The were

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distin ...

settler colonists recruited after the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were r ...

to develop and defend Japan's northern frontier in Hokkaidō and

Karafuto Karafuto Prefecture ( ja, 樺太庁, ''Karafuto-chō''; russian: Префектура Карафуто, Prefektura Karafuto), commonly known as South Sakhalin, was a prefecture of Japan located in Sakhalin from 1907 to 1949. Karafuto became te ...

against foreign nations, particularly

Imperial Russia The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. T ...

. (The term

tonden Tuntian (屯田) or Tunken (屯墾) is a type of frontier "military-agricultural colonies" over the history of China. Troops were sent to harsh landscapes at the Chinese frontier to turn uncultivated land into self-sustained, agrarian settler ...

comes from ancient China, where colonist militias were also employed to defend imperial frontiers.) The first recruits in Japan were former

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of History of Japan#Medieval Japan (1185–1573/1600), medieval and Edo period, early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retai ...

whose feudal lords had opposed the Meiji forces and whose domains were therefore abolished, leaving them without gainful employment. Later recruits included commoners as well as samurai.

History

The

Tokugawa Shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in ...

had encouraged Japanese to settle in Hokkaidō, especially after

Hakodate is a city and port located in Oshima Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital city of Oshima Subprefecture. As of July 31, 2011, the city has an estimated population of 279,851 with 143,221 households, and a population density of ...

became a

treaty port Treaty ports (; ja, 条約港) were the port cities in China and Japan that were opened to foreign trade mainly by the unequal treaties forced upon them by Western powers, as well as cities in Korea opened up similarly by the Japanese Empire. ...

open to foreigners under the 1854

Convention of Kanagawa The Convention of Kanagawa, also known as the Kanagawa Treaty (, ''Kanagawa Jōyaku'') or the Japan–US Treaty of Peace and Amity (, ''Nichibei Washin Jōyaku''), was a treaty signed between the United States and the Tokugawa Shogunate on March ...

between Japan and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. After defeating the Tokugawa, the Meiji government created the (Colonization Office) for Hokkaidō. The Kaitakushi recruited many foreign advisors (''

oyatoi gaikokujin The foreign employees in Meiji Japan, known in Japanese as ''O-yatoi Gaikokujin'' (Kyūjitai: , Shinjitai: , "hired foreigners"), were hired by the Japanese government and municipalities for their specialized knowledge and skill to assist in the ...

'') to help modernize the economy and in 1874 began recruiting ex-samurai to populate and defend the northern islands. In 1875, the first group of almost 200 ex-samurai and their families arrived in Hokkaidō and settled in the Kotoni district of

Sapporo ( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous ci ...

. Within two years, more than 2,000 ''tondenhei'' families had arrived in Hokkaidō. ''Tondenhei'' villages usually held between 150 and 220 families. Most of the villages were on the western side of the island, in

Ishikari River The , at long, is the third longest in Japan and the longest in Hokkaidō. The river drains an area of , making it the second largest in Japan, with a total discharge of around per year. It originates from Mount Ishikari in the Daisetsuzan ...

valley near Sapporo and Takikawa, and in the fertile Kamikawa Basin upstream from

Asahikawa is a Cities of Japan, city in Kamikawa Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital of the subprefecture, and the second-largest city in Hokkaido, after Sapporo. It has been a Core cities of Japan, core city since April 1, 2000. The city is ...

. But there were also military colonies near strategic ports in the south and east, such as Muroran,

Akkeshi is a town located in Kushiro Subprefecture, Hokkaido. As of July 31, 2021, it has a population of 8,922, and an area of 734.82 km2. Lake Akkeshi is a Ramsar Site. History *Edo period – Was a penal colony for the Matsumae-han. *1900 � ...

, and

Nemuro Nemuro may refer to: * Nemuro Subprefecture, Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan ** Nemuro, Hokkaido, a city ** Nemuro Peninsula ** Nemuro Strait ** Nemuro Bay * Nemuro Province, an old province of Japan {{geodis ...

. In all, over 7,000 ''tondenhei'' families helped found about 40 villages on the island. The government furnished each soldier with a cold-weather uniform and each household with eight acres of land and a house with a Russian stove in it. All male settlers between 18 and 35 were assigned to regiments. As ex-samurai, they often had swords in addition to their military-issue firearms. They would farm during the summers and perform most of their military duties during the winter. Many samurai were unused to farming, especially raising such northern crops as beans and potatoes, but families worked together to adapt to the harsh climate. After the Kaitakushi was abolished in 1882, the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor ...

assumed control of the units. In 1903 they incorporated them into the famous 7th Division ("Bear Division"), which distinguished itself in the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

, in

Nomonhan Nomonhan is a small village in Inner Mongolia, China, south of the city of Manzhouli and near the China–Mongolia border. In the summer of 1939, it was the location of the Nomonhan Incident, as it is known in Japan, or the Battle of Khalkh ...

at the China–Mongolia border, and in the Guadalcanal Campaign.

Cultural references

In the manga ''

Rurouni Kenshin is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Nobuhiro Watsuki. The story begins during the 11th year of the Meiji period in Japan (1878) and follows a former assassin from the Bakumatsu, known as Hitokiri Battosai. After his work ...

'', a minor villain named Fuji cuts a deal with the Meiji government and agrees to become a ''tondenhei'' instead of facing trial.

References

{{Authority control History of Hokkaido Samurai Meiji Restoration 19th century in Japan Japanese governmental reforms Imperial Japanese Army Veterans' settlement schemes