IINUMA Sadakichi (1854-1931) of the Aizu (Fukushima Prefecture) clan went into battle as a Byakkotai (a unit of samurai youth) during the Boshin Civil War in 1868, and committed ritual suicide with his comrades at Mt. Iimori, but he was rescued by chance and was the sole survivor.
He became a valuable witness to history and later recorded the tragedy of the Byakkotai's group suicide.
From 1872, he worked hard as a telegraph engineer and became instrumental in the erection of nationwide telegraph and telephone networks from Kyushu to Hokkaido.
During this period, he was deployed in the Sino-Japanese War from 1894 to 1895 and succeeded in establishing a military telegraph system on the Korean Peninsula.
Following the war, he worked at the Sendai Post Office from 1897 to 1904.
After this, he took work at the Sapporo Post Office before becoming the General Manager of the Engineering Department of the Sendai Communication Management Bureau in 1910.
He continued to live in Sendai and retired in 1913, and died at age 78 in 1931.
On the right side of IINUMA Sadakichi's tomb, there is a stone monument with a poem written by his mother when Sadakichi left for battle.
Erected in September 2013 by Sadao's grandchildren, IINUMA Kazuhiro, IINUMA Kazuie, and IINUMA Kazumoto.