was the 13th (and last) ''

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

Komono Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in Ise Province in what is part of now modern-day town of Komono, Mie. It was centered around Komono ''jin'ya''. Komono Domain was controlled by the '' tozama'' Hijika ...

Ise Province was a province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today includes most of modern Mie Prefecture. Ise bordered on Iga, Kii, Mino, Ōmi, Owari, Shima, and Yamato Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was . History The name of Ise appears ...

(modern-day

Mie Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Mie Prefecture has a population of 1,781,948 () and has a geographic area of . Mie Prefecture is bordered by Gifu Prefecture to the north, Shiga Prefecture and Kyoto Prefecture to ...

) in early

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

Japan.

Biography

Hijikata Katsuyuki was the nephew of the 10th ''daimyō'' of Komono, Hijikata Katsuoki, and was heir to a 1000 ''

koku The is a Chinese-based Japanese unit of volume. 1 koku is equivalent to 10 or approximately , or about . It converts, in turn, to 100 shō and 1000 gō. One ''gō'' is the volume of the "rice cup", the plastic measuring cup that is supplied ...

'' ''

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 ...

'' holding. He was adopted as heir to the 12th ''daimyō'',

Hijikata Katsunaga was the 12th (and next-to-last) ''daimyō'' of Komono Domain in Ise Province (modern-day Mie Prefecture) under the Bakumatsu period Tokugawa shogunate of Japan. His courtesy title was ''Yamato-no-kami'', and his court rank was Junior 5th Rank, L ...

who was only five years his senior, in 1869, as Katsunaga was very sickly. Katsunaga retired the same year, and Katsuyuki was proclaimed ''daimyō''; however, by this time that title had been formally abolished by the new

Meiji government The was the government that was formed by politicians of the Satsuma Domain and Chōshū Domain in the 1860s. The Meiji government was the early government of the Empire of Japan. Politicians of the Meiji government were known as the Meiji o ...

and his official title was that of imperial governor. In 1871, after the

abolition of the han system The in the Empire of Japan and its replacement by a system of prefectures in 1871 was the culmination of the Meiji Restoration begun in 1868, the starting year of the Meiji period. Under the reform, all daimyos (, ''daimyō'', feudal lords) ...

he moved to

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, and in November of the same year, he entered

Keio University , mottoeng = The pen is mightier than the sword , type = Private research coeducational higher education institution , established = 1858 , founder = Yukichi Fukuzawa , endowmen ...

to study the

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

In 1878, he joined the

Ministry of Industry A Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry or variations is a ministry that is concerned with a nation's trade, industry and commerce. Notable examples are: List *Algeria: Ministry of Industry and ...

. With the establishment of ''

kazoku The was the hereditary peerage of the Empire of Japan, which existed between 1869 and 1947. They succeeded the feudal lords () and court nobles (), but were abolished with the 1947 constitution. Kazoku ( 華族) should not be confused with ' ...

'' peerage on July 8, 1884, he was made a

viscount A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicial ...

(''shishaku'') and served as a member of the House of Peers from July 1890 to July 1897. In 1899, he was the secretary of the Camphor Bureau of the

Governor-General of Taiwan The governor-general of Taiwan ( ja, 臺灣總督, Taiwan Sōtoku) was the head of the Government-General of Taiwan in the Japanese era (including Formosa and the Pescadores) when they were part of the Empire of Japan, from 1895 to 1945. The Jap ...

. On his return to mainland Japan, he again served as a member of the House of Peers from July 1918 to July 1925. In November 1925, he retired in favor of his nephew, Hijikata Katsutake. Katsutake's father,

Hisaakira Hijikata was a Japanese businessman, central banker and the 12th Governor of the Bank of Japan (BOJ). Early life Hijikata was born in Mie Prefecture. Career In 1897, Hijikata was a BOJ trainee along with Junnosuke Inoue. Both young men were sent by ...

, was Katsuyuki's younger brother and was subsequently the 12th president of the

Bank of Japan The is the central bank of Japan.Louis Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric. (2005). "Nihon Ginkō" in The bank is often called for short. It has its headquarters in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. History Like most modern Japanese instituti ...

. Hijikata Katsuyuki died on April 24, 1931, and his grave is at the temple of Gensho-ji in Komono.

References

Hijikata family info on "Edo Daimyo Kugyo" site
* Japanese Wiki entry on Katsuyuki 1856 births 1932 deaths Tozama daimyo Kazoku Keio University alumni Members of the House of Peers (Japan) {{daimyo-stub