Oshu-Uetsu Reppan Alliance

An offensive and defensive alliance against the Meiji Restoration government, or a local government, that existed from May to September 1868 (Keio 4) centered on the Tohoku clans. After the Battle of Toba-Fushimi in January of that year, the Meiji Restoration government began to wipe out the Tokugawa forces and pacify the whole country. In February, they appointed Kujo Michitaka as Governor-General of Oshu and Oyama Tsunayoshi, a samurai of the Satsuma clan, and Sera Shuzo, a samurai of the Choshu clan, as staff officers and dispatched them to Sendai. The Governor-General's Office ordered the Tohoku clans to attack Aizu, but the clans centered around Sendai and Yonezawa met in Shiroishi to submit a petition to avoid war and save Aizu, but it was rejected, so they strengthened their stance of confrontation against the new government forces. On May 3rd, 25 feudal domains from the Tohoku region met in Sendai and concluded an alliance with the Sendai domain as its leader. Six other domains, including Nagaoka, subsequently joined, and the Oshu-Uetsu League of Feudal Domains was formed. The alliance established its council headquarters in Shiroishi and its military bureau in Fukushima. Pro-Bakufu faction members, including former Shogunate vassals, the Shinsengumi, and remnants of the Shogitai, also joined the alliance. In June, Prince Kogen of Rinnoujinomiya (later Prince Kitashirakawanomiya Yoshihisa) left Ueno and entered Aizu, and the various domains made him their leader, moved their council headquarters to Shirakawa, and took on the character of a local government.

According to one book, there was a plan to use the era name Taisei, with Miya as Emperor Tobu, Kujo Michitaka as Chancellor and Dajo Daijin, Sendai domain lord Date Yoshikuni as Gonsei Taishogun, and Aizu domain lord Matsudaira Katamori as Vice-Shogun, for an eastern government. After annihilating the Shogitai in Ueno and pacifying the Kanto region, the Meiji government launched an attack on the allied domains in May. The war progressed in favor of the new government forces, and the allied domains began to defect and surrender one after another. In September, Sendai and Aizu surrendered, and the Alliance of the Satsuma and Choshu Domains collapsed in both name and reality.

[Inoue Isao]

"The Boshin War" by Kiyoshi Haraguchi (1963, Hanawa Shobo)" ▽ "The Civil War of the Meiji Restoration" by Takashi Ishii (1968, Shiseido) ▽ "Images of the Meiji Era: The Boshin War" edited by Ichiro Murakami (1968, Sanichi Shobo)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

1868年（慶応4）5月から9月にかけて存在した東北諸藩を中心とする反維新政府攻守同盟ないし地方政権。同年正月の鳥羽(とば)・伏見(ふしみ)の戦いののち、維新政府は徳川勢力の一掃と全国平定を開始、2月には九条道孝(みちたか)を奥羽鎮撫(ちんぶ)総督に、薩摩(さつま)藩士大山綱良(つなよし)、長州藩士世良修蔵(せらしゅうぞう)を参謀に任命して仙台に派遣した。総督府は東北諸藩に会津征討を命じたが、仙台、米沢(よねざわ)を中心とする諸藩は白石(しろいし)に会議して、戦争を回避し会津救済を図るため、嘆願書を提出したが却下されたため、新政府軍との対決の姿勢を強めた。5月3日東北25藩は仙台に会合し、仙台藩を盟主として同盟を締結、ついで長岡など6藩がこれに加入し、奥羽越列藩同盟が成立した。同盟は白石に公議府、福島に軍事局を置いた。旧幕臣、新選組、彰義隊(しょうぎたい)残党など佐幕派も合流した。6月に輪王寺宮(りんのうじのみや)公現法親王（後の北白川宮能久(きたしらかわのみやよしひさ)親王）が上野を退去して会津に入ると、諸藩は宮を盟主にいただき、白河(しらかわ)に公議府を移して、地方政権の性格を濃くしていった。

　一書によると、大政の元号を用い、宮を東武皇帝とし、九条道孝を関白太政(だじょう)大臣、仙台藩主伊達慶邦(だてよしくに)を権征夷(ごんせいい)大将軍、会津藩主松平容保(かたもり)を副将軍とする東国政権の構想があったという。上野の彰義隊を撃滅して関東を平定した維新政府は5月同盟諸藩への攻撃を開始した。戦局は新政府軍に有利に進展し、同盟諸藩の離脱、降伏が相次いだ。9月に入ると仙台、会津が降伏し、列藩同盟は名実ともに崩壊した。

［井上　勲］

『原口清著『戊辰戦争』（1963・塙書房）』▽『石井孝著『維新の内乱』（1968・至誠堂）』▽『村上一郎編『明治の群像之戊辰戦争』（1968・三一書房）』

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