What's Tohoku in Japan_2?
What's Boshin War?
The above image was quoted from Wikipedia,"Boshin War" and the area drawn with green broken line in it is Tohoku region.
Before taking about it,I'll briefly summarize the modern history of Japan.
- 1603 to 1868 :Era of Edo - feudal regime by Tokugawa Shogunate
- 1868 to 1945 :Era of "Imperial Japan" -until the defeat in WWⅡ
- 1945 to Present:Era of modern Japan
Disaffected people -mainly people in south-west region in Japan,who knew the global dynamics of the day - overturned the Tokugawa feudal regime and established the new government of constitutional monarchy in 1868 - "Imperial Japan".
Boshin War occurred in 1868-1869,which was a string of wars to overturn Tokugawa and to hunt down its supporters.And Tohoku was much involved in it as "rebels".
Most clans in Tohoku were allied together right after the surrender of Tokugawa.The alley was originally intended not for "fight against the new government",but for "petition for them" - to ask them for mercy to Aizu clan and Shonai clan,both in Tohoku,positively involved on the side of Tokugawa.Both clans declared the intention to yield to the new government after the surrender of Tokugawa -but "it was too late".
The new government refused the petition.Instead,they even ordered the other clans in Tohoku to hunt down Aizu because they regarded Aizu as "the worst war criminal" - actually,Aizu had strongly fought against them until the surrender of Tokugawa.So Aizu was the most punishable enemy to them.
Finally,Aizu totally surrendered after strong and cruel wars and the other clans in Tohoku also surrendered.And It was Choshu clan that had the strong initiative in the new government.
(Actually,even still,this is one of "touchy subjects" in Japan - here are too many historic contexts and too many miserable stories that "may or may not be true".I intend to note only minimum level of facts).
So,my boss's joke was based on this historical incident -"I come from Yamaguchi prefecture,old name 'Choshu' and I know you come from Fukushima,old name 'Aizu'.We were mutual enemies about 100 years ago,But now here,we've just signed a peace cord!!".
The Image of "Poor Tohoku"
This brought a negative image about Tohoku to many other Japanese -"uncivilized".They thought that Tohoku people were so barbaric that they went against the tide of the new government.Actually,there were many old records left in which their customs or manners or even their dialect were described as uncivilized - this is just a stereotype of "Losers are always in the wrong".
What is worse was that several natural disasters struck Tohoku in 1910s-1930s,and the people starved.These determined the image of "poor Tohoku" - "To show pity is felt as a sign of contempt because one has clearly ceased to be an object of fear as soon as one is pitied"(Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche," the wanderer and his shadow") - quite literally,most Japanese mindsets for Tohoku changed to "pity".
But "really always poor?" - there is an old book about Tohoku,written by an English writer who traveled in Tohoku in 1878,in the early in the era of Imperial Japan - "Unbeaten Tracks in Japan" by Isabella Lucy Bird.
It taught me another aspect of Tohoku.I'll talk about it next time.
