Former Japanese Imperial Army 2nd Division, 1920 and 2018
The Second Division was headquartered in Aoba Castle (currently on the campus of Tohoku University) in Sendai, Japan. Aoba Castle is an Edo period (1607-1863) complex erected during a period of stability under the bakuhan government system. They shared the headquarters with the 4th, 5th, 16th, 17th, and later the 29th Infantry Regiments. The 1920 image, taken in the years between the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) and conflicts with the Soviet Union (starting in 1932), shows the Wakiyagura of Aoba Castle and the Ōtemon Gate. The wakiyagura tower stands, looming over the road in the 2018 picture, United States forces destroyed both buildings in July of 1945, in bombings toward the end of World War II. The rebuilt wakiyagura generated tourist interest in the site, but the modern image shows the gate was not included in the reconstruction.