Haru ya Mukashi (translation) (1)

Spring is ... in times gone by.
A really small country is trying to get civilized.
One of the islands of the country is Shikoku Island, and Shikoku is divided into Sanuki, Awa, Tosa, and Iyo. The capital of Iyo is Matsuyama.
The castle is called Matsuyama-joh Castle. The castle town has the population of 30,000 including samurai. In the middle of the urban area, there lies a hill, which looks like an iron pot upside-down. The hill is covered with red pine trees. You can see, through the trees, 20-yard high stone walls grow into the heaven. High above the walls against the heaven of the Seto Inland Sea, there stands a three-layered donjon. From earlier days, Matsuyama Castle has been praised to be the biggest castle in Shikoku. With the elegant landscape around, however, the stone walls and turrets don't look that coercive.
We may say the main character of this story is small Japan at this time. We, however, should follow three people. One of the three became a haiku poet. He is Masaoka Shiki, who became the father of the restoration of Japanese traditional short poems such as haiku and tanka, by breathing new life into them. Shiki, in the 28th year of Meiji, came back to this home town, and made this haiku:

Spring's in the castle town
of three thousand samurai
in times gone by

This haiku's flaw might be that it is rather too lovely. Shiki sang the praise of the relaxed humanity and scenery of Iyo Matsuyama in a relaxed manner, while Ishikawa Takuboku, who started making haiku after Shiki, had a complex feeling toward his hometown. The difference might have been caused by the different climates and features of Toh'hoku and Nankai-doh, the Northeastern district and the Southern-sea district.
"Shin-san"
Akiyama Shinzaburoh Yoshifuru was called so, and was born as a child of o-kachi, an infantry samurai. O-kachi is a class higher than ashigaru, a footman, but cannot claim to be joh-shi, a knight. Akiyama Family has been given as little as 10 koku, nominaly 4 bushels of rice, as a stipend by the lord for generations. Shin-san was born in the 6th year of Ansei, in 1859, as a 7-month-born baby. He, however, grew up to be a big man. Being a premature baby might not affect their later growth.
In the spring when Shin-san got 10 years old, an incident broke out, which upset the feudal clan, the castle, and Akiyama Family.
The Meiji Restoration was that.
"Tosa soldiers are coming to the town!"
Thus, the feudal clan, their men, and the townspeople were all frightened. The lord of the feudal clan is Hisamatsu Clan. Tokugawa Ieyasu's stepbrother was the ancestor of the clan, and had enjoyed special conditions than other 300 clans. At the end of Edo Period, the clan were ordered by Shogunate to cross the sea for the Punitive Expedition to Choh-shuh, and fought within Choh-shuh's territory. In short, from the division of the era, they belonged to the pro-Shogunate.
In the same island, Shikoku, Tosa belongs to the loyalist army. Tosa State come up to north, with only less than 200 men, to occupy Matsuyama State.
"Surrender to Imperial Government. Pay the government the reparation of 150,000 ryo [nominally half a ton of gold]."
A young commander from Tosa demanded. The clan was thrown into an upheaval, but decided to follow the demand. The castle, the town, and the territory were all temporally under the rule of Tosa in the form of a protectorate. Signs were put up at government offices and temples in the castle town:
"Tosa Temporary Camp"
Shin-san, who saw the scenes at the age of 10, could not forget them through his whole life.
"Remembering those scenes rises my anger even today,"
He revealed years later in his letter from Paris.
Iyo Matsuyama has fertile hinterland, rich harvest, mild climates, and even Dohgo Hot Spring in its outskirts. Everything there is peaceful and relaxing. People there naturally lack fighting spirits.
This clan was defeated in the Punitive Expedition to Choh-shuh. Instead of being chagrined at the defeat, they made a chant.

The war in Choh-shuh, de and feat,
like a cat within a bag,
in a crawl made a retreat.

Even samurai children sang the chant.
Speaking of defeats, they lost in Toba-Fushimi too. The men ran away home across the sea. They lost and lost, and even their castle and territory came to be charged by Tosa State.