Aizuwakamatsu (会津若松市 Aizuwakamatsu-shi) is a city in Fukushima Prefecture. As of 1 January 2021, the city had an estimated population of 118,159. Aizuwakamatsu is a local commercial centre. The area is traditionally noted for sake brewing and lacquerware. Modern industries include textiles, wood processing and electronics. During the Edo period, Aizu was controlled briefly by Uesugi Kagekatsu in 1600 after the death of Gamo Ujisato in 1596. Tokugawa Ieyasu accused Uesugi of gathering troops in Aizu. Ieyasu then transferred the Uesugi to Yonezawa. Through inheritance, Aizu was passed to Hoshina Masayuki (a brother of the third Tokugawa shogun) in 1643. The Edo period saw the economic and cultural growth of Aizu. Hoshina's descendants would rule the Aizu Domain for the next 200 years, adopting the Matsudaira name until the ninth generation Daimyō, Matsudaira Katamori, backed the bakufu in the Boshin War. Aizuwakamatsu Castle would fall during the Battle of Aizu, and the domain would be forfeited. A group of 22, including loyal retainers and their families, managed to escape to California and lend the name of their home to establish the first Japanese colony in America, the unfortunate Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Farm Colony, in 1869.