Great Hakurei Divide

The **Great Hakurei Divide** (博麗大結界(はくれいだいけっかい), **Hakurei Dai-Kekkai**?) is the border that separates Japan and Kozan, and during the Edo Period, was the guarded barrier that closed off Japan during the Tokugawa Shogunate's Sakoku policy, which heavily regulated foreign influence in Japan at the time. Construction of the wall was commenced by the Tokugawa Shogunate in the 1630s after the Sakoku policy was enacted. The barrier cut off all travel between the two countries. Guard towers were placed along the barrier, and often made use of anti-vessel trenches and other defenses.

The Tokugawa Shogunate portrayed the barrier as a way to protect their citizens from foreign influence and build political stability. The barrier was criticized by the Federal Kingdom of Eastern Kozan, claiming it prevented freedom of movement outside Japan. Before the barrier's erection, tens of thousands of Japanese fled the country even during the Siege of Osaka simply by swimming across the invisible line that divided the two countries. For the duration of the Sakoku policy until the Meiji Restoration, the barrier prevented almost all emigration. Thousands of people attempted to escape, and 900 ended up dead.

After the Americans forced Japan to open itself up to the world in 1853, the barrier began to fall, and as a result, the Tokugawa shogunate allowed all Japanese citizens to visit Kozan. This fall also paved the way for Eastern and Western Kozan to be unified into one country after the Meiji Restoration took place.

## History

### Edo Period

#### Post-Sengoku Japan and emigration eastward

After the end of the Sengoku period in Japan, the Tokugawa Shogunate took control of Japan. They engineered the installation of a feudal system for their citizens. During and after the Siege of Osaka, tens of thousands of people living in Japan wanted independence and decided to leave Japan for Kozan.

#### Enactment of Sakoku and Erection of the Great Hakurei Divide

Because Japan had no physical barrier dividing the two countries, it simply became the main route for which Japanese left for Kozan. Many of these emigrants were young and well-educated, and after the Sakoku policy was enacted as a way to control foreign influence and emigration from the country, the border with Kozan was closed. Japanese workers had begun placing spikes on the invisible border that divided the two countries, essentially a wall that would prevent the Japanese from fleeing to Kozan.

As a result of the wall, the vast majority of Japanese could no longer travel or emigrate to Kozan, essentially going from the easiest to the most difficult. Families ended up being split, and many Japanese who were employed in Kozan ended up losing their jobs. Protestors demonstrated against the barrier, and Kozan was furious. This wall ended up becoming the Great Hakurei Divide. Other claims included from the Tokugawa shogunate that Japanese were trying to buy goods from Kozan and import them into Japan. The skepticism was made worse that the barrier prevented Japanese from fleeing to Kozan, and Kozanese were also forbidden from traveling to Japan.

#### Official crossing and usage

Despite the above concerns, Japanese citizens were still allowed to visit Kozan, but could only do so after obtaining a visa with very strict requirements. Since Japan was an island country and had no land borders, boat crossings were the only way to cross the border.

For the duration of the Sakoku policy, thousands of people successfully defected to Kozan. Despite this, nearly a thousand people were killed as a result of shooting orders given by the Tokugawa shogunate to border guards, as such defectors would be considered criminals. Japanese could defect using a wide variety of methods, such as getting around the barrier by traveling from Hokkaido or the Chubu region. As a result, the divide began expanding to those two regions to prevent defections. If a defector was wounded trying to escape, no matter how close they were to the border, Kozan was not allowed to intervene in treating the victim, essentially rendering the victim dead in their tracks.

As a result of these tactics, the barrier led to widespread desperation and oppression in Japan.

#### Fall and Legacy

After the Americans forced Japan to open up its borders and allow foreign trade, the Tokugawa shogunate began to loosen foreign policy in the 1850s. Little is left of the barrier which ended up being destroyed almost in its entirety.