Aizu Domain (2/2)Ruled by the Uesugi and Aizu Matsudaira families.

After the Sakuradamongai Incident occurred in 1860, Katamori Matsudaira served as a mediator between the shogunate and the Mito domain, and with the backing of the 14th shogun, Iemochi Tokugawa, brought the situation to a bloodless end. . In 1862, at the age of 28, Katamori Matsudaira was appointed to the position of Kyoto Shugo. It is said that Katamori repeatedly declined this appointment, but envoys from the shogunate visited his Edo residence on a daily basis and tried to persuade him by bringing up the family precepts established by Masayuki Hoshina, the founder of the Aizu Matsudaira family.

Katamori Matsudaira often appears in novels, manga, and dramas as the person who took charge of the Roshi-gumi, the predecessor of the Shinsengumi, and created the Mibu Roshi-gumi. However, he also met with Emperor Komei many times and acted as a bridge between the Imperial Court and the Shogunate. In addition, samurai from the Aizu clan were sent to Edo to provide personal protection for Iemochi Tokugawa.

Katamori Matsudaira solidified his foreign policy with the belief that ``the first thing is to unite the country,'' and he worked hard to unify the opinions of the shogunate and the imperial court. However, the true intentions were not conveyed to the Shogunate, and their opinions were never heard. Gradually, the dissatisfaction of the Aizu feudal retainers stationed in Edo grew, and Katamori Matsudaira repeatedly asked the shogunate to resign from his post as Kyoto Shugo. However, that wish was never fulfilled.

Matsudaira Katamori's efforts were in vain, and the Ikedaya Incident occurred in the first year of Genji, and the Choshu clan raised an army. Choshu clan soldiers who had been expelled from Kyoto poured into Kyoto armed with the aim of eliminating Katamori Matsudaira, and urban battles broke out. (Battle of Hamaguri Gomon)

Matsudaira Katamori somehow managed to withstand these hardships, but when Emperor Komei, with whom he had a close friendship, passed away in 1867, he finally abandoned the policy of combining the civil and military, and in 1868 ) He resigned his post as Kyoto Shugo and returned to Aizu. In 1868, the Battle of Toba-Fushimi broke out, marking the beginning of the Boshin War.
Matsudaira Katamori sent samurai from the Aizu and Kuwana clans to join the shogunate army, but the shogunate army was defeated.

As a result of this defeat, an imperial order was issued to make Aizu and Kuwana enemies of the Imperial Palace. In response to this, the Ou-etsu Alliance was formed, consisting of 34 feudal domains in the Tohoku region, and demonstrated a stance of confronting the Meiji government forces.

In the Aizu War that began in 1868, Meiji government forces won both the Battle of Shirakawaguchi and the Battle of Nihonmatsu, and the Aizu Domain was forced to retreat to Wakamatsu Castle. After a month-long siege of Tsurugasaki Castle, the castle was finally surrendered bloodlessly. Many child soldiers died during the Aizu War, and the tragedies of Nihonmatsu Boys' Corps and Byakko Corps are still widely known. In addition, many Aizu feudal warriors died in battle, and 239 wives and children of feudal retainers committed suicide so as not to become a hindrance during the siege battle. This situation of the Battle of Aizu Castle was also depicted in the taiga drama ``Yae no Sakura.''

It is said that while the Aizu feudal samurai showed signs of a fierce resistance, the reaction of the Aizu farmers was extremely cold. This was because the Aizu clan imposed heavy taxes on farmers in order to finance their fight against the Meiji government. It is said that the Aizu clan itself was a target of hatred for the farmers, and many supported the Meiji government. After the Aizu Clan surrendered to the Meiji government forces and surrendered the castle bloodlessly, a temporary political vacuum arose in the Aizu Clan. Aiming for that moment, farmers staged an uprising demanding the destruction of the land survey book, annual tax book, and quota book, the introduction of an election system, the abolition of the monopoly system, and the reduction or exemption of annual tax. (Aizu social reform uprising/Yaya uprising)

The Meiji government did not actively suppress this, and the farmers made many demands of the newly elected village officials.
Furthermore, there is a record that when Katamori Matsudaira was sent from Aizu to Edo, the farmers did not kneel down when they saw the convoy, but remained indifferent to him by working in the fields.

After the bloodless surrender of the castle, Katamori Matsudaira was escorted to Edo and kept at the Ikeda residence. Later, in 1689, his son Matsudaira Yohiro was born, and he was allowed to inherit the family name and was given 30,000 koku. However, Yoshitaka Matsudaira never actually became the lord of the domain, and Katamori Matsudaira became the last lord of the domain. Katamori Matsudaira served in the Wakayama domain and the Tonan domain in Aomori before being ordered to live in seclusion in Tokyo, but his life was so poor that he was supported by the former samurai of the Aizu domain who worked for him.

After that, in 1880, he was finally appointed chief priest of Nikko Toshogu Shrine and Ueno Toshogu Shrine, and was able to receive a salary.
He died of pneumonia in 1893. He passed away at the age of 56.

Later Aizu Matsudaira family

The Aizu Matsudaira family continued to be known as a peerage (viscount family), and Setsuko Matsudaira (great-granddaughter of Katamori Matsudaira), the sixth son of Katamori Matsudaira and the daughter of the diplomat Tsuneo Matsudaira, became the wife of Princess Chichibu. (Chichibu Princess Setsuko). However, Prince Chichibu was not blessed with any children until his death, so the bloodline of the Aizu Matsudaira family did not remain in the imperial family. Chichibunomiya was the younger brother of Emperor Showa, and he gained popularity among the people as the ``Palace of Sports'' due to his dedication to the promotion of sports. Even today, its name remains in places such as the Chichibunomiya Cup. Princess Chichibu Princess Setsuko also served as the President of Tuberculosis Prevention for many years and devoted herself to tuberculosis prevention activities.

On the other hand, the Aizu Matsudaira family name still exists, and Yasuhisa Matsudaira, who served as a producer for Nippon Television, is the 14th generation head of the family.
At the Aizu Festival held every year in Aizu City, Fukushima Prefecture, the Aizu clan parade is held, and in 2019, the eldest son of Yasuhisa Matsudaira, Chikayasu Matsudaira, served as the lord of the Aizu domain, Katamori Matsudaira.