A Site on the history of the Republic of Ezo

Republic of Ezo, and a description of Japan, and some on the History of Hokkaido

The Republic of Ezo was a short-lived state formed by former Tokugawa retainers in what is now known as Hokkaido, the northernmost, large but sparsely populated island in modern Japan.

After the defeat of the forces of the Tokugawa Shogunate in the Boshin War (1868–1869), a part of the Shogun's navy led by Admiral Enomoto Takeaki (1836–1908) fled to the northern island of Ezo (now known as Hokkaido), together with several thousand soldiers and a handful of French military advisors and their leader, Jules Brunet. On December 25, 1868, they set up an independent "Republic of Ezo" on the American model, and elected Enomoto as its sosai. These were the first elections ever held in Japan, which was used to feudal empire and military warlords or shogunate. Through Hakodate Magistrate Nagai Naoyuki, they tried to reach out to foreign legations present in Hakodate, such as the Americans, French, and Russians, but were not able to garner any international support for their new government. The governmental hall of the Republic of Ezo, inside the fortress of Goryokaku.The Republic had its own flag, a chrysanthemum on a sky-blue background, the symbol of Imperial rule, and a red star with seven branches, the symbol of the new Republic. The financial wherewithal was provided in part by the 180,000 gold ryo coins which Enomoto retrieved from Osaka Castle following Tokugawa Yoshinobu's departure from there in early 1868. During the winter they fortified their defences around the southern peninsula of Hakodate, with the new fortress of Goryokaku at the center. The troops were organized under a Franco-Japanese commandment, the commander-in-chief Otori Keisuke being seconded by the French captain Jules Brunet, and divided between four brigades, each commanded by a French officer (Fortant, Marlin, Cazeneuve, Bouffier), themselves divided into eight half-brigades, each under Japanese command. Brunet demanded - and received - a signed personal pledge of loyalty from allthe officers and insisted that they assimilated French ideas, whether or not they understood them. An anonymous French officer wrote that he had taken charge of everything "customs, municipality, fortifications, army; everything passed through his hands. The simple Japanese are puppets whom he manipulates with great skill" and that "he has carried out a veritable 1789 in this brave new Japan; the election of leaders and the determination of rank by merit and not birth - these are fabulous things for this country, and he has been able to do things very well, considering the seriousness of the situation".
Imperial troops soon consolidated their hold on mainland Japan, and in April 1869 dispatched a fleet and an infantry force of 7,000 to Ezo. The Imperial forces progressed swiftly and won the Battle of Hakodate, until the fortress of Goryokaku was surrounded with 800 remaining men. Enomoto decided to surrender on May 17, turning the Goryokaku over to Satsuma staff officer Kuroda Kiyotaka on May 18, 1869. Kuroda is said to have been deeply impressed by Enomoto's dedication in combat, and is remembered as the one who spared the latter's life from execution. As per the arrangements for the surrender, the Republic ceased to exist on 27 June 1869. On August 15 of the same year, the island was given its present name, Hokkaido ("Northern Sea District").
While later history texts were to refer to May of 1869 as being when Enomoto accepted the Meiji Emperor's rule, the Imperial rule was never in question for the Ezo Republic, as is evidenced by part of Enomoto's message to the Dajokan at the time of his arrival in Hakodate: "The farmers and merchants are unmolested, and live without fear, going their own way, and sympathising with us; so that already we have been able to bring some land into cultivation. We pray that this portion of the Empire may be conferred upon our late lord, Tokugawa Kamenosuke; and in that case, we shall repay your beneficence by our faithful guardianship of the northern gate." The French military advisors and their Japanese allies. Front row, second from left: Jules Brunet, besides Matsudaira Taro, vice-president of the Ezo Republic.Thus from Enomoto's perspective, the efforts to establish a government in Hokkaido were not only for the sake of providing for the Tokugawa house on the one hand (burdened as it was with an enormous amount of redundant retainers and employees), but also as developing Ezo for the sake of defense for the rest of the country, something which had been a topic of concern for some time. Recent scholarship has noted that for centuries, Ezo was not considered a part of Japan the same way that the other "main" islands of modern Japan were, so Enomoto's declaration of independence, in a contemporary mindset, was not an act of secession, but rather of "bringing" the politico-social entity of "Japan" formally to Ezo. Enomoto was sentenced to a brief prison sentence, but was freed in 1872 and accepted a post as a government official in the newly renamed Hokkaido Land Agency. He later became ambassador to Russia, and held several ministerial positions in the Meiji Government.

Japan's chain is shaped like a J,
Japan is a society which has the large island of Hokkaido, in the N,
Which is shaped like a blobby square, & is as large as Ireland,
Then the long isle of Honshu, to the S, of that,
Covering most of the island chain, which is larger than Britain,
With to the S, of that Shikoku, about the same size as Taiwan to the S,
And Kyushu the same size to the SW,

Every isle in Japan, is rapt to bureaucratic centralising,
Bar the more bearded unlike Japanese, Ainu Hunter-Gatherer, bear sacrificing Hokkaido,
Snow melting on it's coastal faint fields, in the winter,
Where at times, cranes, 6 foot 6, 2 metres tall white birds,
Looking like tall swans, or geese,
Of very long necks,

Dances with eachother, even one jumping over the other, like ballet jumpers,
Pattering their white & white bodies,
& black, & white feet on the snow, as they dance on this iced lake,
And are white with black patches round eyes,

This large isle, also has on it things,
Which stretch into warmer parts of Japanese accents,
Like the black goats that stand on bright green & cliffs,
And greys walking along edges & onto things, there,
Seeing carp in rivers, & long horned deer, scarper across their fords,

There are also as in the rest of Japan, deer,
Like white dotted slightly fat orange deer, with small white tails,
Some on steep greenery hills, that are dark green, like lawns,
There are also weasels, in higher areas,
And sea eagles,

And snow monkeys that sit in pools, in icy mountains,
With their whites bodies, as Macquaes, & red faces,
Sometimes picking eachother fleas together as steam rises,
I mean the sit in pools, that are hot, as of volcanic spring activity,
Some built around with stones as walls, where they can look off at the mountain,
And scarper away when people come, to be in religious, or relaxation ways, too,

Off the trees to eat, & such,
Well the Ainu, who prior millennia led more isles, were loosing the S of this isle too,
I mean they are called Caucasians, but look a bit Japanese, & have beards, unlike locals,
But by 500BC, Japanese of absorbed Asian migrants grew there,
& in the whole of Japan,

But it has to be admitted, some are more relaxed monkeys,
That are later taken by Ainu, & Japanese, for relaxing in, while monkeys still come in,
They groom, & pick off insects, just like the people,
And may see sea eagles, or seagulls, up above flying over,
The Japanese took Hokkaido, over millennia,
The first Japanese there, came in early years,
But till after 1000, the amount of Japanese on the isle was low,

Often rival shoguns or regents get clan's help, sibling elites fight,
Hierarchy grade's, develop civil-war 50years,
In the 1390s, a shogun of a area, briefly became in a titular sense a Chinese underling,
Wedding cake style pagoda castles, dramatic music, of screeching, riling flutes,

Hokkaido started to be increasingly settled by Japanese in the S, by this era,
With more settlements in the S,
Which fought a battle with the N, by 1590 then made the lead town,
Here a Japanese, town start to lead them,
Ruled a bit like the marches of Wales,
With Ainu beginning to Japaneseify, & be integrated to their ways,
With Japanese settlers, & towns spreading around the isle,

There had been 130 deadly famines, with mils hungry eachtime, between 1603-1860s,
Riots desperately occurred,
They want food, as moneyed get resources, your in painful hunger,
Just wrong, mass mania, & huge numbers swarm, through cities,
Or just across rural areas,
It was just not good enough,

Devastatingly in 1732, 969000/3million die,
In 1784 300/900,000, possibly 2million, 1833, 200/300,000,
3million die of cholera though in 1859,
The earlier epidemic had killed a fraction of that amount,
Another outbreak in 1860-2, killed with measles, 200/500,000,

The outbreak was brought by a US ship coming from wartorn China,
Although some claim it started in 1854,
Spreading disease from the poverty stricken ports,
& cramped conditions, & serfdom,

Maybe aided by distractions such as the divisions between the elite,
And the changes that were occurring,
It came a few weeks after European states signed the treaty which opened up Japan,
At an occasion when war was disrupting & ruining China,
The biggest cause of this, the fear of the threatening ships, & cholera being in the area,

Yeah so you could give monarchy most of the credit for it in a way,
But we must accept some US blame, for the disaster,
But can you give them all, oh maybe, or maybe not,
I mean they did not try to bring cholera, or were responsible for bringing it,
Or you could blame the Chinese, war,
Or how British troops going to China, from India, in the mid 19thC, spread cholera too China,

At least you can either blame Britain & France, for most cholera kills, & America maybe for these,
Or you can more sensibly split the blame on all,
And arrive at a great conclusion for the 19thC,
And some sources say they did not bring it in,
& that this was just the Dutch making mischief,

Disliking the way it was losing it's monopoly, that it wanted to open in a way good for it,
So it is questionable to blame them completely absolutely,
Early in the 19thC, the population kills 100/200,000, 2nd sons yearly,
On some green village's rustic homes, there were paths too cities,
But some had never heard of the rulers,
Just living their serfdom full lifestyles, of lower life expectancies than could be,

In some cases,
They had interesting rubble homes, painted over, but in others,
Just wood planks, light brown, or white, painted,
In interesting ways, maybe with a pagoda, but not really very often,
Having pagodas on, them, that would be too much,

Their huts resembling owl-pellets colours,
& shapes, of woods, & grasses, & straws, muds,
With flat land, or mountains behind them,
Or wood curved thinly,
Into good shapes overlooking lower flat green grass, or fields, of rice,
With green around the houses,

There are 20 revolts annually from 1700-1850,
With the 1836, 50000strong Yamanashi revolt,
Where 562 were executed,
And there were great moves to encourage reforms,

In 1837, Osakans nearly oust a group of shoguns,
A elite who saw some have a motto,
'The poor are like sesame seeds,
The more they are squeezed, the more that is produced',
With riots & Confucian leaders, joining them too,
With 1000s in this revolutionary movement, with some killed in it,
Even some executions of officials,
For a pro-poor regime, but it fails,
But they were pushing people in a leftist move,

And showing there were desires for equality & freedom,
In fact they were pushing them in that way,
Even if members of the elite denied this unassailable, true fact, there sadly,
There had been more famine right up to then, killing 1000s more,
And 1000s more too,
Historically peasants in the old shogun, had many ways of rebelling,

For instance there were names written in a circle,
So you could not say who wrote a petition,
And sometimes officials of localities support them,
With cross dressing riots,
Where warriors would not attack "women",

Sometimes taxes on peasants and products they bough hit 60 & even 80 per cent,
So some taxed entirely, like vacant lots, gardens, doors, buildings, windows, girls who reached ages,
Clothes, herbs, and sesame seeds,
With leaders adding to that by fake measures, of food, that had ways of exploiting money,
And exploiting tax, by claiming they were taking the right amount, when they were taking more,
With tax on anything vacant lot, by lord,
To buildings & doors, herbs & girls & sesame seeds,

With farmers fearing the officials like tigers,
Often seeing taxes, rise if not kneeling to warriors enough,
Some bribery was open,
With some fearing officials as of their huge take takes,
With little help to the poor or many beggars going along green fields, past enclosures,

Warrior's swords, V guns effort lost, & they accept foreign trade,
A preposterous failure,
1000s die in civil wars like of guns, as mentioned in line above, in the 1860s,
In 1867, a revolt ousts the Shogun,
By a coalition of liberals/clan leaders, & a focal emperor,
A revolution, of elite & us people below,

There was another attempt seeing a Republic,
Declared on democratic principles in Hokkaido,
The largest & least populated area of the land, but it failed,
And now saw increased settling of Japanese people,

With some snow, in areas, & grass, & mountains,
And also in some places hard cliffs,
Where the top are filled with green forests, that saw water coming out under the leaves,
And more too, from gorges in the same cliffs, too, aswell,
Most revolts were not in those sorts of principles though,
& there were a rush of warrior related suicides,
At times in batches of 100s, Somethinfg that can only be condemmed as disgusting.

Hokkaido now being annexed to the Japanese empire,
Instead of the position it had before, of being a claimed area,
With increasing amounts of settlers,
With the Ainu, now in a minority of the land, & with no real power,
When in 1590 they had some local power,
Even after large incoming population, the population in 2005, was still under 5% of Japan,
When it was over, a quarter of the area,

They, the new Japanese regime, adopt foreign ideas, like many, 'best Western/Wt ideas',
This meant states in the US, Britain & W-Europe, & the central areas,
But sometimes other European countries, depending on what people feel like,
The 1783 famine produced some ghost villages too,
With corvee very common,

It has to be said, again the new system, was more lib, allowing changes in clothing,
In Shikoko island, this produced a unusual thing in the era before liberalising,
Where roosters feathers were placed on helmets,
& where serfs had to do as they were told,
There, a chicken, was bred that grew too 10 metres long tail feathers,
Partly to help the ornamental helmets,
It flays behind like a circling rope,

Anyhow, back to the changes,
They end warrior fiefs/warrior elites, by 1871,
With the warrior suicides banned, of disembowelling etc., by a sword,
Infact in the 1860s,
Frenchmen saw some killing themselves after rioting against the new rules,
And then requested they get pardoned instead, of the kills,

So revolution was doing some achievements,
And being good aswell then too,
And ban 90%'s semi-serfdom,
Freeing them off this evil, including some essentially slaves,

But many as free really as Britain, & the US, I would guess over 50%,
But now they were all free, really as of a revolution of liberal socialism,
With it becoming freer than almost every land in the world,
And about really or well I would say than Europe too,

Dutch engineers, & buildings, come as part of this programme,
As they were felt to be best at that,
Brits for the new navy, US for universal education,
And also semi-Napoleonic law, equitable tax,
And the introduction of the new Yen, as a better form of currency,
So a radical pro-leftist move, in a sense,

They beat a anti-reform 20000die revolt in 1877,
With in 1889, a legislatures, 1 noble, & 1 elected by the rich,
Riots V banning swords,
And over foreign managers, occurred, with some slaughtered, in riots,
Like in new better mines, & in factories, ports & even farms maybe,
White panel homes, are there, just white panels, maybe with a side walk away aside,
And similarity white inside, a white painted room, with white table, & small white robes,
Are there, for greatness here, somebody pouring tea, into cups, green tea often, there,

They created freedom,
With equality as much as China & Europe, wealthier than most's both,
So free big population's rapid industrialisation occurred, with more trading,
But still treated low caste leather workers,
Possibly ex-slaves, Burakumin/Sanka gypsies disdainfully inequitably,
Inside official equality,

An artisan realises a cream silky texture, for clothes, of shiny or dull,
Or knitted onto some shoes, or trainers, slippers,
With some in their little, huts at out back parts of back streets hammering gold,
In full view of passers by into a ring,
Of good shape, after purchasing it, & using others, or getting it off pawn brokers, & such,

It moves too freedom, Asia's freest, so is premier,
The US a semi-democracy,
W-Europe's masses get welfare, with Japan, via charities too getting some,
A 1906 stockmarket example boom, & a 1907 bust, typical, of stockmarket of the history,
Of that institution of which some were appearing around the world,
With great ways of them working,
& lucky choices which avoid bankruptcy for some, others,
Can't,

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