Japan's former country counties
On January 3, 1868, Emperor Meiji of Japan issued the Imperial Decree on the Retrospective Of the Imperial Government, abolishing the shogunate and opening up the country. In 1854, the shogunate signed a japan-U.S. peace treaty, followed by the same treaties with Britain, Russia, and the Netherlands, and the policy of national isolation that lasted more than 200 years officially collapsed, and in 1867 power was transferred to the later Meiji government.
Map of Japan place names
The time came to 2018, the 150th anniversary of the Meiji Restoration, and many activities to commemorate the Meiji Restoration were also held, such as Kochi Prefecture, which held the Restoration Exposition from 2017, attracting a considerable number of people who love the theme of the Restoration to visit. The reason why Kochi Prefecture holds such an event is because Sakamoto Ryoma, the hero of the Restoration, is from Kochi and is also highly respected by all walks of life.
Full map of Japan Partial
From the mid to the end of the 18th century, the Japanese nation was in the midst of the end of the shogunate period, the transition period between the Edo period and the Meiji era. Faced with a turbulent and turbulent international situation, the shogunate, despite its deep humiliation, had to step forward. However, from the turbulent shogunate period to the early Meiji period, there were many historical events that involved the political struggles at that time, and even led to wars, and finally ended in tragedy, leaving the hatred between the two sides of the incident for more than a hundred years and still cannot be dissolved.
Ancient map of Edo Castle, Japan
<h1>one</h1>
<h1>Kumamoto Prefecture, Kagoshima Prefecture, and Miyazaki Prefecture: Okubo Ritsuru and Saigo Takamori's century-old feud</h1>
From the end of the shogunate to the early Meiji period, the war left the hatred between the two sides of the incident for more than a hundred years, and it is still impossible to dissolve. The picture shows the satsuma clan in the Pentashin War.
There was also an incident in Kagoshima, the hero of the Restoration, Okubo Ritsu, who died on May 14, 2018, just 140 years after his death, long promoted the reconciliation of the Southwest War, and built a consolation pagoda in the Nanzhou Cemetery, paying homage to the group of the government and the Sahara army who died in the war at that time, "The Southwest Battle Officer Army Sajun Beyond Hatred Meeting", and held a festival to commemorate Okubo Ritsu on May 6.
The century-old feud between Okubo Ritsu (left) and Saigo Takamori (right) has not been resolved to this day.
Unexpectedly, this move caused the maintenance of the bronze statue of Ueno Saigo and the NGO group that studied Saigo Takamori to backlash and demand that the festival be suspended. Since Saigo Takamori was buried in the Nanzhou Cemetery, the group believed that since Okubo Ritsu was not buried in the Nanzhou Cemetery, plus the two main battles of the Southwest War that year, that is, Okubo Ritsu and Saigo Takamori, it was very inappropriate to hold such a festival.
Nanzhou Cemetery. Since Saigo Takamori was buried in the Nanshu Cemetery, the group felt that it would be inappropriate to hold such a festival here for Okubo Ritsu.
Opponents said the organizers should be concerned about the feelings of the dead and their descendants in the Nanzhou cemetery with the stigma of the thief army. However, the host group also said that they did not distinguish between officers and soldiers and Sassars, but only wanted to worship together and transcend mutual hatred. However, the name of the final festival was changed from "Ōkubo Ritsunomi 140 Festival" to "Battle of the Southwest Officers Andi Army Sajun Beyond Hatred Festival".
The protagonist of the Big River drama "Saigo Hall" is Saigo Takamori. The picture shows Saigo Takamori (left, Ryohei Suzuki) and Toshitsu Ōkubo (right, Eita) in the stills.
The protagonist of NHK's Ōkawa drama "Saigoden" happens to be Saigo Takamori, and Saigo Takamori and Okubo Toshitsu, who grew up together, were also heroes who promoted the Meiji Restoration, but they turned against each other because of their different ideas, which also led to Japan's last civil war, the "Southwest War". Although it has been 142 years since then, the hatred left behind by that year is not so easy to resolve, and such a mustard still appears in the administrative offices of the three prefectures of Minami Kyushu.
In February 1877, Saigo Takamori raised troops in Satsuma and led more than 10,000 local disgruntled warriors to the Southwest War, which was japan's last civil war, and began
Although on the surface, Kumamoto Prefecture, Kagoshima Prefecture and Miyazaki Prefecture did not have any problems with each other, but because of the relationship between the Southwest War, when encountering differences in administrative coordination, they often saw civil servants on both sides sneering at each other - after all, the Kumamoto Castle Castle Tower was burned down because of the Southwest War, which also caused the destruction of Kumamoto City; but Kagoshima Prefecture and Miyazaki Prefecture, Edo Period belonged to satsuma domain, and the two sides were more enthusiastic, so the relationship was quite interesting. In the "Map of the Conquest of Korea", Saigo, who advocated the conquest of Korea and lost power as a result, completely broke with the opposition Okubo. In February 1877, Saigo Takamori, who was hated by the government, raised troops in Satsuma and led more than 10,000 local disgruntled warriors to fight as the "Southwest War" of Japan's last civil war.
The "Map of the Conquest of Korea", which advocates the conquest of Korea and the loss of power, Saigo (中, taking off his hat and angry eyes) completely breaks with the opposition Okubo (Saigo Right, wearing a hat and beard).
The Satsuma army decided to storm Kumamoto Castle, and fought many bitter battles with the official Yamagata Aritomo, and in the course of the fierce battle, even the castle tower of Kumamoto Castle was burned down. The Satsuma army was finally surrounded by reinforcements, and after the decisive battle at the Battle of Seongzan, Saigo, who had been shot and seriously wounded, bowed to the east and committed suicide by cutting his abdomen.
The Satsuma army decided to storm Kumamoto Castle, and even the castle tower of Kumamoto Castle was burned down. Map of the War in Kumamoto Castle.
Saigo and Okubo, who are also Kagoshima people, have yet to test whether their hatred for each other can be reconciled over time, but Mito and Hikone, from sharing a feud with each other, to reconciling with each other, and even becoming sister cities, is a good story.
The Satsuma army was finally surrounded by reinforcements, and after the decisive battle at the Battle of Seongzan, Saigo, who had been shot and seriously wounded, bowed to the east and committed suicide by cutting his abdomen.
<h1>two</h1>
<h1>Tsuruga City and Mito City: The reconciliation of hatred caused by political struggles has become a good story</h1>
It is said that the Lord of the Hikone Domain, Inoue Naohiro, and the Mito Domain Lord Tokugawa Kisaki, since the arrival of the Black Ship, have different opinions on the founding of the country, I-Naohiro Izuki, who advocates the founding of the country, and Tokugawa Kiaki, who advocates the destruction of the country, and for the 14th shogun Tokugawa Ieshige, they are all allies and oppose each other.
In 1858, Ii Naohiro was appointed as the grand elder, and the confrontation between the two camps intensified, which eventually triggered the Ansei Prison, which suppressed the Mito clan led by the Mito clan, and also made the Mito clan members indignant. A number of radical clans decided to behead the elder, and in order not to implicate the Mito clan, they announced their resignation and became langshi.
Kill Naohiro Ii's "Sakurada Gate Change".
On March 24, 1860, 17 Mito Tōrō and 1 Satsuma Roshi ambushed near the Sakurada Gate, waiting for I Naohiro's team to come out of Edo Castle, and immediately rushed up and killed Ii Naohiro, known in history as the "Change outside the Sakurada Gate".
After the incident, Hikone and Mito hated each other, and water and fire were intolerable.
The radical Mito clan formed the "Tengu Party", and during the Tengu Rebellion in 1864, they raised troops to go to Kyoto, but when they approached the Hikone Domain, they were blocked by the Hikone Clan and shouted the slogan "Avenge Elder Iti", forcing the Tengu party to take a detour, and finally surrounded by all sides in Tsuruga, and finally surrendered, and the members were executed in Tsuruga.
100 years later, in 1964, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Tengu Rebellion, the city of Tsuruga in Fukui Prefecture proposed to Ibaraki Prefecture's city of Mito to form an alliance as a friendly city, and the city of Mito agreed, and the two sides became sister cities in 1965. In 1970, on the 110th anniversary of the Sakurada Gate Rebellion, Mito City, in coordination with Tsuruga City, invited Mito City and Hikone City to reconcile the incident, and Mito City gave plum blossoms to Hikone City Kaien Park, and Hikone City gave back the swans of Hikone Castle.
Hikone Castle. In 1970, on the 110th anniversary of the Sakurada-Ekimaki Rebellion, the city of Tsuruga, in coordination with the city of Tsuruga, invited Mito City and Hikone City to reconcile the incident
The two sides have concluded sister cities, symbolizing that the hatred has passed and that the two sides have entered into reconciliation and friendship. In April 1972, Mito City also presented Hikone City with the "2nd Season Sakura" (cherry blossoms that bloom in both spring and autumn), and in the Golden Turtle Children's Park in Hikone Castle, you can see this cherry blossom forest that blooms in late autumn.
<h1>three</h1>
<h1>Aizu and Choshu: The Choshu Conquest and the hatred caused by the war have another 120 years</h1>
The hatred caused by the political struggle was not only reconciled, but also became a good story; but Aizu and Choshu, which had caused hatred because of the war, were not so easy to solve.
Aizu Domain has been a major transportation route since ancient times, and the founding ancestor of the domain, Hoko Masayuki, was the son of the second-generation shogun Tokugawa Hidetada, and also had a fairly good relationship with the three-generation shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu, so the Aizu domain has always had the family training of "guarding the Tokugawa shogun's family".
At the end of the shogunate, due to the corruption of public order in Kyoto, there were people everywhere who were cut down, people were panicked, and the political situation was unstable, so the imperial court asked the shogunate for help, and finally Matsudaira Eiho, the lord of Aizu Domain, led his troops to Kyoto and served as the guardian of Kyoto. In September 1863, the Choshu Domain, which was keen on emperor, planned to offer advice to Emperor Hyomyō, issued an order to Emperor Takaaki, and took the opportunity to abolish the Tokugawa shogunate.
Unexpectedly, Choshu wanted to interfere in the premeditated plan of the imperial court, and was discovered by the Satsuma clan and the Aizu domain, Matsudaira Eiho, who was the guardian of Kyoto, combined with satsuma and other public-military factions, sent troops to sweep choshu and other emperors out of Kyoto in one fell swoop, and finally led to the "Choshu Conquest", which made Choshu resentful, thinking that all this was a ghost between Aizu and Satsuma.
During the Battle of Toba Fushimi, the last shogun Tokugawa Keiki (center), who witnessed the rout of the shogunate army and the escape of the emperor in a hurry.
However, the situation often had unexpected changes, through the mediation of Sakamoto Ryoma, Satsuma and Choshu, the two enemies, actually shook hands and reconciled, and also joined forces to support the newly ascended Meiji Emperor, and promoted the "great government and return", the government army led by Sasaga, in the Battle of Toba Fushimi, easily defeated the shogunate army, and also let the last shogun Tokugawa Keiki, aware of the current affairs, retire, and accept the agreement reached by the shogunate Kimoto Katsukai and Saigo Takamori, and open the castle without blood.
However, the samurai who opposed the return of the government could not accept this outcome at all, so they went to Aizu to assemble and fight a crucial battle with the government army. In October 1868, the government army and the shogunate army fought a fierce decisive battle in Aizu, and almost all the men and women of the Aizu Domain participated in the war, and even the teenage children formed the "White Tigers" that are very famous in history. However, in the end, it was defeated by the government forces and was defeated, resulting in heavy casualties in aizu domain.
Choshu, who had been humiliated by Aizu, took the opportunity to take revenge and not only put Matsudaira Ryūho under house arrest, but after the war, Matsudaira Ronho and his son Matsudaira Rondae were all forced to move to Mutsu's Dounan region (now Mutsu City, Aomori Prefecture). Although there are many rumors in Choshu that the war dead are not allowed to be buried and let their bodies be exposed in the wilderness, it is not necessarily true that the aizu people who witnessed the tragic state of the war are even more indescribable in their hearts, and they also make the Aizu people hate Choshu.
It is said that many men and women from Aizu who are from Yamaguchi Prefecture (formerly Choshu Domain) will certainly be opposed by their parents. In 1987, as the 120th anniversary of the Aizu War was approaching, Ogi City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, the prefecture of Choshu Domain, wanted to promote aizu City with Fukushima Prefecture to become a friendly city, so it proposed to Aizu City, but it was rejected. At that time, Ogi city thought that 120 years had passed and it was time to let go of the hatred of history, but Aizu City responded:
There's another 120 years that haven't passed!
In October 1868, a fierce battle between the government and the shogunate army in Aizu was fought. The picture shows "The Victory of the Officers and Troops in Aizu Falls to the City".
This dialogue, which was reported by the media at that time, caused discussion between the two sides, and the suggestion of the friendly city was also dismissed. However, the two sides also made contact, and in 2007, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Yamaguchi Prefecture said to the people of Fukushima when he went to Fukushima for the House of Councillors election:
During the Aizu War, it was very embarrassing to cause trouble to the ancestors...
During the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, When Fukushima suffered heavy losses from the nuclear disaster and tsunami, Ogi city was led by the mayor, who took 50 million yen and many supplies donated by locals to Aizu City, and visited the tomb of the White Tigers to pay homage to the flowers, which made many Aizu people feel sincere. The high schools on both sides also co-produced a chorus of songs, which also took each other's ice-breaking step forward.
2018 also marks the 150th anniversary of the Aizu War. On the left is Aizu City, on the right is Hagi City, each with a different poster commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Restoration
Looking at these events, they have spanned more than a hundred years, although time is the best antidote, but sincerity and openness to each other are the ways to let each other go and truly reconcile. 2018 is also the 150th anniversary of the Aizu War, and there is still a way to go for a real reconciliation between Aizu and Choshu.