The was a group of around 305Nakamura, p. 30. Approx. 305 as per Nakamura's addition of the numbers in the 5 sub-units of Byakkotai. young teenage samurai of the Aizu Domain, who fought in the Boshin War (1868–1869) on the side of the Tokugawa shogunate.
History The Byakkotai was part of Aizu's four-unit military, formed in April 1868 in the domain's drive to finalize its military modernization, in the wake of the Battle of Toba–Fushimi.Noguchi, Aizu-han, pp. 169–170. The other three units were the Genbutai (Black Tortoise Unit),Made up of men 50 years and older, tasked with city patrol in Wakamatsu and reserve duty the Seiryūtai (Azure Dragon Unit),Made up of men 36 to 49 years old, tasked with border patrol and the Suzakutai (Vermilion Bird Unit).Made up of 18- to 35-year-old men, tasked with actual combatName readings as per Noguchi, p. 170; unit data as per Nakamura, pp. 23–25. Each of the four was named after the protecting gods of compass directions. Byakkotai was meant to be a reserve unit, as it was composed of the young, 16- to 17-year-old sons of Aizu samurai.Noguchi, p. 169 It was subdivided further, along the lines of rank within the domain's samurai population: two squads were from the upper (shichū) rank, two from the middle rank (yoriai), and two from the lowest (ashigaru).Noguchi, p. 170; as per Nakamura, p. 30, the numbers in each subdivision were: Shichu 1: 37 Shichu 2: 37 Yoriai 1: 98 Yoriai 2: 62 Ashigaru: 71 Twenty of the members of the 2nd shichū squad, cut off from the rest of their unit in the wake of the Battle of Tonoguchihara,Yamakawa, Aizu Boshin Senshi, pp. 521–522. retreated to Iimori Hill, which overlooked the castle town. From there, they saw what they thought was the castle on fire, and committed seppuku (with one failed attempt) in desperation, believing their lord and families dead.Yamakawa, Aizu Boshin Senshi, p. 522. However these 20 Byakkotai members were mistaken in their assessment of defeat, as the castle defenses had not actually been breached; the castle town surrounding the inner citadel was aflame. As the majority of the town was between Iimori Mountain and the castle, the boys saw the rising smoke and assumed that the castle itself had fallen.
The 19 Byakkotai members who committed suicide were the following:Yamakawa, Hoshū Aizu Byakkotai Jūkyūshi-den, p. 1
Adachi Tōzaburō Ishiyama Toranosuke Shinoda Gisaburō (acting commander) Nagase Yūji Mase Genshichirō Aruga OrinosukeName reading as per Yamakawa, Hoshū Aizu Byakkotai Jūkyūshi-den, p. 3 Itō Teijirō Suzuki Genkichi Nishikawa Shōtarō Yanase Katsusaburō Ikegami Shintarō Itō Toshihiko Tsuda Sutezō Nomura Komashirō Yanase Takeji Ishida Wasuke Ibuka Shigetarō Tsugawa Kiyomi Hayashi Yasoji
The sole survivor, Iinuma Sadakichi, attempted suicide but was unsuccessful. He was saved by a local peasant. After the war, he moved to the nearby city of Sendai, and lived there until his death. He also served as an officer in the army (retiring with the rank of captain) and as an official of the local post office in Sendai.Yamakawa, Hoshū Aizu Byakkotai jūkyūshi-den, p. 28
After the war, their bodies remained exposed to the elements until permission was finally granted by the imperial government to bury them. A memorial was later erected at Iimori Hill, and all 20 of the Byakkotai members named above are buried there.Including Iinuma, who was initially buried in Sendai but whose hair and teeth were reinterred at Iimori Hill in 1958. See http://www.geocities.co.jp/SilkRoad-Lake/6618/honmon/21.html A stone bearing a poem by Matsudaira Katamori also stands at the site:
幾人の 涙は石にそそぐとも その名は世々に 朽じとぞ思ふ
Ikutari no namida wa ishi ni sosogu tomo sono na wa yoyo ni kuchiji to zo omou
"No matter how many people wash the stones with their tears, these names will never vanish from the world." http://homepage3.nifty.com/ponpoko-y/yomoyama/aizu03.htm
The rest of the Byakkotai continued to fight over the course of the Battle of Aizu, with many of the members contributing to the defense of the castle.Yamakawa, Aizu Boshin Senshi, pp. 608–610 Many Byakkotai members survived the war.Nakamura, p. 199. probably over 80% of members survived Two of them who went on to prominent roles during the Meiji Era were the physicist and historian Dr Yamakawa Kenjirō and the Imperial Japanese Navy admiral Dewa Shigetō.
European fascism and the Byakkotai
The Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini heard of the story of the Byakkotai members who committed suicide, and was deeply impressed by their loyalty to their lord.Yamakawa, Hoshū Aizu Byakkotai jūkyūshi-den, p. 4 In 1928, he donated a column from Pompeii to be erected by the graves at Iimori Mountain; this column remains there to the present day. Nazi Germany also erected a monument showing their approval of the Byakkotai. After the surrender of Japan at the end of World War II, the U.S. Army removed the Nazi symbol from the German monument and replaced it with an iron cross.
In popular culture
The Byakkotai have featured in several plays, books, films and television series, including the 1986 television show Byakkotai and a 2007 television show which starred Yamashita Tomohisa, Tanaka Koki and Taisuke Fujigaya. Yamashita portrayed a Byakkotai survivor, Sakai Mineji.Mineji was in the same unit as the Byakkotai boys who committed suicide. See Yamakawa, Hoshū Aizu Byakkotai Jūkyūshi-den, p. 111. A statue of the real Mineji can be seen at Iimori Hill. See http://oniheru.fc2web.com/douzou/sakai_mineji.htm The Byakkotai are featured in the real-time strategy game Total War: Shogun 2: Fall of the Samurai (2012) as a line infantry unit.
Gallery
See also Aizuwakamatsu Castle Fukushima Museum Nihonmatsu Shonentai
Notes
References Nakamura Akihiko (2001). Byakkotai. Tokyo: Bunshun-shinsho. Noguchi Shin'ichi (2005). Aizu-han. Tokyo: Gendai Shokan.
External links
Homepage of the Byakkotai Museum in Aizu