It's not a very original moniker: many Japanese cities were "samurai cities" but Aizu-Wakamatsu (会津若松) in Fukushima Prefeccture's broader Aizu (会津) region is one of those that perhaps are more justified to use it. Mostly because of the relationship between the area's ruling feudal lords' clan, the Hoshina (保科) with that of the Tokugawa shoguns and the role the Aizu samurai played in the events during the end of the shogunate period. It's interesting though that at the Aizu-Wakamatsu station the samurai are illustrated through kyudo (弓道) archery and not, for example, something having to do with swords; that a woman is chosen is probably because of semi-historic reasons that we will discuss in the near future.
(For a bigger version of this picture both in color and black and white, check my "Japan Arekore" set on Flickr)
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