Hō'on-ji Temple in Asakusa, and left Edo. Upon arriving in Ichikawa he joined with Hijikata Toshizō of the Shinsengumi, Akizuki Tōnosuke of Aizu, Tatsumi Naofumi of Kuwana, and others, expanding his force to 2000 men. Dividing the infantry into three groups, he ordered them to attack. One unit was marched towards Nikkō, defeating an Imperial Army detachment on the way at Koyama in Shimotsuke Province. The detached unit under Hijikata had also defeated an Imperial army force at Utsunomiya Castle, and proceeded to enter the castle by way of Koyama. Ultimately, however, for Ōtori Keisuke, there would be no more military victories. Upon reaching the domain seat of Wakamatsu, Ōtori's men mounted a fighting retreat while defending the western approaches to Aizu. In his search for reinforcements, Ōtori unsuccessfully petitioned Matsudaira Katamori to gather peasants from the surrounding villages and, although continuing to remain in the vicinity of Wakamatsu for some time, was eventually forced to retreat in the face of an advance from the Imperial Army, making his way to Sendai. There he met with Enomoto Takeaki, who had arrived in Matsushima Bay with six warships of the former Shogunate. Boarding these ships, the force headed for Hakodate, Hokkaidō. Soon afterward, the Republic of Ezo was established, and as a result of the first attempt at democratic elections that Japan had ever seen, Ōtori was elected Minister of the Army. However, in terms of battlefield experience, Ōtori was expert mostly in theory; while his second-in-command Hijikata Toshizō was far more experienced in combat, and Ōtori's awkwardness, as well as his tendency to laugh and say Mata maketa yo! ("Oh I lost again!") in the face of defeat gave him a bad reputation with his men. In the Battle of Hakodate when the Imperial Army surrounded the Goryōkaku fortress, Enomoto Takeaki wanted to go down fighting; however, it was Ōtori who suggested a peaceful surrender, changing Enomoto's mind with his words of "If it's dying you want you can do it anytime." Ōtori was taken into custody and transferred to a prison in Tokyo; a building which ironically he had built himself as Ōdaira-mae Infantry Barracks. Later life While in prison, Ōtori continued to make use of his knowledge of Western learning, to the benefit of his fellow prisoners. An anecdote recounts that during his imprisonment, he not only reformed the bad habits of the prison director, but also managed