AIZU-WAKAMATSU, Fukushima Prefecture -- About 500 people dressed as lords, warriors and noble women of the old Aizu feudal domain marched and rode through this northeastern city on Sept. 23 as part of an event to commemorate the 1868 Boshin civil war.
AIZU-WAKAMATSU, Fukushima Prefecture -- About 500 people dressed as lords, warriors and noble women of the old Aizu feudal domain marched and rode through this northeastern city on Sept. 23 as part of an event to commemorate the 1868 Boshin civil war.
Thirty-four students from Okuma Junior High School, who have been evacuated here because of the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, played the part of members of the Byakkotai (White tiger unit), a unit made up of teenage boys set up to defend Aizu domain and the ill-fated shogunate in the 19th century conflict. The Okuma boys, marching with a "Byakkotai" banner, carried guns and spears and raised loud battle cries.
The story of the Byakkotai, some of whom committed collective suicide as the tide of the war tipped against Aizu, is well known across Japan. The Boshin war ended in the collapse of the shogunate and the establishment of a new government centered on the emperor. The Aizu Domain was one of the last to hold out on the shogunate's side.
"We feel proud to be part of a festival that has a tradition in Aizu," said Mami Ichinose, 14, a third-grader and head of Okuma Junior High School's student council.
A starting ceremony was held in the inner citadel of Tsurugajo Castle (Aizu-Wakamatsu Castle), which was reroofed with red tiles just before the March 11 quake. The Aizu Hanko Gyoretsu (Aizu Domain Lord's Procession) set off along tourist-lined streets after two blank rounds were fired.