Birthplace Monument of Kakuma Yamamoto and Yae Niijima

These are the ruins of the birthplace of Yae Niijima and her brother Kakuma Yamamoto, located about 500 meters from the west entrance of Tsuruga Castle. Situated in a corner of a quiet residential area, there is a monument with a poem written by Yae Niijima, who was besieged at Tsuruga Castle during the Boshin War, the night before the castle was surrendered. Yae was born in 1845 to Gonpachi Yamamoto, an artillery instructor of the Aizu clan, and her mother Saku. She is said to have had a very active and manly personality from childhood. She is known as the person who taught Teijiro Ito, a Byakkotai samurai, how to operate Western-style gunnery, which she learned from her brother Kakuma, and as the wife of Jo Niijima, the founder of Doshisha.