A History of Alyska to the year 1800.

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Following the battle of Ixlaca in 1488 the two factions in Alyska which had been at oneanothers throats since the breakdown of the Ashikaga shogun in the early part of the century had begun to fall apart. With both sides turning against one another as the defeated cities blamed one another for their defeat, while the victors fought over the spoils of their victory.

This period initially saw the last few remaining smaller states absorbed into larger polities. With five major states emerging to dominance by the beginning of the sixteenth century. These being Uniyoshima, Nexo, Aria, Naaro, and Singoshu (see map for locations) in descending order of power. For some time it seemed that these states would continue to conglomerate into even larger states through a mixture of combat and alliance. However it was not to be.

A tense peace would descend on Alyska as fighting died off in the 1490s as the different states were forced to halt their fighting to lick their wounds and recoup the massive losses they had taken in Ixlaca. The temporary peace was not expected to last by any side.

 

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The early Tlingit kingdom under Anxiou II

While the Japanese city states were tearing themselves apart in the south, in the north the still young Tlingit kingdom was facing its own issues as the new king Ainxiou II attempted to effectively govern the kingdom he had inherited from his late father. A kingdom which had been won and held together largely through the personal reputation and power of Ainxiou I.

With the death of the first Tlingit great king many of the vassals and tribes of the kingdom began pushing for independence from Axaa. Either rebelling openly and making war on the new king, or else quietly stopping their payment of tribute and taxes to the king.

Obviously this sudden lack of revenue could not stand, to say nothing of the rebellion of his vassal tribes, both open and quiet. But Anxiou II was limited in his ability to effectively respond to these challenges to his power through military force as large parts of the army had returned home with the death of Anxiou I. Claiming that they owed their loyalty to the dead king, not his son.

Anxiou quickly found his kingdom, a nation he had worked alongside his father for decades to help build, falling apart before his very eyes, and he was unable to stop it from happening because he lacked money to pay an army. What he needed was a miracle. And a miracle is precisely what he would stumble upon.

 

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Ainxiou reasserts control.
While few chose to accept his authority within the kingdom Ainxiou did have his allies. Mostly those he had worked closely with during his fathers reign. And this support allowed him to maintain at least the official title of king, with several key vassals choosing not to declare their independence outright.

While he would officially retain the title of king Ainxiou II was largely a prisoner within the capital of Axaa. Merely one of the numerous local settlements with their own military forces, albeit a fairly large one. Obviously for the son of a powerful ruler with his own ambitions for power this could not stand.

But the fact was that given his own relatively limited strength Ainxiou could not risk open war against the “vassals” which were being less than compliant wit his will without running the risk of open rebellion. And without the money to afford a larger military it was unlikely that even his present position would continue. And money was something he was increasingly short of as the taxes owed by his vassals were ever more late.

But Ainxiou was not only a competent military leader, who had aided in the conquest of the kingdom in a not insignificant way, but he was also a savvy politician with a keen knowledge of the situation around his kingdom.

Notably Ainxiou was well aware of the ongoing situation in the south. Where the Japanese city states were undergoing the opening phases of their own troubles. Many Japanese were looking to escape the chaos gripping their own homeland, both in the Japanese mainland, and Alyska. These people were looking for land to settle and jobs where they could employ their skills.

As the chaos engulfed the south Ainxiou saw his opportunity. Offering extensive rewards for those Japanese who came north to work for his kingdom. Promising them wealth, jobs, and land in exchange for their service to him. Soon he had thousands of Japanese arriving to serve him.

He did not have money to pay them of course. But he had a plan which he hoped would soon solve all his problems and secure his position as king for some time to come.

 

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So I am struggling with a bit of writers block, well more like distraction. You see I have this timeline planned out loosely to the present. Currently I find myself fixated on the 1940s period, basically I am distracted by something else and while I have motivation to write, its not in this era. Going to watch some videos on the Sengoku period, and read a bit on it as well to try and transition back into things.

In the meantime two things come to mind that I want to do, the first is to just briefly summarize the situation in Alyska in the period. Currently the Japanese have broken down into several city states of varying size, with regional power blocks forming around the largest of the states. A brutal war has just concluded pitting a faction loyal to the Shogun against independents which has ended in the defeat of the loyalists, but the disintegration of both alliances. In the north meanwhile the Tlingit Kingdom is also experiencing a period of internal instability following the death of the first king. With his son so far unable to command the same level of authority as his father. Factions are forming and armies coalescing across the entire region in preparation for another round of fighting.

The second thing I wanted to quickly touch on was to see if anyone had any questions about the timeline so far? Anything you found confusing, or not adequately explained? Any issues with the plausibility of a part of the timeline? Or just questions you have about how things will develop going forward? If so please say so and I will try and explain things as best I can.

 

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By 1493 Ainxiou had his hand forced. What funds he did have were gone and with them his time to prepare. He would need to act fast if he were to ever restore the power of his house and excerpt full control over his kingdom again. And with this in mind he began to accelerate his plans as soon as possible.

He called a council with all the lords and nobles in the kingdom to be held in Axaa in spring of 1494, notably he required that all his nobles be there, a departure from prior language he had used in his addresses which struck a more polite tone.

The king would spend the winter performing last minute checks, planning out the coming campaign, and organizing his forces. He did not send further letters to the lords to see if they would meet with him. Instead he did his best to project nothing but strength and authority. He was king and anyone who did not attend his council would face the consequences.

By the time the snow melted and the country thawed a majority of the nobles and lords from the kingdom chose to attend the kings conference. Many having their curiosity piqued at the sudden shift in tone in the letters the king had sent them and wondering what game he was playing at.

Axaa was crowded with troops, many of them Japanese troops. All flying the kings banner. This further raised the interest of the nobles and they hurried to attend to the king in the recently completed royal palace at the heart of the city.

Ainxiou addressed his nobles in full battle dress. A further sign that war was coming. It is said that the king let his nobles speak amongst themselves for several minutes before he said anything to them directly, instead addressing his attendants.

But he did not let them wait very long before he announced that he planned to launch an invasion of the south. Capturing the rich Japanese lands beyond the kingdoms current borders and adding them to his own personal holdings. Any who did not support this war would be dealt with, their authority removed, and their lands seized. This done the king then left, leaving the stunned nobles to think over what had been said.

 

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Part One, the Campaign Begins. Spring of 1494.

Ainxiou had been gathering his forces for his planned invasion of the south since 1493, so he had very little left to do before he sent his forces out to begin the invasion. However, his nobles who had been caught flatfooted by his announced plans, would take significantly longer to get their fighting bands properly assembled. This would take until the very end of the fighting season.

The king had anticipated that however and included it into his plans. His own forces would spend the spring and summer months taking as much land as possible, aiming for the rich trade center of Arai, and once they were nearly exhausted then the nobles forces would be used to garrison the captured territory.

Ainxiou’s main forces were a mix of Tlingit and Japanese troops. Promised great wealth, land and power by the king many Japanese had gone over to his side. Many of these having been on the losing side of the Senso war and thus eager for revenge. At the time Japanese had not yet become the language of the Tlingit court, and thus few of Ainxiou’s native troops understood their Japanese counterparts. Making cooperation between the two elements difficult to impossible.

The campaign began with the kings forces assaulting the town of Jengessi, a fortified border town that Tlingit and Japanese troops had fought over in the past, but had been firmly held by Japanese forces since the 1430s.

Jengessi fell quickly, its lord and people putting up only token resistance before Ainxiou offered them favorable terms of surrender. He did not want to get his forces stuck into a lengthy siege of a relatively unimportant border town.

With the Jengessi mountain pass now in his control and the snow melting early, Ainxiou quickly split his forces off into several smaller groups and sent them out into the Pengai valley below him. As spring turned to summer his troops had captured several further settlements, though none were of any great size. And the Japanese were beginning to realize what was going on.

 

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News of the Tlingit invasion was slow to reach the larger city states in the south. While the northern cities knew almost immediately that they were being threatened the state of Japanese politics at the time, and the lingering aftermath of the Onin war meant that most of the Diamyo in the region were more than happy to leave their neighbors to their fates. Believing that the foreign invaders would exhaust themselves long before they reached their territories.

There was also the issue in the northern cities that many of the local lords would rather save their resources to defend themselves against the Tlingit than band together to defend their neighbors.

Thus Ainxiou quickly devoured many of the outlying Japanese cities. Making rapid progress due to the limited military forces most settlements possessed. The Tlingit king did not only take cities by force, offering them generous terms of surrender if they chose to do so without a fight. Demanding a hefty price and men to add to his forces, but afterwards promising to take only limited amounts of tribute from cities which did not resist.

Some cities took the king up on his offer. Many smaller settlements judging that Tlingit sovereignty would be preferable to control by one of the larger cities which had previously been expanding their influence and control in the region.

Those cities that failed to surrender were quickly overrun and sacked. Anything of value was carried away and the leaders of the village or city were executed. The Tlingit army, while not especially well organized or equipped for sieges, was quite successful, largely due to the small size of the cities they attacked early in their campaigns.

It was only as summer entered its full swing and the Tlingit army reached the outskirts of the territory controlled by Arai that the larger Diamyo in the south began to take the Tlingit threat seriously. With Arai itself calling for aide in July and mobilizing its own military forces. While the Japanese nobles debated if they would come to the aide of the city the Tlingit began to draw down their army. Sending some troops home and establishing garrisons in the towns they had seized and generally preparing for the coming winter, planning to resume their conquest in the next year. Ainxiou not wanting to get involved in a lengthy siege during the winter months. This would give the Japanese several months to come together and draw a plan.

 

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As the winter of 1494 dawned and the snow began to fall throughout the country the two opposing forces, Japanese and Tlingit, began to prepare for the next spring which both anticipated would involve significant aggression on the part of the kingdom.

The Japanese Response
Already in fall of 94 the city of Arai had called for aide from the neighboring city states to the south. The largest city in the region Aria had already seen much of its tribute states annexed by the Tlingit army, with some scouts even being allegedly sighted in the fields around the city.

Their calls for aide initially fell on deaf ears, however as it became ever more apparent that the invasion was a serious matter that threatened them all many of the neighboring lords agreed to a meeting in the city to make a plan to oppose the invaders.

Due to the harsh winter conditions and poor local roads many representatives traveled by ship to the city, some taking time to sail north to observe areas under Tlingit control. During the next several months almost a dozen settlements would hammer out what would become known as the winters alliance, signing the first treaty of Arai in February 1495.

This alliance placed the defense of Arai as its first priority. With the southern partners in the alliance agreeing to send what forces they could to help the city, while Arai paid for the troops and was in overall command of the effort. It was agreed that the alliance would end as soon as the Tlingit had been pushed back, and that no effort would be made by Arai to retake territory lost to the Tlingit with alliance troops.

Opponents eliminated
While the Japanese were working together Ainxiou found himself embroiled in a crisis. While he had managed to secure the resources and money which had motivated the entire invasion many of the nobles within the kingdom had grown to oppose the king, viewing the new lands he had conquered and the resourced he now had as a threat to their own power.

The nobles gathered in Axaa and demanded that the conquered territories be divided among them, rather than be under the authority of the king himself. They argued that since they had participated in the attack they deserved some of the rewards rather than be just paid for their troops. When the king refused to listen to their demands a group of nobles, many of them considered the most powerful in the kingdom, signed a letter demanding that he abdicate the throne.

While reliable sources remain few and far between tradition says that Ainxiou held a meeting with his lords in March of 1495, ostensibly to explain himself and smooth things over. Once assembled in the great hall of the city the king demanded that the nobles divide themselves into those who supported his authority and those that did not.

Once the room had been divided, apparently almost evenly, Ainxiou had the doors locked and ordered his guards to slaughter his opponents. Legend says he then sent the severed heads of these men back to their houses as a warning to their heirs about the dangers of opposing the king.

Up until this point the Tlingit kingdom had not been an absolute monarchy, with the nobility having a significant say in matters of state. Votes had been often held during the reign of Ainxiou the first, and for the first years of his reign Ainxiou the second had continued this democratic process. Needing the nobles on side before he took action. Now with all those who opposed him dead the new king seemed poised to bring the kingdom into a new era of absolutism.

 

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Discovered in 1964 while conducting renovations to the Yamnya castle after the great earthquake this complete Aztec book was donated to the royal museum of Posadka. One of less than a dozen known complete Aztec books the Yamnya codex is a unique example in the museums collection. While it will likely never be known for certain how or precisely when it came to Alyska it is estimated the book arrived as part of the occasional trade which took place between the Japanese settlements in Alyska and the greater Americas. Carbon dating puts the date of the books writing to roughly 1450-1500.

 

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1) Stuttland (Welsh language official)
2) Textant (Nerderlands official)
3) Fabrie (Nederlands official)
4) Nervi (Nederlands official)
5) Noord-Hetenvalle (Nederlands official)
6) Zuid-Hetenvalle (Nederlands official)
7) Neiw Freisland (Nederlands official)
8) Neiw Holland (Nederlands official)
9)Togan (Japanese official)
10) Reisui (Japanese official)
11) Enkei (Japanese official)
12) Kage (Japanese official)
13) Shicenyo (Japanese official)
14)Axaa (Russian official, Tlingit secondary)
15) Chernyy Les (Russian official)
16) Posadka (Russian official)
17) Zimniye Lagerya (Russian official)
18) Beringa (Russian official)
19) Vostnotchyy fort (Russian official)
20) West Eden (Russian official)
21) North Eden (Russian official)
22) East Yukon (Russian official)
23) South Yukon (Russian official)
24) Klondike (Russian official, English secondary)
25) Arctic territory (No official language)

Well its not perfect, and I could not get numbers to appear without them disappearing when I colored the map so I had to freehand the numbers (and it shows) also the colours bled into the map borders but that could not be helped. Later I will add a list of major cities in each province when I have the time.

 

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Following the elimination of his opponents in brutal fashion Ainxiou II spent the remainder of the spring of 1495 establishing his control over the rest of the kingdoms nobles, as well as ransacking the estates of those he had killed and assigning more than a few of his own friends to take over what remained, and strengthening control over his army with the promotion of many Samurai loyal to him to positions of greater authority.

For the moment Ainxiou held absolute control over his kingdom. With his remaining nobles either absolutely loyal to him, paid to be so, or else too afraid to be anything other than humble servants of the king for fear of angering him.

As the final frost of the year thawed that April the king prepared his army for another campaign season. Beginning the march to the south on the 20th of the month. As his army began their march spies and scouts followed and reported his movements to his enemies in the northern Japanese cities.

 

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In the south, or the northern Japanese cities, attempts at creating an alliance of city states had fallen apart. With no progress being made and more than one settlement choosing to join the Tlingit kingdom without firing a shot. Prompting several cities, among them Aria, to make plans to attack them in revenge for their betrayal.

Reports of the movement of the Tlingit army reached the various cities still intending to resist a week or more after it began its march. Causing many to begin panicked last minute preparations and some to burn their surrounding countryside in an attempt to deny the Tlingit the chance to feed itself from their harvest. Furthermore last minute defenses were also raised, many cities in the period lacking the resources to build any sort of proper defensive works.

In fact it seems that during this period only the cities of Aria and Umiyoshima possessed any form of major fortification. Most others which had at one point possessed defensive walls had lost them in the war or else been unable to maintain them during the aftermath of the Senso war.

This partially explains the surprising success experienced by the Tlingit armies as they swept down from the north in 1495, as well as the surprising resistance of the city of Aria during a three month siege after stunning success elsewhere.

Records are scarce in this period. With the Tlingit being still largely illiterate, and what written records which were made being very unreliable we have only a few scant Japanese sources, mostly fragmentary. However these list only the fall of cities, not even giving dates or names of rulers.

What we do know for certain is the Tlingit armies achieved a startling level of success in their wars, managing to capture a majority of the cities in the region with few losses, as suggested by the lack of Tlingit corpses in the archeological record. After two campaign seasons in 1495-96 Ainxiou had managed to achieve far more than he could have ever dreamed of. Becoming at an instant one of the strongest rulers in the Americas at the time. Though if he could keep this power was yet to be seen.

 

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While the Tlingit armies had achieved notable success, and king Ainxiou the second had managed to wield power over his kingdom with an iron grip it was not long before cracks in his power began to show. With many of the nobles that had initially been cowed into submission by threat of death now plotting ways to reclaim lost prestige and punish the king for his actions.

But his nobility was not Ainxiou’s only problem. Much of his army had not been paid during the war, instead being promised riches from the conquered territory in the south. However the Tlingit had not managed to advance as far south as Ainxiou had wanted, and the largest and richest cities in the region, Aria among them, had resisted his efforts to take them thanks to their walls.

As a third threat to his power the surviving Japanese in his newly claimed regions began almost immediately after surrendering to the Tlingit to resist his rule. Forming resistance and guerrilla groups in more isolated regions and forming armies in the larger settlements. Helped by the still free states these groups promptly expanded their forces and quickly came to pose a significant threat.

For a king who had never enjoyed the loyalty of his nobles, and had achieved the heights of power he had by use of an army that was now demanding their promised pay the future for Ainxiou promised to be very interesting.

 

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In 1498, two years after the end of his war with the Japanese city states Ainxiou had finally gone to far. After a dinner where he allegedly threatened to dine on his nobility after a delegation made several requests of him, the flames of revolution were set. The nobles returned home and reported what had occurred to a group of other nobles who were already planning a revolt.

Over the winter the noble coalition made further plans, secretly at first, but as they felt out ever more nobles for their cause they quickly realized just how unpopular the king had become and began planning more openly. It does not seem that Ainxiou was aware at all of these plans.

When the spring of 1499 came a group of nobles arrived at the capital of Axaa as part of a yearly council. Approaching the king as a unit these nobles then revealed daggers beneath their clothing and stabbed the king to death, later moving onto slay his loyal guards and the royal family. Their deed done the nobles then dismissed themselves and returned to their domains to await what would happen next.

 

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Written records in Alyska began in the 1420s following the edict of Kyoto as the lands of the region were divided up amongst the new Diamyo installed after the overthrow of the Ronin. With many of the new estates keeping detailed records of the produce, population, and borders of their estates. The Tlingit followed in the 1480s when a royal chronicle began to keep records and record the mythology of the Tlingit people. Umiyoshima also has records going back to the 1450s, and many other cities followed later.

By the outbreak of the Senso war we have very detailed records of all the major players and city states in the region. A majority of these records would survive the coming chaos and eventually find their way into the Royal archives in Posadka and Novoya Amsterdam.

However as detailed as the records up until the Senso war are they begin to rapidly drop off as the fighting intensified. One by one records and chronicles began to end, their keepers being killed, displaced, or their pay stop.

In fact by 1500 almost all records stop and the few that continue past then rapidly end not long afterwards. As a result while we know in very broad strokes the events of the next century, we cannot say anything with exactness with any level of certainty. It would not be until the coming of the Tokugawa a century later that any form of record keeping would begin again.

 

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While Alyska followed the example set in Japan after the collapse of the Ashikaga shogunate in descending rapidly into violence and factional infighting the region did not see any specific leaders emerge to reunify the various Diamyo and Ronin which had divided up the country. By 1590 two major power blocks, one centered in the north around Aria, and another in the south around Umiyoshima, held sway over much of the region. But these were alliances of various city states and not well integrated entities within themselves.

During the century of violence which had typified the end of Ashikaga rule throughout the Japanese speaking world contact and trade between Alyska and the Japanese islands had essentially ended. With trade generally collapsing in the period. As a result rulers in Alyska took little notice of the rise of the Tokugawa in Japan, and if they did notice them then they likely thought they were too far away to ever pose any threat to their own reign. How wrong they would prove to be.

 

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The chaos in Japan finally came to an end in the latter part of the sixteenth century, with the Tokugawa clan proclaiming themselves to be the new Shogun’s in around 1600. Achieving victory over the other feudal lords which had ruled largely through nearly a century of bitter civil wars through military force, diplomacy, and less conventional means.

The first Shogun of this new dynasty would be Tokugawa Leyasu. Rising through the ranks of the generals to first the warlord Oda Nobunaga, and his successor Toyotomi Hideyoshi Leyasu has amassed a considerable power base which he exploited following the death of Toyotomi. Using it to propel himself into heights of power not seen in Japan since the collapse of Ashikaga rule. He would usher in the Edo period alongside the new Shogunate in Japan.

Leyasu seemed to have very little interest in Alyska, and in foreign conquests in general. He had failed to assist Toyotomi in his invasions of Korea prior to becoming Shogun, and is recorded as referring to Alyska as a frigid land with nothing of interest to one as lofty as himself. This would change though with the coming to power of his successor.

 

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While Shogun Leyasu did not express much interest in conquering Alyska, contenting himself with ruling over all of Japan, this was not true of his successor Hidetada, who succeeded to the Shogunate in 1605. Wishing to prove himself and bring the entirety of the Japanese speaking world under his authority, despite the opposition of his father.

Hidetada apparently had begun preparations for an invasion of Alyska even before ascending to the title of Shogun, as evidenced by the rapidity in which he dispatched an invasion fleet after taking the throne. A force of thirty three ships and over six thousand troops being send in March of 1606.

This force arrived in Alyska in May, landing around Umiyoshima. Who’s stunned ruler Tadanomi Mikoya quickly surrendered to the Tokugawa. Most of the rest of his alliance of city states following promptly.

The northern cities, led by Aria, resisted for a time, turning back a joint force of the Shoguns and local troops from the south. Winter of 1606-7 put an end to campaigning for the winter, and the two sides dug in and prepared for the spring. The Tokugawa forces having the advantage of resupply and reinforcement from Japan, while the Aria led north only had the troops and resources present at the start of the siege.

Now numbering nearly twenty thousand strong the Togugawa’s forces thundered through the north. Taking the majority of cities in the region, though a few Japanese speaking settlements, mostly those controlled by the Tlingit, continued outside Hidetada’s rule. The Tlingit agreeing to become vassals of the Shogun after seeing the forces fighting in the region.

Thus, by August of 1607 the Japanese speaking world was once more, nominally at least, under the control of the emperor.

 

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Up to Mongolian abandonment of Aguu Khan Khot
30,000-0 BCE: Native peoples begin to arrive in North America through various means, many arrive via the now lost Bering land bridge which connected the Americas to Asia.
0-1292 CE: Native groups settle down and establish themselves. Major civilizations develop in mesoamerica and the Andean mountain range, several other societies as well.
1279: Ships belonging to Kublai Khan stumble upon what will later become known as Alyska. Land is named Gazar Doorkh Gazar, land across the water.
1280: The great Khan orders a colony to be established, his ministers rush to comply.
1283: The city of Aguu Khan Khot (city of the great Khan) is established in the vicinity of what will become Fredericksburg. Over the next decade nearly ten thousand colonists will be sent to Alyska and a large settlement will be established in the new world. Kublai Khan making the establishment of a colony before his death a major part of the final years of his reign. The colony is largely a money sink, with meagre crop yields and harsh winters. Kublai believes it will in time become a prospering part of the empire.
1294: Kublai Khan dies and his son Temur takes the throne. Timur inherits an empire on the verge of economic meltdown and also faces many lesser rulers revolting.
1295: Temur abandons Alyska and over the next five years many of the colonists are brought back.
1300: The final ship departs Alyska. The few remaining colonists are abandoned. Excavation at the site of the settlement will show the area largely evacuated and the remaining colonists mingling into local tribes.
Behind them the Mongol empire leaves an area with far fewer inhabitants than when they arrived. The colonists having apparently fought many of the local tribes and caused a mass displacement of many groups. Most notably the Tlingit peoples, which would begin a slow immigration northwards in a diaspora which eventually sees them settle in the area of present day Axaa.
Japanese arrival to end of age of Ronin
¬1320: Rumors begin to circulate in the Japanese islands that the source of the riches of the Mongolian empire came from a land of gold located across the ocean to the east.
1320-1350: Believing these rumors a number of expeditions are sent out to discover this land of gold. Only finding a frozen wasteland.
¬1330: Alyska is discovered by Japanese explorers. Spurring more voyages to rapidly chart the area. No city of gold is found, though the rich fishing grounds are noticed.
1330-1360: Ever larger fishing fleets begin traveling to Alyska each year. At first small temporary camps were established, but in time these became permanent.
¬1345: Korimizu, the first permanent year round Japanese settlement in Alyska is established.
1360-1420: A period known as the Age of Ronin begins as former Samurai leave Japan to start over in Alyska. Soon many of these Ronin have taken over most of the settlements in the region. Several also come to work for native tribes.
1394: Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu sends back a delegation from Alyska requesting that he do something about the Ronin running rampant in the region.
1413: Warlord Aguro Mitsunoru of Nanko seizes and burns much of the Alyskan based fishing fleet.
1420: Mitsunoru does the same thing again, sparking the same outrage as before, but this time something is done about it.
*Shogun Yoshimochi meets with representatives and is eventually convinced to take action and deal with the Ronin warlords.
1422-1423: Ashikaga forces invade and conquer Japan. Ousting the warlords and dividing the land amongst themselves. Details are hazy and what do exist werewritten centuries later and are clearly biased, so obviously cannot be trusted
1425: It is estimated that at the time of the Ashikaga conquest the Japanese population of Alyska stood at sixty to seventy thousand. By the end of the century well over half a million Japanese would live in Alyska.
1423-1486: Major immigration into Alyska from Japan begins as the Ashikaga begin to try and settle the region with displaced Japanese on the home islands. Many of the Diamyo installed into power by the Ashikaga begin to amass enormous power for themselves in the region, fielding major armies and controlling significant amounts of territory.
1440s: The small state of Axaa, a Tlingit kingdom, begins to rapidly expand and absorb its neighbors under the reign of the great king Ainxiou the first.
1460: Ainxiou's kingdom becomes a major power in the region. His power and wealth drawing the attention of northern Japanese Diamyo.
1464-1467: The Tlingit kingdom of Axaa is attacked by a coalition of feudal lords. Ainxiou I beats back this attack and advances south. Eventually being stopped in the outskirts of Aria and acknowledged as the rightful ruler of the Tlingit.
1469: Ainxiou crowns himself as high king of the Tlingit. Officially forming the Tlingit kingdom.
1475: Ainxiou I dies in his sleep and his eldest son is crowned as Anxiou II. The new king faces many challenges to his power.
1467-1477: The Onin war is fought in Japan marking the end of the Ashikaga Shogunate and the beginning of the Sengoku period. Little attention is paid to Alyska, leaving the lords to their own devices.
1475-1486: Tensions boil over in Alyska as local Diamyo realize that they are effectively independent. The fifty or so Diamyo lords fight one another in a flurry of small and medium scale wars. Alliances soon begin to form however.
1484: The city of Umiyoshima is attacked by the neighboring city of Nexo, the siege ends in failure with Nexo armies withdrawing.
1486-1490: The Senso war breaks out in Alyska as two factions, one supporting the Ashikaga claimants in Japan, and another advocating independence, come to blows. The loyalist faction led by Nexo is defeated in a lengthy siege of Nexo itself by the independence faction led by Umiyoshima.
1488: Siege of Nexo is fought. Exhausting both sides. Armies of up to fifty thousand take part in the war.
1490: Battle of Ixlaca is fought with the independent faction achieving victory after a brutal battle. The victors quickly splinter and begin fighting amongst themselves. The second age of Ronin has begun.
1494: Ainxiou II declares to his nobility that he intends to invade the Japanese city states to the south of the kingdoms borders.
1494: The Tlingit invade the border city of Jengessi and quickly capture it. This is the start of an invasion which quickly sees huge chunks of territory fall to Ainxiou's armies.

 

[Count of Crisco]

The Tokugawa invaders, the majority at least, did not stay in Alyska for long. Many retreating back to their estates in the Japanese home islands by the end of 1607 or very early 1608. The war was over, and so most returned to their homes, including the majority of the soldiery which had conquered the land.

A majority yes, but not everyone left. Many remained to establish the framework of the Tokugawa government of the region, establish tax rates, survey the lands, and collect the tribute from the Tlingit kingdom offered as Japanese armies prepared to march into their lands.

The Tokugawa were not fools either, and they replaced the leaders of the larger cities, those most prominent in their defiance of their rule, with loyal governors. New men, the unlucky second or third sons of nobility back at home, as well as those who had proved useful to them in their establishment of the Shogunate back in Japan but had not yet been properly awarded.

We do not know exactly how many cities had their leaders replaced, though we do know many of the older and largest cities certainly had. Some of these apparently being ruled by the same family for several centuries by this point, since at least the end of the first age of Ronin.

This Tokugawa decision, sensible in its reasons and initially well executed would come to haunt them in time, and mark the beginning of the end of actual Japanese rule in Alyska.