Aizuwakamatsu: Exploring the Byakkotai and Tsurugajo

All buildings, including the main keep, were demolished by 1874, but the main keep was reconstructed in 1965, and in the Heisei era, the tea room and corner turrets were also restored. In 2011, the roof tiles were replaced with red tiles from the late Edo period, highlighting the beauty of the past.

It began when Ashina Morihisa, the guardian of Aizu, built a villa in this area where a sacred spring bubbled up during the Muromachi period. Later, the founder of the Aizu Matsudaira clan, Matsudaira Masayuki, developed it into a daimyo garden, and the second lord, Masakane, established it as a medicinal herb garden for the prevention and treatment of illnesses for the local people.

Aizu's local cuisine includes pickled herring with sansho and boiled dried cod. Enjoy unique dishes like kozuyu.

It is said that pottery making began when the Aizu lord, Gamō Ujisato, had the tiles for the current Tsuruga Castle made. Later, in the early Edo period, Matsudaira Masayuki, the founder of the Aizu Matsudaira clan, invited potters from Owari to start full-scale production.

In the battle at Tonokuchihara in the first year of the Meiji era (1868), the Byakkotai boys suffered a decisive blow. As they fled to Iimoriyama through a tunnel, they mistakenly believed that Tsuruga Castle had fallen while watching a city fire, and the Byakkotai boys committed suicide on the spot. (The image shows the Aizu Festival.)

Aizu's hidden retreat, Higashiyama Onsen, is said to have been discovered about 1300 years ago by the famous monk Gyoki, and it is a historic hot spring resort counted among the Three Scenic Areas of Oshu. Enjoy the atmosphere of the past while soaking your feet in the foot bath.