Baron Yamakawa Hiroshi was a Bakumatsu period Aizu samurai who subsequently became a general in the early Meiji period Imperial Japanese Army, and a noted politician and educator. He was also one of the first persons to write a history of the Aizu War from the Aizu perspective. His brother-in-law was noted general Oyama Iwao, who married his sister Sutematsu.

Baron Yamakawa Kenjirō was a Japanese samurai, politician, physicist, academic administrator, and author of several histories of the Boshin War. He served as president of Tokyo Imperial University, Kyushu Imperial University, and Kyoto Imperial University. He also served as a Privy Councilor and a member of the House of Peers. Though his name is commonly written "Yamakawa," he himself wrote it as "Yamagawa" in English.