What Is an "Aizuppo"? What Aizuwakamatsu People Are Called
People from Aizuwakamatsu are sometimes called Aizuppo, a word that even appears in a Natsume Soseki novel and carries the sense of someone who never backs down once they've made up their mind. Here is where that word comes from, and how it connects to Aizuwakamatsu's modern Aizukko Declaration, with sources.
Aizuppo names someone from Aizuwakamatsu. The ending -ppo marks a person's home region, the same pattern behind Tosappo for someone from Tosa (Kochi), but Aizuppo carries an extra layer: a strong association with stubbornness, the idea of never backing down once a decision is made.
Separately, in 2002 Aizuwakamatsu City adopted the Aizukko Declaration, a set of behavioral guidelines for young people that describes the kind of Aizukko, or "child of Aizu," the city hopes to raise. This article traces where each term, the older Aizuppo and the modern Aizukko, comes from, with sources.
Where does the word Aizuppo come from?
It describes the stubborn, unbending resolve associated with people from Aizu once they have made a decision.
AizuppoAizuppo
Aizuppo names someone from Aizuwakamatsu. The suffix -ppo marks a person's home region, in the same family as Tosappo for someone from Tosa (present-day Kochi). Aizuppo carries a strong association beyond simple geography: a stubborn, unbending resolve, the sense of never backing down once a decision has been made.
Source:Aizuwakamatsu Kanko, the meaning and usage of "Aizuppo"
Natsume Soseki's Botchan and "Aizuppo"
The word that carried Aizuppo to a national audience was Natsume Soseki's 1906 novel Botchan. In one scene, the narrator asks a fellow teacher, nicknamed Yamaarashi, where he is from, and on hearing "Aizu," replies, roughly, "Aizuppo, huh, no wonder you're so stubborn." That line is widely credited with cementing the association between Aizuppo and stubbornness in the popular imagination.
Source:Aizuwakamatsu Kanko, the meaning and usage of "Aizuppo"
What is the modern Aizukko Declaration?
It is a 2002 city-adopted code describing the kind of child and citizen Aizuwakamatsu hopes to raise.
The Aizukko Declaration
Aizuwakamatsu City adopted the Aizukko Declaration in 2002, following a proposal from a panel of local experts. It lists six lines of conduct, including "be kind to others" and "practice patience," and closes with a single line: "what must not be done, must not be done." The declaration describes the kind of child, and by extension the kind of Aizu person, that residents from children through adults are asked to aim toward.
Source:Aizuwakamatsu City, the Aizukko Declaration (top page)Aizuwakamatsu City, how the Aizukko Declaration came to be adopted
The Ju no Okitejuu no okite
The Aizukko Declaration draws directly on the Ju no Okite, a code handed down from the Edo-period Aizu domain. Samurai boys aged six to nine formed neighborhood groups of about ten called ju, and recited seven rules every day, covering respect for elders and a ban on cowardly behavior among them. The rules closed with the line "what must not be done, must not be done," a line the modern Aizukko Declaration carries forward unchanged.
Source:Yae's Hometown Fukushima, a column on the Ju no Okite, the basic code for Aizu domain children
FAQ
Is the Aizukko Declaration actually taught in schools?
Yes. Schools in the city hold recitation and memorization sessions, and a citizens' promotion body, the Aizuwakamatsu Youth Development Citizens' Council, works with schools and neighborhoods to keep the declaration in circulation.
Is the nickname Yamaarashi in Botchan connected to a real person from Aizu?
Some accounts say so. Saigo Shiro, the adopted son of Aizu domain elder Saigo Tanomo, became a judoka whose signature throw was itself called yamaarashi, and he later became the model for the novel Sugata Sanshiro. Some readers take the shared nickname as a sign of Soseki's own interest in Aizu.
How was the content of the Aizukko Declaration actually decided?
A six-member expert panel formed in 2001 interviewed schools, truancy officers, and police, gathered public comment, and drafted a proposal that went to the mayor in January 2002. The city's executive council formally adopted it the following month.
What happened if a child broke the Ju no Okite?
Punishments escalated by severity: the lightest was a public apology to the group, followed by a flick on the hand, then holding a hand over a charcoal brazier or being buried in snow, and the harshest was being cut off entirely by the group. Lifting that final punishment required the child and a parent to visit every other member's house to apologize in person.
Is there a distinctive Aizu-dialect greeting?
Yes: oban desu, roughly meaning "good evening," used any time from dusk into the night regardless of the exact hour. It combines ban, meaning evening, with the polite ending desu. Like Aizuppo and Aizukko, it's another small word that carries a bit of local Aizu character.