Tondenhei

[2]) The first recruits in Japan were former samurai whose feudal lords had opposed the Meiji forces and whose domains were therefore abolished, leaving them without gainful employment.

[3] The Tokugawa Shogunate had encouraged Japanese to settle in Hokkaidō, especially after Hakodate became a treaty port open to foreigners under the 1854 Convention of Kanagawa between Japan and the United States.

Most of the villages were on the western side of the island, in Ishikari River valley near Sapporo and Takikawa, and in the fertile Kamikawa Basin upstream from Asahikawa.

Many samurai were unused to farming, especially raising such northern crops as beans and potatoes, but families worked together to adapt to the harsh climate.

In the manga Rurouni Kenshin, a minor villain named Fuji cuts a deal with the Meiji government and agrees to become a tondenhei instead of facing trial.