Asahikawa’s Soldier-Farmers and Ainu

Asahikawa is the second largest city in Hokkaido, but 150 years ago it was an Ainu village along the Ishikari River in a mountain-encircled plain. Later a settlement of farmer-soldiers was established and this little gunto (garrison town) developed into Japan’s northern military city making this the perfect place to learn about two of the most important groups in the pioneering of Hokkaido.

Our first stop was a former red brick stable outside of Japan Ground-Self Defense Force Camp Asahikawa. When we arrived there had been a heavy snow and man-high snow mountains lined the roads. The grey concrete sentry posts were buried ankle deep and crowned with the white stuff. I shivered thinking of all the poor souls that had to stand post in it over the years. But soldiering in the cold was what serving in Hokkaido was all about.

This is Japan’s only museum dedicated to a single division of the Imperial Japanese Army, one which fought in some of the nation’s bloodiest battles in two wars but was primarily held in reserve for northern defense. They were Hokkaido’s 7^th Division, the Hokuchin.

The name Hokuchin means ‘defenders or pacifiers of the north’ and they began with Tondenhei soldier-farmers whose lives combined the worst aspects of being a farmer with the worst aspects of being a soldier. They performed back-breaking manual labor in the fields when the season was warm and drilled throughout the long, bitter winter. This scheme started in 1874 by hiring ex-samurai, now lordless, unemployed and often broke, to move up north and for a quarter century 40,000 soldier-farmers and their families garrisoned villages up and down Hokkaido to cultivate the land and fight the Russians if they invaded.

The Tondenhei were reconfigured as the 7^th Division in 1896 and headquartered at Asahikawa in 1901. Like their forerunners, its primary mission was always northern defense. They sat out the First Sino-Japanese War but with the Great War-like slaughter of the Russo-Japanese War they were sent abroad for the first time to fight in the Siege of Port Arthur and later at Mukden.

The 7^th was deployed to China in the 1930s and here they fought in one of the war’s forgotten battles, Nomonhan or Khalkhin Gol on the Manchuria-Mongolia border in 1939. They were recalled to Hokkaido for the rest of the war, except for detachments that garrisoned Attu, Alaska and reinforced Guadalcanal. Few from either island came back alive to Asahikawa.

The museum displays 2,500 artifacts from the entirety of the 7^th’s existence. More than remembering just the wars and battles, its complete history including peacetime activities and unit evolution over time is displayed in a way that they seamlessly flow into each other. It doesn’t come across as glorifying war but remembering generations of Hokkaido’s soldiers and their accomplishments.

Though the bulk of artifacts skews more towards the later years all periods are well represented.

Most artifacts are personal in some way, like awards, uniform items and weapons. There’s a wall of display cases with swords and sword accoutrements; a display of delicate souvenir sake cups, cases of glittering and shiny medals and a complete sets military insignia, shoulder boards and badges which overwhelm with their volume. For people with a particular interest in Japanese militaria this museum, which allows non-flash photography, is heaven.

The Tondenhei period occupies a small corner with uniforms and the tools of both trades. As a militia they occupied a position of being vital to defense, but not vital to the budget so while the Kaitakushi, Hokkaido development or colonization office, was building sturdy American houses to keep their employees warm, the Tondenhei were issued thin shacks not suited for the climate as a matter of cost control; the museum has a model of one. (As my grandfather put it, “That looks like a horse stable and not a very good one.”) The display of weapons seems to support their place on the budgetary totem pole as it contained not only the standard-issue Murata rifle and Enfield rifles, but also an American Civil War surplus Spencer rifle and a lever-action Winchester.

The centerpiece of the display is a Tondenhei soldier-farmer’s dulled with age but well-maintained heirloom samurai armor mounted in a sitting position holding a polished matchlock. They could strip him of class and title, and reduce him to working the most inhospitable frontier, but a samurai was still a samurai… that is probably why most Tondenhei did their stint on the farm, realized they didn’t like being a farmer or a soldier and went back to being poor at home where it was warm. (The museum leaves out the latter part. You’re welcome.)

The Russo-Japanese War room is relatively light but has several different uniforms and field equipment; I didn’t know that senninbari, thousand-stitch belts, were used before World War II but the one in this room proves otherwise. This war was significant in that the 7^th was blooded at the five-month Siege of Port Arthur.

It may not look it, but the single most important piece in the room is a single Cossack saber that without it there wouldn’t be a museum. Hokuchin Museum began in 1963 after Gen. Wada of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force 2^nd Division, successor to the 7^th, accepted this particular war trophy and was concerned what would happen if they didn’t make sure to preserve their history.

Cossack saber is in the center

The largest single section of the museum is dedicated to the 7^th’s World War II service. Since they only had a few deployments it doesn’t cover the breadth of the war but highlights two battles that are little known as well as their role in America’s first major Pacific naval landing. Most of the related artifacts are in good shape but for each battle there’s a case of unearthed battlefield relics like spent shell casing, bullet-riddled helmets and rusted mess kits.

Along with these are some really detailed dioramas throughout the museum, but the Nomonhan one was by far the best with its depiction of Japanese soldiers attempting to take on Russian tanks with Molotov cocktails and mines mounted to poles.

Guadalcanal also has a corner which explains that this detachment was originally slated for the Midway invasion, but with the failure of the naval battle they were diverted to Guadalcanal. They gave the U.S. Marines their first combat on the island with a night time surprise attack across the Tenaru River from which few Hokuchin survived.

We had a JGSDF soldier give us a guided tour with the highlights; he spoke no English so my wife translated and one of his stories here stuck in my mind the most. Near a wall-sized painting of wild-eyed Japanese soldiers engaged in a screaming, blade-flailing night time banzai charge is a gleaming Japanese sword that’s your typical perfect museum piece except for the small chunk missing from the blade near the hilt.

Like the Cossack’s saber this also saw use in the Russo-Japanese War. The missing piece is where it took a bullet, saving its soldier’s life. That soldier returned home and had a family; and when his son Hatsuo joined the army as a medical cadet he gave it to him so that he’d be protected by the sword as well.

Lt. Watanabe Hatsuo was sent to garrison the captured Alaskan island of Attu. Commanded by Col. Yamasaki Yasuyo, he was one of the 2,665 soldiers on Attu when the Americans came to take the island back on May 11, 1943.

The U.S. Army landed 12,500 troops, who’d been trained for desert warfare and were not outfitted for subarctic Attu. Not that the weather and marshy terrain played favorites with its near freezing temperatures, rain and 120 mile-an-hour winds. Over the course of 19 days both sides ran low on rations and ammunition, neither with ready resupply on Alaska’s most remote island. Eventually the Americans wore them down so on May 29, after those too wounded to participate had been euthanized; Yamasaki led his last 1400 men in a Banzai charge. By the following morning all but 28* were dead and the island back in American hands. Between the annihilation of the Japanese garrison and the American 28 % casualty rate Attu ranks as the second most costly battle per capita in the Pacific after Iwo Jima.

The sword was found by an American Lt. Ferguson who decided that when the war was over it should be returned to the owner’s family. It took 20 years but he tracked them down and returned it.

The museum tour finishes with an abrupt shift to two related but non-Army sections. One is a corner of early 20^th century non-military antiques and household items that is about daily life in Sapporo during the gunto years and the other is a miniature museum to the Imperial Japanese Army’s greatest enemy- the Imperial Japanese Navy. It’s a bit of a random collection of naval memorabilia and model airplanes; keep an eye out for the obligatory battleship Yamato model.

The museum generally lacks larger items, so there are no field guns or armor though they do have a Russo-Japanese War trophy upright piano that belonged to Russian Gen. Stessel.

The gift shop is pretty light but has a few items branded with the cute Hokuchin bear mascots. I bought the Hokuchin JGSDF curry which has a mild and meaty flavor. Either before leaving or when first entering take a moment to check out the books in the center of the lobby. Japan had hundreds of army divisions, but the 7^th is the only one who’s complete history (1869-1945) is intact. Yukio Kurokawa was ordered to burn them when Japan lost the war in August 1945, but taking the long view and deciding that history shouldn’t be lost, instead wrapped them in oiled paper and buried them. When things died down he secretly kept them at home.

Between this museum and the Kawamura Kaneto Ainu Museum we made a slight detour to see Asahibashi (Asahi Bridge), one of the last structures still standing associated with the 7^th Division.

The light green bridge was erected in 1932 and today is a Hokkaido cultural asset. Its significance to the 7th is that when it was built the road that runs through it, Showa Dori (Showa Street) was Shidan Dori (Division Street) because this was the route that the 7^th Division would parade through when returning home. A medallion containing the Meiji era Imperial Rescript for Soldiers and Sailors used to hang on the bridge, though a scaled down replica is in the Hokuchin Museum.

Asahikawa was originally an Ainu village which after the arrival of Japanese pioneers and then the 7^th Division the Ainu were pushed off their original land to less fertile grounds. Banned from hunting, fishing and engaging in some of their religious practices, they were forced to seek employment in Japanese society. Fearing that their culture would be lost, Kawamura Kaneto established this museum in 1916 and it has been managed by generations of his family ever since.

The Kawamura Kaneto Ainu Museum is a concise yet full repository of Ainu cultural items. The 500 yen admission came with a nice, full-color English 30-page booklet on Ainu history and culture. Though each display has an easy to understand and informative dual language write up, it didn’t hurt to occasionally reference it against displays to enhance the experience with the artifacts in front of me. The explanations were easy to follow and gave good context to the displayed artifacts.

The focus is less history and more sharing the culture, mostly through physical items like clothing, tools and art which makes the museum visually engaging and memorable. There’s an inborn artistry in the culture, the clothing is eye-catchingly colorful and ornately detailed and they seem to carve little designs in almost any wooden items they used. As their other sources of income dried up it wasn’t surprising to learn that many Ainu turned to wood carving to support themselves.

At the end of the day we visited Taisetsu Ji Beer Hall and Brewery to sample their delicious beer; further reinforcing my belief Hokkaido is hiding all of Japan’s great beer. They had a variety of beers to try out and even a hot beer cocktail that was great on such a cold day. Waiting for the 90 minute express train back to Sapporo we also tried a bowl of soup curry, a Hokkaido twist on the usually thick Japanese curry that’s less stew and more, well soup-like. It’s like the whisper-down-the-lane version of curry as it went from soupy Indian curry to British curry to Japan taking British curry and making it extra heavy then Hokkaido goes back to making it thinner, but still with the taste of Japanese curry.