The Battle of Utsunomiya Castle

A Late Edo Period Battle of the Boshin War

The Battle of Utsunomiya Castle was one of the many battles of the Boshin War fought between the remnants of the collapsed shogunate and those supporting the New Imperial Armed forces. In May of 1868, two sieges were fought at Utsunomiya Castle in Shimotsuke Province, (now Utsunomiya City, Tochigi Prefecture.) The Battle of Utsunomiya began May 10, 1868 with around 2,000 pro-Shogunate troops arriving from Edo. The battle included samurai from the Aizu and Kuwana Domains under the command of General Otori Keisuke and vice commander of the Shinsengumi special police, Hijikata Toshizo, who were retreating northwards to Nikko and Aizu. Along the road to Aizu was the strategically important Utsunomiya Castle. En route, they had taken the castles and domains of Shimotsuna and Shimodate in Hitachi Province (Ibaragi Pref.) before arriving in Utsunomiya.