was an mid-

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

, and the 5th ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and n ...

'' of

Sendai Domain The , also known as the , was a domain of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1600 to 1871. The Sendai Domain was based at Aoba Castle in Mutsu Province, in the modern city of Sendai, located in the Tōhoku region of the i ...

in northern Japan, and the 21st hereditary chieftain of the

Date clan The is a Japanese samurai kin group. Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003)"Date", ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p. 5 retrieved 2013-5-5. History The Date family was founded ...

. The longest-serving of any of the ''daimyō'' of Sendai Domain, Yoshimura placed the domain back on sound financial footing.

Biography

Yoshimura was the eldest son of Date Munefusa (the 8th son of

Date Tadamune was an early Edo period Japanese samurai, and the 2nd ''daimyō'' of the 625,000 ''koku'' Sendai Domain in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan. He was the half-brother of Date Hidemune of Uwajima Domain. Biography Tadamune was born as Torakikum ...

, who had established a cadet branch of the clan. He was born in what is now part of the village of

Daitō, Iwate was a town located in Higashiiwai District, Iwate Prefecture, Japan. Daitō village was created on April 1, 1889 within Higashiiwai District with the establishment of the municipality system. It was raised to town status on March 21, 1903. On A ...

in the northern part of the domain, and his childhood name was Sukesaburo (助三郎). His mother was the daughter of Katakura Kagenaga. He became head of his household on 13 January 1686 on the death of his father, and underwent the ''

genpuku is a Japanese coming-of-age ceremony which dates back to Japan's classical Nara Period (710–794 AD). /sup> This ceremony marked the transition from child to adult status and the assumption of adult responsibilities. The age of participat ...

'' ceremony in December 1690, receiving the name of . In 1693, when the clansmen and senior retainers petitioned

Date Tsunamura was an early Edo period Japanese samurai, and the 4th ''daimyō'' of Sendai Domain in northern Japan, and the 20h hereditary chieftain of the Date clan. Tsunamura’s succession led to the ''Date Sōdō'' or "Date Disturbance" of 1671, which has ...

to retire, his name does not appear on the documents. In March 1695, he was to be adopted as heir by

Tamura Tatsuaki was a ''Tozama daimyō, tozama'' Han (Japan), feudal domain of Edo period Japan It was located in Mutsu Province, in northern Honshū. The domain was centered at Ichinoseki jin'ya, located in the center of what is now the city of Ichinoseki, Iwa ...

Ichinoseki Domain was a '' tozama'' feudal domain of Edo period Japan It was located in Mutsu Province, in northern Honshū. The domain was centered at Ichinoseki jin'ya, located in the center of what is now the city of Ichinoseki in Iwate Prefecture. History Ic ...

; however, before official notice could be given to the shogunate, he was adopted by Date Tsunamura as his heir instead. His

courtesy title A courtesy title is a title that does not have legal significance but rather is used through custom or courtesy, particularly, in the context of nobility, the titles used by children of members of the nobility (cf. substantive title). In some co ...

was ''Echizen-no-kami'', and his Court rank was Senior Fifth Rank, Lower Grade. He was received in formal audience by ''

Shōgun , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakur ...

Tokugawa Tsunayoshi was the fifth ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa dynasty of Japan. He was the younger brother of Tokugawa Ietsuna, as well as the son of Tokugawa Iemitsu, the grandson of Tokugawa Hidetada, and the great-grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu.Nussbaum, Louis-Fr ...

in November 1696 and was given the name of Yoshimura, along with the Court Rank of Senior Fourth Rank, Lower Grade and honorary title of

chamberlain Chamberlain may refer to: Profession *Chamberlain (office), the officer in charge of managing the household of a sovereign or other noble figure People *Chamberlain (surname) **Houston Stewart Chamberlain (1855–1927), German-British philosop ...

. He became ''daimyō'' upon Tsunamura’s retirement in 1703, and also inherited the courtesy title of ''Sakonoe-gon-shōshō'' (General of the Left Guards) and ''Mutsu-no-kami''. Yoshimura first entered

Aoba Castle 260px, Layout of Aoba Castle is a Japanese castle located in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. Throughout the Edo period, Aoba Castle was home to the Date clan, ''daimyō'' of Sendai Domain. The castle was also known as or as . In 2003, the ca ...

on 21 May 1704. At the time, the domain was in a state of bankruptcy, caused by Tsunamura's ambitious public works and temple building projects. Determining that one cause of the debt and inflation was the domain's issuance of

paper currency A banknote—also called a bill (North American English), paper money, or simply a note—is a type of negotiable promissory note, made by a bank or other licensed authority, payable to the bearer on demand. Banknotes were originally issued ...

, he stopped issuance and began a process of removing these bills from circulation. In September 1706 he took the unprecedented step of informing the shogunate that Date Domain did not have the necessary funds to make its mandatory ''

sankin-kōtai ''Sankin-kōtai'' ( ja, 参覲交代/参覲交替, now commonly written as ja, 参勤交代/参勤交替, lit=alternate attendance, label=none) was a policy of the Tokugawa shogunate during most of the Edo period of Japanese history.Jansen, M ...

'' to Edo, and asked for financial assistance. The shogunate agreed to temporarily cut the domain's taxes in half and to accept payment in currency rather than rice. At the time, the domain's debt exceeded 123,000 ''

ryō The was a gold currency unit in the shakkanhō system in pre- Meiji Japan. It was eventually replaced with a system based on the ''yen''. Origins The ''ryō'' was originally a unit of weight from China, the ''tael.'' It came into use in Japan ...

'' and continued to snowball due to high interest rates. In 1711, when Date Yoshimura ordered to accompany the Shogunal pilgrimage to

Nikkō Tōshō-gū is a Tōshō-gū Shinto shrine located in Nikkō, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. Together with Futarasan Shrine and Rinnō-ji, it forms the Shrines and Temples of Nikkō UNESCO World Heritage Site, with 42 structures of the shrine included in the n ...

, the domain was forced to borrow an additional 73,700 ''ryō'' from moneylenders in Edo and Kyoto. In 1711, his court rank was increased to Senior Fourth Rank, Upper Grade and his courtesy title to ''Sakonoe-gon-chūshō''. In an effort to overcome the fiscal crisis, the domain conducted a re-survey in 1725, followed by extensive

land reform Land reform is a form of agrarian reform involving the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution, generally of agricultural ...

to uncover undeclared rice lands and to bring waste lands back under cultivation. However, these efforts were hampered by poor harvests due to inclement weather, and by the opposition of many landholders. In 1726, the position of ''

Fushin bugyō were officials of the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo period Japan. Appointments to this prominent office were usually '' fudai'' daimyō.Beasley, William. (1955). ''Select Documents on Japanese Foreign Policy, 1853-1868,'' pp. 18-19. Conventional inte ...

'' was abolished, and is 1729 the number of ''gundai'' (district governors) was reduced from eight to four, all in an effort the streamline the domain administration and reduce expenses. On the positive side, the shogunate established a mint for copper coinage in Sendai, using locally mined copper, in 1727. The use of currency for transactions corresponding increased within the domain, and the domain also took steps to buy up all surplus rice from farmers and sell in Edo for a profit. It was claimed that most of the rice on sale in Edo in the early 18th century was from Sendai. In 1732, a very severe famine struck the

Kansai region The or the , lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropolita ...

of Japan, but Sendai enjoyed a bumper crop that year and was able to ship a very large quantity of rice to the affected areas, making over 500,000 ''ryō'' in profits and to wipe out decades of debt at a single stroke. In 1743, Yoshimura retired in favor of his son,

Date Munemura was an mid-Edo period Japanese people, Japanese samurai, and the 6th ''daimyō'' of Sendai Domain in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan, and the 22nd hereditary chieftain of the Date clan. Biography Munemura was the fourth son of Date Yoshim ...

, and moved to his villa in Sodegasaki, where he died in 1752. He was posthumously elevated to Senior Third Rank in 1928.

Family

* Father: Date Munefusa (1646–1686) * Mother: Matsuhime * Wife: Chosho-in (Fuyuhime) (1689–1745) ** 1st daughter: Yukihime, died in childhood ** 2nd daughter: Kazuhime, married

Ikeda Tsugumasa Ikeda Tsugumasa (1702–1776) (池田継政) was a ''daimyō'' of Okayama during the Edo period of Japan, and head of the Ikeda clan. He was the father of Ikeda Munemasa, who would become ''daimyō'' following his father's retirement in 1752. His ...

, daimyo of Okayama Domain ** 3rd daughter: Tomihime married Date Muratoshi, daimyo of Uwajima Domain ** 4th daughter: Tachihime, died in childhood ** 5th daughter: Toshihime, died in childhood ** 4th son:

, daimyo of Sendai Domain * Concubine: Okatashi no Kata ** 1st son: Date Muramasa (1722–1729) ** 6th daughter: Mihohime married Inaba Masayoshi, daimyo of Yodo Domain * Concubine: Osomi no Kata ** 2nd son: Date Kikujiro, died in childhood ** 3rd son: Date Murakaze, made 1000 ''koku'' ''hatamoto'', died without heir * Concubine: Otachi no Kata ** 7th daughter: Yurihime, died in childhood ** 8th daughter: Gohime (d.1752), married

Katakura Murakiyo ( fl. 1743) was a Japanese samurai of the Edo period. A senior retainer of the Sendai domain, he was first known as Kagehiro (景寛). Murakiyo was the eighth Katakura Kojūrō. His childhood name was Shigekuro (繁九郎) later Yuunosuke (勇之 ...

by Otachi no Kata ** 5th son: Tamura Murataka (1737–1782), daimyo of Ichinoseki Domain ** 6th son: Date Yukisuke, died in childhood ** 7th son: Date Tominosuke, died in childhood ** 8th son: Date Murayoshi (1743-1787), adopted as head of the ''hatamoto'' Tome-Date clan

References

* Papinot, Edmond. (1948). ''Historical and Geographical Dictionary of Japan''. New York: Overbeck Co.

External links

Sendai Domain on "Edo 300 HTML"
(3 November 2007) {{DEFAULTSORT:Date, Yoshimura 1680 births 1752 deaths Tozama daimyo Date clan People of Edo-period Japan