The was a Japanese military-political coalition established and disestablished over the course of several months in early to mid-1868 during the Boshin War. Its flag was either a white interwoven five-pointed star on a black field, or a black interwoven five-pointed star on a white field. It is also known as the .

History

The Alliance centered on the

Sendai is the capital city of Miyagi Prefecture, the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,091,407 in 525,828 households, and is one of Japan's 20 designated cities. The city was founded in 1600 by the ''daimyō'' Date M ...

, Yonezawa, and Nihonmatsu domains, and drew together nearly all domains from the provinces of Mutsu and Dewa, several domains of northern

Echigo Province was an old provinces of Japan, old province in north-central Japan, on the shores of the Sea of Japan. It bordered on Uzen Province, Uzen, Iwashiro Province, Iwashiro, Kōzuke Province, Kōzuke, Shinano Province, Shinano, and Etchū Province, ...

, and even the Matsumae Domain of Ezo (modern-day Hokkaidō). Headquartered at Shiroishi Castle, the alliance's nominal head was Prince Kitashirakawa Yoshihisa, the onetime abbot of Kan'eiji Temple in

Edo Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...

who fled north following the Satsuma–Chōshū takeover of the city, who declared himself "Emperor Tobu" (東武天皇), with Date Yoshikuni of

and Uesugi Narinori of Yonezawa as the head of the Alliance. Although heteroclite in nature, the Alliance formed of a combination of modern and traditional forces, and mobilized a total of about 50,000 soldiers. Though the alliance did its best to support the

Aizu is the westernmost of the three regions of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, the other two regions being Nakadōri in the central area of the prefecture and Hamadōri in the east. As of October 1, 2010, it had a population of 291,838. The princip ...

domain (会津藩), Aizu was not formally part of the alliance "Kaishō Alliance" (会庄同盟); neither was Shōnai (庄内藩). In addition, though it technically no longer existed as a domain, the forces of the Hayashi clan of

Jōzai Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in Kazusa Province (modern-day Chiba Prefecture), Japan. The domain was centered on Manube jin’ya, in what is now the city of Kisarazu, Chiba. It was ruled for the en ...

also fought on behalf of the Alliance. While the alliance was a bold, innovative step that combined the military forces of several dozen domains, it was unable to fully act as a single, cohesive unit, and with the fall of Sendai and

, it effectively collapsed.

Members of the Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei

Flag of Ouetsu Reppan Domei or the Northern Alliance in Japan

Notes

References

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External links

Background on the Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ouetsu Reppan Domei Meiji Restoration Boshin War 1868 establishments in Japan 1868 disestablishments 19th-century military alliances