As imperial forces closed in on Aizuwakamatsu in the autumn of 1868, the domain mobilized every unit it could, including reserve companies organized by age. Among these was the Byakkotai, made up of boys from samurai families in their mid-teens, assigned to guard duty rather than front-line combat. When the fighting reached the outskirts of the castle town, a detachment of roughly twenty Byakkotai members became separated from their unit and retreated to the heights of Iimoriyama, overlooking the castle.

From that vantage point, they saw smoke rising over Tsuruga Castle and concluded that it had fallen and that the domain’s cause was lost. Rather than surrender, nineteen of the boys took their own lives on the mountainside. In fact, the castle had not fallen — the smoke came from fires in the surrounding town — and the domain would hold out for several more weeks before its eventual surrender.

The story of the Byakkotai spread quickly after the war and was embraced, then amplified, as a symbol of loyalty and sacrifice, eventually becoming known even outside Japan. Iimoriyama remains a memorial site today, and the episode continues to shape how the siege of Aizuwakamatsu is remembered, sometimes overshadowing the broader and more complex history of the domain’s final defeat.

Sources

1. Hoshi, Ryoichi, Byakkotai, 1972