The forces of the new Meiji government that invaded Aizu during the Boshin Civil War (1868) included 30,000 troops from 36 domains (Choshu, Satsuma, etc.). This sacred ground is home to the spirits of the war dead of the more than 10 domains of new-government forces that fought in Aizu. Conditions here had deteriorated once, but restoration and maintenance were done in 1957.

Starting point for the "Five Roads of Aizu" during the Edo Period (1600-1868), this crossroads was a place where official noticeboards were posted, and feudal lord Hoshina Masayuki posted his first such noticeboard here. There is free time for lunch here.

Built as the Dairokuju Bank building in the mid-Meiji Period, the bank closed after five years, and in 1891 the Kaiyo Clinic opened here. It was at this clinic that pioneering bacteriologist Noguchi Hideyo had his left hand operated on as a child. He used the second floor as a houseboy student, and it now houses the Noguchi Hideyo Seishun Hall. Graffiti written by young Hideyo is preserved on a storehouse pillar.

Noguchi Hideyo was an internationally known bacteriologist; he was born in the town of Inawashiro in 1876. In his early years, he lived in Aizu-Wakamatsu as a houseboy student, mastering three languages by studying on his own. The results of his efforts are known throughout the world. In this square there are stones that were used in the Edo Period residences of the Aizu Domain.

Here there are remains of the Tsuruga Castle outer moat, which had a circumference of 6,500 meters. When town planning was carried out by Gamo Ujisato (beginning in 1590), he moved all temples except Kotoku-ji outside the outer moat. At the time of the Boshin Civil War, fierce fighting took place at those temples so they served as a kind of outer defense perimeter for the outer moat itself.

This temple is said to have been founded in 1287 by Ashina Morimune. After defeating the Ashina clan, Date Masamune used the temple as a temporary residence for his control of Aizu, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi located his residence here when he set out to discipline the Oshu region. When castle town districts were reorganized, temples were moved outside the castle's outer moat, the only exception being Kotoku-ji, which was allowed to remain within because of its history and special status.

Aizu-Wakamatsu City Hall was completed on July 31, 1937 at a total cost of 170,000 yen, with a celebration ceremony being held in the city government assembly hall in the building. At the time there were few workers and many empty rooms so the building seemed almost deserted.

Born in Aizu-Wakamatsu, Yamakawa Kenjiro (1854-1931) was the son of one of the senior retainer families of the former Aizu domain. After studying in various places in Japan and then the United States, he went on to become president of Tokyo Imperial University and later served as president of Kyushu Imperial University and Kyoto Imperial University and as a Privy Counselor and a member of the House of Peers. He was honored with the title of baron.

The year after his lord, Matsudaira Katamori, was appointed to the Office of Kyoto Protector (Kyoto Shugoshoku), Saigo Tanomo advised Katamori to resign from that office. As a result of this impertinence, Tanomo was dismissed from his position as senior counselor, and he spent five years under house arrest. He was recalled to duty during the Boshin Civil War, but his side was routed in half a day of fighting. At this point, tragedy struck with the mass suicide of 21 members of the Saigo family. Tanomo recommended that Katamori commit seppuku (ritual suicide), but when Tanomo's proposal that the retainers follow their lord in death was refused, he left the castle.