Republic of Ezo

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**Republic of Ezo**
Image:EzoRepublicLeaders.JPG Leaders of the Republic of Ezo, with the President Enomoto Takeaki, front right (1869).
Language	Japanese
Capital	Hakodate
Area	Island of Hokkaido, Japan
Existed	December 1868– June 1869
President	Enomoto Takeaki
Vice-President	Matsudaira Taro

The Template:Nihongo was a short-lived breakaway state of Japan on the northern island now known as Hokkaido.

After the defeat of the forces of the Tokugawa Shogunate in the Boshin War (1868–1869), a part of the Shogun's navy led by Admiral Enomoto Takeaki (1836–1908) fled to the northern island of Ezo, together with several thousand soldiers and a handful of French military advisors and their leader, Jules Brunet.

On December 25, 1868, they set up an independent "Republic of Ezo" on the American model, and elected Enomoto as its sosai (Japan's only president ever; the word also means the rarely awarded highest rank in martial arts). These were the first elections ever held in Japan, which was used to feudal empire and military warlords or shogunate. They tried, in vain, to obtain international recognition for the new republic.

The Republic had its own flag, a chrysanthemum on a sky-blue background, symbol of Imperial rule, and a red star with seven branches, symbol of the new Republic.

During the winter they fortified their defences around the southern peninsula of Hakodate, with the new fortress of Goryokaku at the center. The troops were organized under a Franco-Japanese commandment, the commander-in-chief Otori Keisuke being seconded by the French captain Jules Brunet, and divided between four brigades, each commanded by a French officer (Fortant, Le Marlin, Cazeneuve, Bouffier), themselves divided into eight half-brigades, each under Japanese command.

Image:Brunet&Team.JPG Imperial forces soon consolidated their hold on mainland Japan, and in April 1869 dispatched a fleet and an infantry force of 7,000 to Ezo. The Imperial forces progressed swiftly and won the Naval Battle of Hakodate, until the fortress of Goryokaku was surrounded with 800 remaining men. Enomoto decided to surrender on May 18, 1869, and accepted the Meiji Emperor's rule – the Republic ceased to exist on 27 June 1869. In August of the same year, the island was given its present name, Hokkaido.

Enomoto was sentenced to a brief prison sentence, but was freed in 1872 and accepted a post as a government official in the newly renamed Hokkaido Land Agency. He later became ambassador to Russia, and held several ministerial positions in the Meiji Government.

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