Place Where Byakkotai Members Committed Suicide Videos
Byakkotai Tribute
BYAKKOTAI.NET
When people say Byakkotai they are usually referring to the small group of teenagers who took their own lives on Mt. Iimori in AIZU. However, not all Byakkotai committed suicide or died.
Around this very time of March or April in 1868 (the Boshin War), a fighting force comprising of hundreds of very young samurai of Aizu was already formed in preparation of the invasion by the kangun or Imperial Troops. The 16-17 year old young men were intended to be a reserve force (Shiba 45). However, it seems to have been the case that 15 year olds did enter the force through deception. The story of the Byakkotai has been narrated in many ways such as pop-culture, movies, novels, even crossover manga with the Shinsengumi. The lack of a detailed historical narrative of the Byakkotai points to there symbolic significance. They became more than just boys who misread a situation and made extreme decisions.
The End of Aizu's Future
The value of male children in Japanese (Pan-asian) culture is well known. Children really were raised by the community. Extended family members, close friends, and the many teachers at the domain school (Nisshinkan) were all authority figures who were allowed to shape and discipline these young men. The Byakkotai were part of the very last generation to complete or experience a traditional samurai education. They were not just sons of certain families but sons of the entire domain. Their deaths stood for the end of the domain's future as a feudal entity. They stood at the border of childhood and samuraihood (indeed many of them were considered to be full adults already) and their potential as individuals remain unfulfilled.
You may learn more about the Byakkotai here
The music is from Hans Zimmer OST LAST SAMURAI
Special Thanks to Hirotada Tokugawa for providing his voice and writing talent to this project.
Shiba, Goro. (edited by Ishimitsu Mahito) Remembering Aizu: The Testament of Shiba Goro
Hawai'i: University of Hawai'i Press, 1999.
ISBN: 0824821572
Related Video:
THE LAST SAMURAI WOMEN
Japan's Byakkotai White Tiger Dance 白虎隊剣舞
Byakkotai was a military reserve force of teenage boys during the Boshin War (1868-1869) for the Aizu domain against Imperial Forces. They arose to fame during the Battle of Aizu when a squad became separated from the army and committed seppuku when they thought the castle had fallen and their lord and families all dead. In reality the town was burning but the castle stood for a while longer before the lord finally surrendered. One of the squad survived however and lived to old age.
On September 24th in Aizu-Wakamatsu they do a tribute to those Byakkotai members with both a song and a dance.
- 白虎隊 - Byakkotai - The Legend of the White Tiger
The Legend of the White Tiger
A short stop-motion animation of the 20 Byakkotai members who were cut off from the rest of their Corp, retreated to Iimori Hill, saw their town on fire and assumed defeat, leading them to their selfless commitment of seppuku (honorable suicide). 19 of them die, but one, Sadakichi Iinuma, survives after being rescued. He later died and had his ashes spread at the Byakkotai memorial, which stands today at Iimori Hill.
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