Female combatants and Japan's Meiji restoration: The case of Aizu (Boshin Civil War)

Japan's modern period began not with universal acclaim, but with the Boshin Civil War. From January 1868 to June of the following year, Japan was torn by bitter battles between supporters of the ousted Tokugawa regime and those of the newly established Meiji government. Such dissension has too often been portrayed as an aberrant aspect of a very popular "Imperial Restoration", a change especially championed by mid-ranked members of the military class (buke). This paradigm is belied by the activities of Aizu domain's 'samurai' women during the Boshin conflict.