HOME
*



picture info

Hikone Domain
was a '' fudai'' feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan. It was located in eastern Ōmi Province, in the Kansai region of central Honshu. The domain was centered at Hikone Castle, located in what is now the city of Hikone in Shiga Prefecture. It was ruled throughout its history by the Ii clan. History Ii Naomasa, one of Tokugawa Ieyasu's closest advisors and most capable generals, was ''daimyō'' of Takasaki Domain with a ''kokudaka'' of 120,000 ''koku''. This was increased to 180,000 ''koku'' after the Battle of Sekigahara, and he was transferred to Sawayama Castle, on the shores of Lake Biwa, which was the former home domain of Ishida Mitsunari. The domain was thus originally named . Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric. (2005). "Ii Naomasa" in Ii Naomasa disliked living at Sawayama as it had been the home of his enemy, and planned the construction of a new castle, Hikone Castle, but died before it could be completed. His successor, Ii Naokatsu, complete ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Han System
( ja, 藩, "domain") is a Japanese historical term for the estate of a daimyo in the Edo period (1603–1868) and early Meiji period (1868–1912). Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"Han"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 283. or (daimyo domain) served as a system of ''de facto'' administrative divisions of Japan alongside the ''de jure'' provinces until they were abolished in the 1870s. History Pre-Edo period The concept of originated as the personal estates of prominent warriors after the rise of the Kamakura Shogunate in 1185, which also saw the rise of feudalism and the samurai noble warrior class in Japan. This situation existed for 400 years during the Kamakura Shogunate (1185–1333), the brief Kenmu Restoration (1333–1336), and the Ashikaga Shogunate (1336–1573). became increasingly important as ''de facto'' administrative divisions as subsequent Shoguns stripped the Imperial provinces () and their officials of their legal powers. Edo period Toyotomi Hidey ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Daimyō
were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominally to the emperor and the '' kuge''. In the term, means 'large', and stands for , meaning 'private land'. From the ''shugo'' of the Muromachi period through the Sengoku to the ''daimyo'' of the Edo period, the rank had a long and varied history. The backgrounds of ''daimyo'' also varied considerably; while some ''daimyo'' clans, notably the Mōri, Shimazu and Hosokawa, were cadet branches of the Imperial family or were descended from the ''kuge'', other ''daimyo'' were promoted from the ranks of the samurai, notably during the Edo period. ''Daimyo'' often hired samurai to guard their land, and they paid the samurai in land or food as relatively few could afford to pay samurai in money. The ''daimyo'' era ended soon after the Meiji ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Tairō
''Tairō'' (, "great elder") was a high-ranking official position in the Tokugawa shogunate government of Japan, roughly comparable to the office of prime minister. The ''tairō'' presided over the governing '' rōjū'' council in the event of an emergency. A ''tairō'' was nominated from among the '' fudai daimyōs'', who worked closely with the Tokugawa traditionally. Generally, the office holder was the shogunate's chief policy maker, and provided Japan with a capable temporary leader in the absence of a ''shōgun'', or in the event that the ''shōgun'' was incapacitated. List of ''tairō'' See also * The Five Tairō Notes References * Cullen, Louis M. (2003). ''A History of Japan, 1582-1941: Internal and External Worlds.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ; OCLC 442929163* Sansom, George Bailey. (1963). ''A History of Japan: 1615-1867.'' Stanford: Stanford University Press Stanford University Press (SUP) is the publishing house of Stanford University. It ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Ii Naosuke
was ''daimyō'' of Hikone (1850–1860) and also Tairō of the Tokugawa shogunate, Japan, a position he held from April 23, 1858, until his death, assassinated in the Sakuradamon Incident on March 24, 1860. He is most famous for signing the Harris Treaty with the United States, granting access to ports for trade to American merchants and seamen and extraterritoriality to American citizens. He was also an enthusiastic and accomplished practitioner of the Japanese tea ceremony, in the Sekishūryū style, and his writings include at least two works on the tea ceremony. Under Ii Naosuke’s guidance, the Tokugawa shogunate navigated past a particularly difficult conflict over the succession to the ailing and childless Tokugawa Iesada. Ii Naosuke managed to coerce the Tokugawa shogunate to the last brief resurgence of its power and position in Japanese society before the start of the Meiji period. Ii was assassinated in the Sakuradamon incident by a group of 17 Mito and 1 Sa ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Bakumatsu Period
was the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate ended. Between 1853 and 1867, Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as and changed from a feudal Tokugawa shogunate to the modern empire of the Meiji government. The major ideological-political divide during this period was between the pro-imperial nationalists called and the shogunate forces, which included the elite swordsmen. Although these two groups were the most visible powers, many other factions attempted to use the chaos of to seize personal power.Hillsborough, ''page # needed'' Furthermore, there were two other main driving forces for dissent: first, growing resentment on the part of the (or outside lords), and second, growing anti-Western sentiment following the arrival of Matthew C. Perry. The first related to those lords whose predecessors had fought against Tokugawa forces at the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, after which they had been permanently excluded from all powerful p ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Tenryō
The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 978.Nussbaum"''Edo-jidai''"at p. 167. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars of the Sengoku period following the collapse of the Ashikaga shogunate. Ieyasu became the ''shōgun,'' and the Tokugawa clan governed Japan from Edo Castle in the eastern city of Edo (Tokyo) along with the ''daimyō'' lords of the ''samurai'' class.Nussbaum"Tokugawa"at p. 976. The Tokugawa shogunate organized Japanese society under the strict Tokugawa class system and banned most foreigners under the isolationist policies of ''Sakoku'' to promote political stability. The Tokugawa shoguns governed Japan in a feudal system, with each ''daimyō'' administering a '' han'' (feud ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Hatamoto
A was a high ranking samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate of feudal Japan. While all three of the shogunates in Japanese history had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred to as '' gokenin.'' However, in the Edo period, ''hatamoto'' were the upper vassals of the Tokugawa house, and the ''gokenin'' were the lower vassals. There was no precise difference between the two in terms of income level, but a hatamoto had the right to an audience with the ''shōgun'', whereas gokenin did not.Ogawa, p. 43. The word ''hatamoto'' literally means "origin of the flag", with the sense of 'around the flag', it is described in Japanese as 'those who guard the flag' (on the battlefield) and is often translated into English as "bannerman". Another term for the Edo-era ''hatamoto'' was , sometimes rendered as "direct shogunal ''hatamoto''", which serves to illustrate the difference between them and the preceding generation of ''hatamoto'' who served var ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Ii Naokatsu
was a Japanese '' daimyō'' of the Edo period who served the Tokugawa clan. He was also known as Ii Naotsugu. His childhood name was Manchiyo (万千代). Naokatsu succeeded to family headship following his father's death in 1602. Under Tokugawa Ieyasu's orders, Naokatsu completed construction of Hikone Castle in 1606, and then moved there from Sawayama Castle when it was largely completed. In 1614, as Naokatsu was ill, he sent his brother Naotaka to fight in the Siege of Osaka; Naokatsu himself was assigned to Annaka, where he undertook security duty in the Kantō region. After the siege of Osaka, Tokugawa Ieyasu rewarded Naokatsu's younger brother Naotaka with the Ii family headship, and allowed Naokatsu to form a branch family with holdings at the fief of Annaka in Kōzuke Province, worth 30,000 ''koku''. Naokatsu retired in 1632, yielding headship to his son Naoyoshi. He died in Ōmi Province in 1662. His descendants were moved around several times before having their ho ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Louis Frédéric
Louis-Frédéric Nussbaum, also known as Louis Frédéric or Louis-Frédéric (1923–1996), was a French scholar, art historian, writer and editor. He was a specialist in the cultures of Asia, especially India and Japan. Early life Louis-Frédéric was born in Paris in 1923. He studied at the Sorbonne and the École Pratique des Hautes Études. Career Louis-Frédéric wrote many books on India, Japan and Southeast Asia. He was the editor of the 10-volume ''Encyclopaedia of Asian Civilizations'' which was published in eight editions in English between 1977 and 1987. Louis-Frédéric's ''Japan Encyclopedia'' is published by the Harvard University Press; ''Japan Encyclopedia'' at Harvard University Press
retrieved 9 September 2013. and it has six editions in English and French betwee ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Ishida Mitsunari
Ishida Mitsunari (, 1559 – November 6, 1600) was a Japanese samurai and military commander of the late Sengoku period of Japan. He is probably best remembered as the commander of the Western army in the Battle of Sekigahara following the Azuchi–Momoyama period of the 16th century. He is also known by his court title, Jibu-no-shō (治部少輔). Early life He was born in 1559 at the north of Ōmi Province (which is now Nagahama city, Shiga Prefecture), and was the second son of Ishida Masatsugu, who was a retainer for the Azai clan. His childhood name was Sakichi (). The Ishida withdrew from service after the Azai's defeat in 1573 at the Siege of Odani Castle. According to legend, he was a monk in a Buddhist temple before he served Toyotomi Hideyoshi, but the accuracy of this legend is doubted since it only came about during the Edo period. Service under Hideyoshi Mitsunari met Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1577, when the former was still young and the latter was the '' ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Lake Biwa
is the largest freshwater lake in Japan, located entirely within Shiga Prefecture (west-central Honshu), northeast of the former capital city of Kyoto. Lake Biwa is an ancient lake, over 4 million years old. It is estimated to be the 13th oldest lake in the world. Because of its proximity to Kyoto, references to Lake Biwa appear frequently in Japanese literature, particularly in poetry and in historical accounts of battles. Name The name ''Biwako'' was established in the Edo period. There are various theories about the origin of the name ''Biwako'', but it is generally believed to be so named because of the resemblance of its shape to that of a stringed instrument called the ''biwa''. Kōsō, a learned monk of Enryaku-ji in the 14th century, gave a clue to the origin of the name ''Biwako'' in his writing: "The lake is the Pure land of the goddess Benzaiten because she lives on Chikubu Island and the shape of the lake is similar to that of the ''biwa'', her favorite instrument ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Battle Of Sekigahara
The Battle of Sekigahara (Shinjitai: ; Kyūjitai: , Hepburn romanization: ''Sekigahara no Tatakai'') was a decisive battle on October 21, 1600 ( Keichō 5, 15th day of the 9th month) in what is now Gifu prefecture, Japan, at the end of the Sengoku period. This battle was fought by the forces of Tokugawa Ieyasu against a coalition of Toyotomi loyalist clans under Ishida Mitsunari, several of which defected before or during the battle, leading to a Tokugawa victory. The Battle of Sekigahara was the largest battle of Japanese feudal history and is often regarded as the most important. Toyotomi's defeat led to the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate. Tokugawa Ieyasu took three more years to consolidate his position of power over the Toyotomi clan and the various ''daimyō'', but the Battle of Sekigahara is widely considered to be the unofficial beginning of the Tokugawa shogunate, which ruled Japan for another two and a half centuries until 1868. Background Toyotom ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]