Matsudaira Katamori
During the Bakumatsu period, Matsudaira Katamori was one of the Shōgunate's most able and loyalist supporter. After the defeat of the Shōgunate at the Battle of Toba-Fushimi and the abdication of power by Shōgun Tokugawa Yoshinobu, Matsudaira Katamori become one of the leaders in the pro-Tokugawa alliance against the new Meiji government. During the Battle of Aizu in the Boshin War, Aizuwakamatsu Castle was besieged by the forces of the Satchō Alliance in October 1868. Although the castle was very strong by traditional standards, the new government army was equipped with western artillery, which was able to shell the castle from surrounding hills for over a month. Faced with the inevitable eventual defeat, Matsudaira Katamori surrendered the castle and his remaining forces in November. The surviving castle buildings, pockmarked by artillery during the siege and structurally unstable, were demolished by the new government in 1874. One "yagura" survived the destruction by being relocated to a Buddhist temple, Amida-ji, five-kilometers from the castle.