Yamakawa Hiroshi
Encyclopedia
Baron 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 people from Aizu to write a history of the years leading up to the war, together with his brother Yamakawa Kenjirō
.
, in 1845. His father, Yamakawa Shigekata (山川重固), was a karō (senior retainer) of the Aizu clan, and his mother, Tōi (唐衣), was the daughter of another karō family, the Saigō. At age 15, Yōshichirō's father died, so he succeeded to the family headship.
Matsudaira Katamori
to Kyōto
when the latter was appointed to the post of Kyoto Shugoshoku
. After serving with distinction through the heat of the conflicts of 1863-65, in 1866 Yamakawa was allowed to accompany the Shogunate's Foreign Affairs Magistrate Koide Hidezane to Russia
, where he assisted in negotiations concerning the drawing of international borders in Karafuto. Returning to Japan, he was present as a commander of the domain forces at the Battle of Toba-Fushimi
in the Boshin War
, which he survived, and escaped to Edo.
corps (the Hōheitai 砲兵隊), replacing the veteran Hayashi Gonsuke, who had died from wounds sustained at Battle of Toba-Fushimi
. Upon his return to the domain, he was appointed a wakadoshiyori (junior councilor) in charge of military finances. In order to shore up the domain's financial situation (which had been in dire straits for over a decade), he brought the skilled engravers Katō Munechika and Akichika, as well as others, to Aizu, and built a smelter inside Tsuruga Castle, casting the three denominations of 1 bun, 2 bun, and 1 ryō coins. Joining with the Shogunate infantry under Infantry Magistrate Otori Keisuke
, Yamakawa fought the Tosa forces
under Itagaki Taisuke
with great effectiveness, and his renown was even to reach the ears of Tani Tateki
.
), and assisted as vice-governor of Tonami, undertaking the hard work of management. After the abolishment of the domains he served in Aomori Prefecture for a time, but in 1871 he resigned and at the recommendation of army Major General Tani Tateki
, he got a job in the Military Court.
and served at Kumamoto. In 1874, he fought for the imperial side at the Saga Rebellion
and was wounded. Promoted to lieutenant colonel
, he served in the Satsuma Rebellion
as a staff officer of the “2nd Independent Brigade,” and was trapped in Kumamoto Castle
by the Satsuma forces, where he saved the life of Tani Tateki. For his actions there he was promoted to colonel
in 1880, and soon after, to major general
.
. He was also made a member of the House of Peers
. In his later years he devoted himself to writing, and put together the text Kyoto Shugoshoku Shimatsu, which was one of the first texts that gave a view of the Aizu domain's actions that was not part of the Meiji oligarchs'
triumphalist narrative.
Yamakawa was elevated to the peerage with the title of danshaku under the kazoku
system. He died in Tokyo in 1898, and was buried there.
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...
of late 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....
Japan who went on to become a noted general
General
A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....
in the early Meiji period
Meiji period
The , also known as the Meiji era, is a Japanese era which extended from September 1868 through July 1912. This period represents the first half of the Empire of Japan.- Meiji Restoration and the emperor :...
Imperial Japanese Army
Imperial Japanese Army
-Foundation:During the Meiji Restoration, the military forces loyal to the Emperor were samurai drawn primarily from the loyalist feudal domains of Satsuma and Chōshū...
. An Aizu
Aizu
is an area comprising the westernmost third of Fukushima Prefecture in Japan. The principal city of the area is Aizuwakamatsu.During the Edo period, Aizu was a feudal domain known as and part of Mutsu Province.-History:...
retainer famous for his ingenious strategies against the early Meiji government 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....
to overthrow the Tokugawa bakufu, he was of the first people from Aizu to write a history of the years leading up to the war, together with his brother Yamakawa Kenjirō
Yamakawa Kenjiro
was 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...
.
Early life
Yamakawa Hiroshi, or, as he was first known, Yōshichirō (与七郎), was born in Aizu-Wakamatsu (present day Fukushima PrefectureFukushima 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 1845. His father, Yamakawa Shigekata (山川重固), was a karō (senior retainer) of the Aizu clan, and his mother, Tōi (唐衣), was the daughter of another karō family, the Saigō. At age 15, Yōshichirō's father died, so he succeeded to the family headship.
The Kyōto Shugoshoku Years
In 1862, Yōshichirō, now known as Shigeyoshi (重栄) or more commonly, Ōkura (大蔵), followed the Aizu daimyōDaimyo
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...
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...
to Kyōto
Kyoto
is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...
when the latter was appointed to the post of 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...
. After serving with distinction through the heat of the conflicts of 1863-65, in 1866 Yamakawa was allowed to accompany the Shogunate's Foreign Affairs Magistrate Koide Hidezane to Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, where he assisted in negotiations concerning the drawing of international borders in Karafuto. Returning to Japan, he was present as a commander of the domain forces at the Battle of Toba-Fushimi
Battle of Toba-Fushimi
The occurred between pro-Imperial and Tokugawa shogunate forces during the Boshin War in Japan. The battle started on 27 January 1868 , when the forces of the Tokugawa shogunate and the allied forces of Chōshū, Satsuma and Tosa domains clashed near Fushimi...
in 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....
, which he survived, and escaped to Edo.
Early Stages of the Boshin War
In the early months of 1868, Yamakawa was involved in the Aizu domain's restructuring of its military. He was made commander of the reorganized artilleryArtillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
corps (the Hōheitai 砲兵隊), replacing the veteran Hayashi Gonsuke, who had died from wounds sustained at Battle of Toba-Fushimi
Battle of Toba-Fushimi
The occurred between pro-Imperial and Tokugawa shogunate forces during the Boshin War in Japan. The battle started on 27 January 1868 , when the forces of the Tokugawa shogunate and the allied forces of Chōshū, Satsuma and Tosa domains clashed near Fushimi...
. Upon his return to the domain, he was appointed a wakadoshiyori (junior councilor) in charge of military finances. In order to shore up the domain's financial situation (which had been in dire straits for over a decade), he brought the skilled engravers Katō Munechika and Akichika, as well as others, to Aizu, and built a smelter inside Tsuruga Castle, casting the three denominations of 1 bun, 2 bun, and 1 ryō coins. Joining with the Shogunate infantry under Infantry Magistrate Otori Keisuke
Otori Keisuke
was a Japanese military commander during the last years of the Tokugawa shogunate and the beginning of the Meiji Era.-Early life and education:Ōtori Keisuke was born in Akamatsu Village, in the Akō domain of Harima Province , the son of physician Kobayashi Naosuke...
, Yamakawa fought the Tosa forces
Tosa Domain
The was a feudal domain in Tosa Province of Japan during the Edo period. Its official name is . Some from the domain played important roles in events in the late Tokugawa shogunate...
under Itagaki Taisuke
Itagaki Taisuke
Count was a Japanese politician and leader of the , which evolved into Japan's first political party.- Early life :Itagaki Taisuke was born into a middle-ranking samurai family in Tosa Domain, , After studies in Kōchi and in Edo, he was appointed as sobayonin to Tosa daimyo Yamauchi Toyoshige,...
with great effectiveness, and his renown was even to reach the ears of Tani Tateki
Tani Tateki
-External links:...
.
Lion Dance
On the 24th, Yamakawa was called back to Wakamatsu from his position at Nikkōguchi-Tajima, but he realized that even if he were to rush back at top speed, by the time he got there the siege would be so tight he would not be able to get through. Therefore, he devised a plan to move his soldiers through the enemy lines. Putting together a “lion dance troupe” from the nearby Komatsu village, he set up a “tōri-hayashi” (Japanese “marching band”), and got every single one of his soldiers into the castle safely, passing right in front of the besieging army. The commanders in the castle were awestruck at the miraculous entrance, and it greatly improved morale. Matsudaira Katamori himself was moved to tears and greatly praised Yamakawa's ability. Thus Yamakawa was put in command of defense after he entered the castle. While the defenders were reinforced for a slightly longer period of time, it was to be for naught, and the castle fell in the fall of 1868.Exile
After the fall of Aizu, Yamakawa was taken to a prisoner-of-war camp in Tokyo with other Aizu men. He was placed in charge of the domain's first postwar liaison office in Tokyo, and when the government issued a pardon, he supervised the move to the new landholding at Tonami (now part of Aomori PrefectureAomori Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku Region. The capital is the city of Aomori.- History :Until the Meiji Restoration, the area of Aomori prefecture was known as Mutsu Province....
), and assisted as vice-governor of Tonami, undertaking the hard work of management. After the abolishment of the domains he served in Aomori Prefecture for a time, but in 1871 he resigned and at the recommendation of army Major General Tani Tateki
Tani Tateki
-External links:...
, he got a job in the Military Court.
Army career
In 1873, Yamakawa was commissioned as an army majorMajor
Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
and served at Kumamoto. In 1874, he fought for the imperial side at the Saga Rebellion
Saga Rebellion
The was an 1874 uprisings in Kyūshū against the new Meiji government of Japan. It was led by Etō Shimpei and Shima Yoshitake in their native domain of Hizen.-Background:...
and was wounded. Promoted to lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
, he served in the Satsuma Rebellion
Satsuma Rebellion
The was a revolt of Satsuma ex-samurai against the Meiji government from January 29 to September 24, 1877, 9 years into the Meiji Era. It was the last, and the most serious, of a series of armed uprisings against the new government.-Background:...
as a staff officer of the “2nd Independent Brigade,” and was trapped in Kumamoto Castle
Kumamoto Castle
is a hilltop Japanese castle located in Kumamoto in Kumamoto Prefecture. It was a large and extremely well fortified castle. The is a concrete reconstruction built in 1960, but several ancillary wooden buildings remain of the original castle. Kumamoto Castle is considered one of the three premier...
by the Satsuma forces, where he saved the life of Tani Tateki. For his actions there he was promoted to colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
in 1880, and soon after, to major general
Major General
Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...
.
Later life
After his time in the army, Yamakawa went into education, becoming school president of the Tokyo Women's Normal School, replacing fellow Aizu native Takamine HideoTakamine Hideo
was an administrator and educator in Meiji period Japan.-Early life:Takamine was born to a samurai family in Aizu-Wakamatsu domain in 1854...
. He was also made a member of the House of Peers
House of Peers (Japan)
The ' was the upper house of the Imperial Diet as mandated under the Constitution of the Empire of Japan ....
. In his later years he devoted himself to writing, and put together the text Kyoto Shugoshoku Shimatsu, which was one of the first texts that gave a view of the Aizu domain's actions that was not part of the Meiji oligarchs'
Meiji oligarchy
The Meiji oligarchy was the name used to describe the new ruling class of Meiji period Japan. In Japanese, the Meiji oligarchy is called the ....
triumphalist narrative.
Yamakawa was elevated to the peerage with the title of danshaku under the kazoku
Kazoku
The was the hereditary peerage of the Empire of Japan that existed between 1869 and 1947.-Origins:Following the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the ancient court nobility of Kyoto regained some of its lost status...
system. He died in Tokyo in 1898, and was buried there.