Why is Mt. Bandai in Fukushima Prefecture a treasure trove? If you love sleeping in the morning, drinking in the morning, and taking a hot bath in the morning like Shosuke Ohara, is it really no good? Mt. Bandai (alttude 1816m) is a symbolic mountain in the Aizu region of Fukushima Prefecture. The folk song “Aizu Bandaisan”, which sings Mt. Bandai as “Treasure Mountain”, is a Bon Odori festival dance song that has been sung mainly in Aizuwakamatsu City since the beginning of the Meiji era (1868-). Around the beginning of the Showa era (1934), “Aizu Bandaisan” was released by a record company and became famous nationwide. It is counted […]

Have you ever heard of the Gion Festival in Fukushima Prefecture? You can see a Japanese bridal walk from the morning and enjoy kodomo-kabuki after that. You can see, and enjoy the Gion Festival in Aizu all day long! Three days from 22 to 25 July, the “Aizu Tajima Gion Festival” is held every year in the Tajima area of Minami Aizu Town, Fukushima Prefecture. The Aizu Tajima Gion Festival is one of Japan’s three major Gion Festivals, along with the “Kyoto Gion Festival” and “Hakata Gion Yamagasa.” Aizu Tajima Gion Festival has designated as an important intangible folk cultural asset of Japan because the festival has more than 800 […]

“Oh! The castle is on fire!” Why did the Byakkotai, White Tiger Unit, misunderstand that Tsuruga Castle was burning? “Tsuruga Castle” in Aizuwakamatsu City, Fukushima Prefecture, is a unique castle with Castle tower of a red roofing tile. Its official name is “Wakamatsu Castle”, but people of Aizu call it “Tsuruga Castle”. Tsuruga Castle was first built in 1384 by the Ashina family as Kurokawa Castle. In 1589, Date Masamune ruled Aizu by defeating Ashina, but the following year, Aizu confiscated by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. And Gamo Ujisato, who was Oda Nobunaga’s son-in-law ruled that land. Gamo Ujisato significantly renovated Kurokawa Castle, renamed it as “Tsuruga Castle”, and named the place […]

In order to know about Byakko-tai (White Tiger Unit, a military unit in Aizu Domain), I breathlessly climbed 170 stone steps of Mt. Iimori in Fukushima Prefecture! Mt. Iimori is a small mountain located about 2km east of the central city of Aizuwakamatsu in Fukushima Prefecture. Since its shape is like a bowl of rice, it has come to be called Mt. Iimori. It is also very famous as the suicide harakiri site of “Byakko tai”. In 1868, after Tokugawa shogunate returned its political power to the Imperial Court, Boshin War between imperial and shogunate forces was broke out. Byakko tai is a shogunate army unit consisted of boys aged […]