Later Life
After his time in the army, Yamakawa went into education, becoming school president of the Tokyo Women's Normal School, replacing fellow Aizu native Takamine Hideo. He was also made a member of the House of Peers. In his later years he devoted himself to writing, and put together the text Kyoto Shugoshoku Shimatsu, which was one of the first texts that gave a view of the Aizu domain's actions that was not part of the Meiji oligarchs' triumphalist narrative.
Yamakawa was elevated to the peerage with the title of danshaku under the kazoku system. He died in Tokyo in 1898, and was buried there.
Read more about this topic: Yamakawa Hiroshi
Famous quotes containing the word life:
“All men are partially buried in the grave of custom, and of some we see only the crown of the head above ground. Better are the physically dead, for they more lively rot. Even virtue is no longer such if it be stagnant. A mans life should be constantly as fresh as this river. It should be the same channel, but a new water every instant.”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)
“O life of this our Spring! why fades the lotus of the water?
Why fade these children of the Spring,born but to smile and fall?”
—William Blake (17571827)