, was the second ''

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

Matsumae Domain The was a Japanese clan that was confirmed in the possession of the area around Matsumae, Hokkaidō as a march fief in 1590 by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and charged with defending it, and by extension the whole of Japan, from the Ainu "barbarians" ...

in Ezo-chi, (

Hokkaidō is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...

), Japan, in the early

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 ...

. Holding this position from 1617 until his death in 1641, he was successor to

Matsumae Yoshihiro Kakizaki Yoshihiro, later , was the first ''daimyō'' of Matsumae Domain in Ezo, ( Hokkaidō), Japan. Biography Born on the third day of the ninth month of Tenbun 9 (1548), Yoshihiro was the third son of Kakizaki Suehiro. While the Kakizaki c ...

and followed by Matsumae Ujihiro.

Names

His given name Kinhiro may also be read Kimihiro. In childhood he was known as , later as , and he also had the ''

imina in modern times consist of a family name (surname) followed by a given name, in that order. Nevertheless, when a Japanese name is written in the Roman alphabet, ever since the Meiji era, the official policy has been to cater to Western expecta ...

'' and then .

Biography

Kinhiro was born in

Keichō was a after ''Bunroku'' and before ''Genna''. This period spanned from October 1596 to July 1615. The reigning emperors were and . Change of era * 1596 : The era name was changed to ''Keichō'' to mark the passing of various natural disasters ...

3 (1598) in , the Kakizaki, later the Matsumae, clan fortified residence in Matsumae before the construction of

Fukuyama Castle , sometimes called or was the castle of the Bingo-Fukuyama Han during the Edo period of Japanese history. The castle is located in Fukuyama Park in Fukuyama, Hiroshima near Fukuyama Station. Overview The castle was built on a hill on the Fuku ...

. He was the eldest son of , the eldest son of

, first ''

'' of

, his mother the daughter of a clan retainer. His father died in Keichō 13 (1608). In Keichō 18 (1613), he received audiences with

Tokugawa Hidetada was the second ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa dynasty, who ruled from 1605 until his abdication in 1623. He was the third son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate. Early life (1579–1593) Tokugawa Hidetada was bo ...

and

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fellow ...

, and the following year was invested with Junior Fifth Court Rank, Lower Grade and the title . After the death of his grandfather Yoshihiro in 1616, Matsumae Kinhiro was confirmed as ''daimyō'' in

Genna was a coming after '' Keichō'' and before ''Kan'ei.'' This period spanned the years from July 1615 to February 1624. The reigning emperor was . Change of era * 1615 : The era name was changed to mark the enthronement of Go-Mizunuoo and bec ...

2 (1617). His years as ''daimyō'' saw the development of ''

han Han may refer to: Ethnic groups * Han Chinese, or Han People (): the name for the largest ethnic group in China, which also constitutes the world's largest ethnic group. ** Han Taiwanese (): the name for the ethnic group of the Taiwanese p ...

'' finances, with the arrival of , the establishment of a gold dust emporium, and the conferral of trading rights on his senior retainers. In 1617, prospectors using placer methods began to extract gold from local streams in the south of the

Oshima Peninsula The Oshima Peninsula (渡島半島 ''Oshima-hantō'') is the southernmost part of Hokkaidō, the northernmost of the Japanese islands. Where the peninsula starts is open to interpretation. A more generous interpretation is to draw a line southe ...

. In 1620, Kinhiro presented a hundred ''

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 ...

'' of gold dust to the ''

bakufu , 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 ...

'',

Doi Toshikatsu was a top-ranking official in Japan's Tokugawa shogunate during its early decades, and one of the chief advisors to the second Tokugawa shōgun, Hidetada. The adopted son of Doi Toshimasa, Toshikatsu is generally believed to be the biological ...

and

Aoyama Tadatoshi was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the early Edo period. Biography Tadatoshi was the son of Aoyama Tadanari, a Tokugawa vassal of the Sengoku period who was born in Mikawa Province. Tadatoshi, like his father, was a Tokugawa vassal, and was famous for ...

conferring rights to its continued gathering and to new gold mining operations on the island in return. These spread rapidly: by 1628, extraction activities had advanced to the , by 1631 to Shimakomaki, then by 1633 to the and Shizunai Rivers further east, and by 1635 to streams near

Samani Germinated wheat ( fa, جوانه‌ گندم) or sprouted wheat, wheat sprout is a product of germinating wheat seeds in a wet and relatively warm environment in a process called sprouting. It is sometimes used instead of barley in the form of ...

, as well as the

Yūbari River is a river in Hokkaidō, Japan. It is the namesake of Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the E ...

. Kinhiro established a and leased rights to stretches of streams and rivers, the working methods being described in detail in a long surviving letter by Portuguese

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

missionary Diogo de Carvalho who, following in the footsteps of

Jerome de Angelis Jerome de Angelis (1567 – 4 December 1623) was an Italian Jesuit missionary to Japan. He was beatified in 1867. Life He was born Girolamo degli Angeli at Castro-Giovanni, Sicily. These years were also marked by the development of the town below

Matsumae Castle is a castle located in Matsumae in Hokkaidō, Japan, and is the northernmost castle in Japan. The only traditional style Edo period castle in Hokkaidō, it was the chief residence of the '' han'' (estate) of the Matsumae clan. History First buil ...

, extending down to the sea and supplanting the earlier centre to the north around Ōdate and the temple district.

Kan'ei was a after ''Genna'' and before ''Shōhō.'' This period spanned the years from February 1624 through December 1644. The reigning emperors and empress were , and .Titsingh, Isaac. (1834) ''Annales des empereurs du japon'', p. 411./ref> Chang ...

10 (1633) saw the arrival of and the erection of distance markers every '' ri'' throughout the . In the third month of 1637, the predecessor of today's

went up in flames, with the loss of innumerable family treasures and documents, and Kinhiro himself hurt; it was rebuilt two years later. Despite earlier tolerance, his final years brought persecution of Christianity, in line with the Shogunate's clampdown. Already in 1613, a Christian physician had been brought over to tend to an ailing lord, most likely

. When

Jerome de Angelis Jerome de Angelis (1567 – 4 December 1623) was an Italian Jesuit missionary to Japan. He was beatified in 1867. Life He was born Girolamo degli Angeli at Castro-Giovanni, Sicily. Turning a blind eye nevertheless to the large number of fleeing ''

Kakure Kirishitan ''Kakure kirishitan'' () is a modern term for a member of the Catholic Church in Japan that went underground at the start of the Edo period in the early 17th century due to Christianity's repression by the Tokugawa shogunate. History Origin ...

'' who came for refuge and to work in the gold-mining operations, in 1639 he complied more fully, executing one hundred and six, according to the official clan documents known as . Registers were compiled of current and former Christians, and attempts were made to persuade adherents to abandon their beliefs. Kinhiro himself died on the eighth day of the seventh month of

18 (1641), at the age of 44 according to traditional age reckoning, after composing a

death poem The death poem is a genre of poetry that developed in the literary traditions of East Asian cultures—most prominently in Japan as well as certain periods of Chinese history and Joseon Korea. They tend to offer a reflection on death—both in g ...

. He is buried at , in Matsumae, and was succeeded by his second son Ujihiro, his original heir Kanehiro having died at the age of ten in a

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

outbreak that swept the island in 1624.

References

{{Reflist Daimyo Matsumae clan 1598 births 1641 deaths

Names

Biography

See also

References