamakawa HiroshiYamakawa HiroshiBaron was a samurai of late Edo period Japan who went on to become a noted general in the early Meiji period Imperial Japanese Army. An Aizu retainer famous for his ingenious strategies against the early Meiji government during the Boshin War to overthrow the Tokugawa bakufu, he was of the first...
(1845 – 1898) Brother of Kenjiro and Sutematsu, a notable military leader who defended the domain, later organized Aizu refugees, a key figure in the relief of Kumamoto Garrison during the Seinan War or Satsuma Rebellion and General in the Meiji Era - Yamakawa FutabaYamakawa Futabawas a Japanese educator of the early Meiji era. Born in Aizu, she was the sister of the karō, Yamakawa Hiroshi; her other siblings included physicist Yamakawa Kenjirō and Meiji-era social figure Ōyama Sutematsu. Futaba took part in the defense of Tsuruga Castle in the Boshin War...
(1844 – 1909), a co-worker of Takamine Hideo, head administrator at the Tokyo Women's Normal School, she is best known for her support of women's education - Tokugawa TsunenariTokugawa TsunenariPresent head of the main Tokugawa house. His great-grandfather by his birth family was the famed Matsudaira Katamori of Aizu...
(1940 – ), grandson of Matsudaira Tsuneo; current head of the main Tokugawa family. - Saigō TanomoSaigo Tanomowas a Japanese samurai of the late Edo period. Chief senior councilor of the Aizu clan, he achieved fame due to his distinguished action in the Boshin War. He adopted the name Hoshina Chikanori . Surviving the war, he became a Shinto priest, and achieved renown as a martial artist...
(1830 – 1903), former chief councilor of the Aizu clan; later, a teacher of Sokaku Takeda and a chief priest of the Toshogu Shrine. - Akabane Shirō (赤羽四郎) (1855 – 1910), Japanese ambassador to Holland.
- Akazuka Takemori (赤塚武盛) (1852 – 1879), Meiji-era police official.
- Uryu IwakoUryu Iwako, also known as Uryū Iwa, was a noted Japanese social worker during the Meiji period.Iwako was born in Kitakata, Fukushima, to a merchant family of the Aizu domain. She lost her parents at age 9, and was looked after by grandparents...
(1829 – 1897), prominent social worker. - Suwa Kichiko (1819 – 1907), philanthropist.
- Yūki Kunitari (1800 – 1888), poet.
- Matsudaira Isao (松平勇雄) (1907 – 2006), grandson of KatamoriMatsudaira Katamoriwas a samurai who lived in the last days of the Edo period and the early to mid Meiji period. He was the 9th daimyo of the Aizu han and the Military Commissioner of Kyoto during the Bakumatsu period. During the Boshin War, Katamori and the Aizu han fought against the Meiji Government armies, but...
, politician, governor of Fukushima PrefectureFukushima Prefectureis a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region on the island of Honshu. The capital is the city of Fukushima.-History:Until the Meiji Restoration, the area of Fukushima prefecture was known as Mutsu Province....
(1976-1988). - Akizuki TeijirōAkizuki Teijirowas a Japanese samurai of the late Edo period, who served the Matsudaira clan of Aizu. Born in Aizuwakamatsu, Akizuki was recognized early as a skilled scholar, and studied at the Tokugawa Shogunate's Shoheizaka school, in Edo. He served as an advisor to Matsudaira Katamori, and was present for...
(1824 – 1900), Aizu samurai, educator. - Kiyoshi Saitō (1907 – 1997), sōsaku hangaSosaku hangawas an art movement in early 20th-century Japan, during the Taishō and Shōwa periods. It advocated the principles of "self-drawn" , "self-carved" and "self-printed" art, stressing the artist, motivated by a desire for self-expression, as the sole creator...
artist. - Nakano TakekoNakano Takekowas a Japanese female warrior of the Aizu domain, who fought and died during the Boshin War. Nakano, born in Edo, was the daughter of Nakano Heinai, an Aizu official. She was thoroughly trained in the martial and literary arts, and was adopted by her teacher Akaoka Daisuke...
(1847 – 1868), female warrior.
List of Aizu daimyo
- Gamō clanGamo clanThe was a Japanese clan which claimed descent from the Fujiwara clan.-References:*...
1590-1598 (TozamaTozamaA ' was a daimyo who was considered an outsider by the rulers of Japan. The term came into use in the Kamakura period and continued until the end of the Edo period.-Edo period:...
; 919,000 kokuKokuThe is a Japanese unit of volume, equal to ten cubic shaku. In this definition, 3.5937 koku equal one cubic metre, i.e. 1 koku is approximately 278.3 litres. The koku was originally defined as a quantity of rice, historically defined as enough rice to feed one person for one year...
)
| Name | Tenure |
|---|---|
| 1590-1595 | |
| 1595-1598 |
- Uesugi clanUesugi clanThe was a Japanese samurai clan, descended from the Fujiwara clan and particularly notable for their power in the Muromachi and Sengoku periods ....
1598-1601 (Tozama; 1,200,000 koku)
| Name | Tenure |
|---|---|
| 1598-1601 |
- Gamō clanGamo clanThe was a Japanese clan which claimed descent from the Fujiwara clan.-References:*...
1601-1627 (Tozama; 600,000 koku)
| Name | Tenure |
|---|---|
| 1601-1612 | |
| 1612-1627 |
- Katō clan 1627-1643 (Tozama; 400,000 koku)
| Name | Tenure |
|---|---|
| 1627-1631 | |
| 1631-1643 |
-
Hoshina/Matsudaira clanMatsudaira clanThe was a Japanese samurai clan that claimed descent from the Minamoto clan. It first originated in and took its name from Matsudaira village, in Mikawa Province . Over the course of its history, the clan produced many branches, most of which also centered around Mikawa Province...
1643-1868 (ShinpanShinpan (daimyo)The daimyo were certain relatives of the Tokugawa shoguns of Japan. While all shinpan were relatives of the shogun, not all relatives of the shogun were shinpan; an example of this is the Matsudaira clan of the Okutono Domain. The shinpan lords were also known as kamon daimyō — non-daimyo...
; 230,000->280,000 koku)
| Name | Tenure |
|---|---|
| 1643-1669 | |
| 1669-1681 | |
| 1681-1731 | |
| 1731-1750 | |
| 1750-1805 | |
| 1805 | |
| 1806-1822 | |
| 1822-1852 | |
| 1852-1868 | |
| 1868 |