Battle of Tsuruga-jo Castle: Different strategy between Yae and Takeko

Batlle of Tsuruga-jo Castle was one of battle happened during the Boshin War. In Aizu domain, Tsuruga-jo  Castle was owned by Matsuradira Katamori, the 9th Aizu’s daimyo, and during the Boshin war, people gathered in the castle besieged to make the final resistance against the new government army . Yamamoto Yae and Nakano Takako also participated in the war, however, they chose different strategy with different weapon, which eventually gave an huge impact on their own fates.  During the Bakumatsu period, there were drastic technological improvements on weapons, especially developments of guns. Ever since the firs gun arrived in Tanegashima Island during the Sengoku period, many shogunate military was using weapons including matchlocks, heavy-duty armors, and swords. On the other hand, the new government army was introducing the latest model of weapons in the earlier moment, and this is one of the reasons of why they were able to overwhelm their opponent quickly. Nakao Takeko was a extraordinary talented at naginata, and even when she failed to enter the Tsuruga-jo Castle and formed a Fujo-Tai with her peers to strove in the very battle front, she could not make it to the one single bullet on her head. This is how the moment that indicated the loss of shogunate’s traditional war style against western-cultivated war strategy that new government army introduced. Since Yae was born under the teacher of gunnery so that she was already aware of the upcoming war strategy. Rather than a matchlock, she chose to use spencer repeating rifle, which holds several cartridges, allowing to shoot bullets without spending much time on reloading. One time, Yae was asked by Takeko’s mother why she is not joining the Fujo-tai, but best on the different strategy for the war.