Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei


The Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei 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 Northern Alliance.

History

The Alliance centered on the Sendai, Yonezawa, and Nihonmatsu domains, and drew together nearly all domains from the provinces of Mutsu and Dewa, several domains of northern Echigo Province, and even the Matsumae Domain of Ezo. Headquartered at Shiroishi Castle, the alliance's nominal head was Prince Kitashirakawa Yoshihisa, the onetime abbot of Kan'eiji Temple in Edo who fled north following the Satsuma–Chōshū takeover of the city, who declared himself "Emperor Tobu", with Date Yoshikuni of Sendai and Uesugi Narinori of Yonezawa as the head of the Alliance. Although heteroclitic 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 domain, Aizu was not formally part of the alliance "Kaishō Alliance" ; neither was Shōnai.
In addition, though it technically no longer existed as a domain, the forces of the Hayashi clan of Jōzai Domain 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 Aizu, it effectively collapsed.

Members of the Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei

DomainRuling FamilyProvince
MatsumaeMatsumaeEzo
MoriokaNanbuMutsu
NihonmatsuNiwaMutsu
HirosakiTsugaruMutsu
TanaguraAbeMutsu
SōmaSōmaMutsu
SendaiDateMutsu
IchinosekiTamuraMutsu
MiharuAkitaMutsu
IwakitairaAndōMutsu
FukushimaItakuraMutsu
MoriyamaMatsudairaMutsu
IzumiHondaMutsu
HachinoheNanbuMutsu
YunagayaNaitōMutsu
MiikeTachibanaMutsu
AkitaSatakeDewa
YonezawaUesugiDewa
ShinjōTozawaDewa
YamagataMizunoDewa
KaminoyamaMatsudairaDewa
HonjōRokugōDewa
KamedaIwakiDewa
TendōOdaDewa
YashimaIkomaDewa
ShibataMizoguchiEchigo
NagaokaMakinoEchigo
MurakamiNaitōEchigo
MuramatsuHoriEchigo
MineyamaKyōgokuEchigo
KurokawaYanagisawaEchigo