Matsudaira Katamori

Matsudaira Katamori (1835–1893) was a daimyo of the late Bakumatsu period and the 9th lord of the Aizu Domain (present-day Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima Prefecture), serving as Kyoto Shugoshoku (Protector of Kyoto) responsible for maintaining order in Kyoto during the final years of the shogunate. Known as the senior authority that organized and oversaw the Shinsengumi, he is remembered as a tragic warrior who remained loyal to the Tokugawa shogunate through the Kinmon Incident (1864), the Battle of Toba-Fushimi (1868), and the Boshin War, upholding his honor to the very end.

Katamori was born as the sixth son of Matsudaira Yoshitate, lord of Takasu Domain, was adopted into the Aizu Matsudaira house in 1846, and became its lord in 1852. The Aizu Matsudaira family was bound by the "Fifteen Precepts of the Aizu House," which mandated absolute loyalty to the Tokugawa shogun—a code Katamori faithfully upheld throughout his life.

In 1862, at the request of Matsudaira Shungaku and Tokugawa Yoshinobu, Katamori assumed the position of Kyoto Shugoshoku. Through organizing and overseeing the Shinsengumi, he devoted himself to restoring order in Kyoto. In a city gripped by radical Sonnō Jōi (Revere the Emperor, Expel the Barbarians) activities, Katamori supported the Kōbu Gattai (Union of Court and Shogunate) policy as part of the "Ichigōsō Seikenʻ" (Tokugawa Yoshinobu–Aizu Katamori–Kuwana Sadanori triumvirate), achieving significant results in maintaining order through the Shinsengumi's activities, including the decisive action in the Ikeda-ya Incident of 1864.

However, following the Return of Power to the Emperor in 1867 and the Tokugawa defeat at the Battle of Toba-Fushimi in 1868, the Aizu Domain was branded an "enemy of the throne." In the Aizu War (1868), samurai and commoners alike engaged in desperate siege warfare. The tragedy of the White Tiger Unit (Byakkotai), together with the fierce resistance of Aizu samurai, stands as one of the greatest tragedies in Bakumatsu history and continues to be recounted today. After his surrender, Katamori was placed under house arrest but was later pardoned, eventually serving as chief priest of Tōshō-gū Shrine in Nikkō.

Regarding his connection to Japanese swords, Katamori was a daimyo who embodied the last samurai-warrior regime at the end of the Bakumatsu era. The martial culture of the Aizu Domain maintained the practical traditions of Japanese sword technique to the very end. The blades carried by Aizu samurai became symbols of pride as the last true warriors of the Bakumatsu period, and their battles in the Boshin War represented the final expression of Japanese sword spirit.