Byakkotai

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 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120301205123/http://www.geocities.co.jp/SilkRoad-Lake/6618/honmon/21.html |date=2012-03-01 }} 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."{{in lang|ja}} http://homepage3.nifty.com/ponpoko-y/yomoyama/aizu03.htm {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081208160050/http://homepage3.nifty.com/ponpoko-y/yomoyama/aizu03.htm |date=2008-12-08 }}

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.

File:Byakkotai mussolini column.jpg

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.{{cite web|url=http://www.iimoriyama.jp/iimori.html |title=Points of Interest in Iimori-yama |access-date=2019-06-13 }}{{cite web|url=https://jref.com/articles/byakkotai.168/|title=Byakkotai|date=8 August 2012 |access-date=2021-09-25}} Nazi Germany also erected a monument showing their approval of the Byakkotai.{{cite web|url=https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e7709.html |title=Iimoriyama, Site of suicide by a group of young soldiers |website=Japan-guide.com |accessdate=2019-06-14}} 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.iimoriyama.jp/iimori.html |title=Points of Interest in Iimori-yama |access-date=2019-06-13 }}{{cite web|url=https://jref.com/articles/byakkotai.168/|title=Byakkotai|date=8 August 2012 |access-date=2021-09-25}}

The Byakkotai have been the topic of many plays, books, films, and TV series. One notable TV depiction was produced in 1986 Byakkotai; another, more recently, was the 2007 TV drama, which starred Yamashita Tomohisa, Tanaka Koki and Fujigaya Taisuke. Yamashita portrayed another 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 as a unit exclusive to the Aizu clan in Total War: Shogun 2: Fall of the Samurai.{{secondary source needed|date=June 2024}}

File:Byakko-tai shrine at Iimori-yama from afar.JPG|Memorial on Iimori Mountain.

File:Byakko-tai shrine at Iimori-yama 2.JPG|Tablets with the names of Byakkotai members who committed suicide.

File:Aidu Byakkotai Monument by Mussolini.jpg|Column given by Mussolini.

File:Young warriors in 2006 Aizu parade.JPG|Children portraying Byakkotai soldiers at the annual Aizu clan parade (2006).

File:Aizu-Wakamatsu from Iimori-yama.JPG|View from Iimori Mountain(2006).

File:Byakkotai eiyū kagami.jpg|Byakkotai who committed Seppuku at Iimori Mountain, woodblock print

• Aizuwakamatsu Castle
• Nihonmatsu Shonentai
• Fukushima Museum

{{Reflist|2}}

• Nakamura Akihiko (2001). Byakkotai. Tokyo: Bunshun-shinsho.
• Noguchi Shin'ichi (2005). Aizu-han. Tokyo: Gendai Shokan.
• {{Cite book|author=Yamakawa Kenjirō|year=1933| title=Aizu Boshin Senshi | location=Tokyo|publisher=Aizu Boshin Senshi Hensankai}}
• {{Cite book|author=Yamakawa Kenjirō; Munekawa Toraji|year=1926|title=Hoshū Aizu Byakkotai jūkyūshi-den |location=Wakamatsu|publisher=Aizu Chōrei Gikai}}

{{Commons category|Byakkotai}}

• {{in lang|ja}} [http://www.byakkokinen.com/ Homepage of the Byakkotai Museum in Aizu]

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Category:People of the Boshin War

Category:Culture in Fukushima Prefecture

Category:Japanese warriors

Category:Meiji Restoration

Category:Seppuku from Meiji era to present

Category:Suicides by sharp instrument in Japan