Nitobe Tsutō (新渡戸傳, 1793 – 1871)Iwate Historical Biography Committee.�
岩手県姓氏歴史人物大辞典
��1998, p. 289. was a Japanese

samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...

, martial arts scholar and

retainer Retainer may refer to: * Retainer (orthodontics), devices for teeth * RFA Retainer (A329), RFA ''Retainer'' (A329), a ship * Retainers in early China, a social group in early China Employment * Retainer agreement, a contract in which an employer p ...

of the

Morioka Domain 300px, Ruins of Morioka Castle was a '' tozama'' feudal domain of Edo period Japan. It was ruled throughout its history by the Nanbu clan. It was called during the early part of its history. It was located in northern Mutsu Province, Honshū ...

in the late

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

Life

Nitobe Tsutō was born on December 9, 1793, at Hanamaki Castle.Kokusho Kankōkai, 1981. pp. 103–108 He was also called Nueta (縫太). His father was

Nitobe Koretami Nitobe Koretami (新渡戸維民, 1769 – 1845)Iwate Historical Biography Committee.�岩手県姓氏歴史人物大辞典��1998, p. 289. was a Japanese samurai, martial arts scholar and retainer of the Morioka Domain during the late Edo period. ...

(維民). His posthumous name was Tsunezumi (常澄). His Go (pen name) was Taiso (太素).

Nanbu Toshitaka was a mid-Edo period Japanese samurai, and the 10th ''daimyō'' of Morioka Domain in northern Japan. He was the 36th hereditary chieftain of the Nanbu clan. His courtesy title was ''Daizen-no-daifu'', and his Court rank was Junior 4th Rank, Lowe ...

's reforms included the abolition of death penalty, and even those who committed serious crimes were imprisoned. As a result, there were significant violence and frequent complaints from the people. One day he met a castle keeper. At that time, he told this castle keeper that he was ready to go on a business trip at any time, and listened loudly where thousands of peasants were in trouble. There was no prospect of being told, and when he continued to push up even if he talked about one thing, he told his opinion that if he cut off two people who moved forward, only a few people would be dispatched. He was never ordered to travel, perhaps because his opinion did not fit the reform plan of the then ''

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 no ...

'' Nanbu Toshitaka. After Toshitaka's death in 1820, his father thought it was time and filed a white paper with the Morioka clan, along with several samurais, including Tsutō. However, the white paper was not accepted, and his father was taken up on a semi-land and expelled to Tanabu(now part of the city of Mutsu). When his father was exiled from Morioka Domain, Tsutō also lived with his father. At that time, he decided to make a living as a merchant, went to Morioka to learn commerce, went back to his father's home and started commerce, and went up to Edo at the request of a timber dealer. In 1852, he applied to Morioka Domain for the development of a new rice field in Sanbongi. In 1855, he was appointed Sanbongi Shinden Goyogakari (new rice field affairs official in Sanbongi). In 1869, he assumed the post of Daisanji (second to a governor) of the Shichinohe Domain. He died on November 9, 1871.

Family

Depending upon the source, Nitobe Tsutō and the entire Nitobe clan are descendants of either the Minamoto clan or the Taira clan (specifically, 's branch).Iwate Historical Biography Committee.�
岩手県姓氏歴史人物大辞典
��1998, pp. 971-974. Tsunetane's grandson, (常秀, Tsunetane's son Tanemasa(胤正)'s son) took over Nitobe in

Shimotsuke Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today Tochigi Prefecture.Louis-Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''SHimotsuke''" in . Shimotsuke was bordered by Kōzuke Province, Kōzuke, Hitachi Province, ...

. Tsunehide continued inheritance with Tsunechika (常親), Yasutane (泰胤), Tsunesato (常邑), Tsunesada (常貞)、Sadatsuna (貞綱), Sadahiro (貞広), Hiromori (広盛), Tsunemochi (常望) Tsunetada (常忠), Tsunenobu (常信), and Nobumori (信盛) from generation to generation. Sadatsuna lived in Nitobe and died in 1309. During the

Nanboku-chō period The , also known as the Northern and Southern Courts period, was a period in Japanese history between 1336-1392 CE, during the formative years of the Ashikaga shogunate, Muromachi (Ashikaga) shogunate. Ideologically, the two courts fought for 50 ...

, Sadahiro and his son Hiromori both fought on the

Southern Court The were a set of four emperors ( Emperor Go-Daigo and his line) whose claims to sovereignty during the Nanboku-chō period spanning from 1336 through 1392 were usurped by the Northern Court. This period ended with the Southern Court definitivel ...

side. Sadahiro died in 1337. Hiromori died in Shinano in 1351 during the war. Tsunetada and his son Tsunenobu both served

Ashikaga Mitsukane (1378–1409) was a Nanboku-chō period warrior, and the Kamakura-fu's third Kantō kubō, (''Shōgun'' Deputy). Being the eldest son, he succeeded his father Ujimitsu in 1398 at the age of 21 when he died during an epidemic. Like his father ...

and Mochiuji of the Kantō kubō. After Tsunenobu's death, his son Nobumori returned to Nitobe. Nobumori's daughter was Moriyori(盛頼)'s wife. As for the inheritor, Nobumori welcomed the clan, Motoyoshi Narizumi(元良成澄)'s child, Moriyori (盛頼) as an adopted child, and became Nitobe for the first time. Moriyori continued inheritance with Yoritane (頼胤), Yoshitane (良胤), Tanemochi (胤望), Yorinaga (頼長), Taneshige (胤重), and Tokiharu (春治) from generation to generation. Tokiharu's third son Tsunetsuna (常綱, popular name was Densuke(伝助)) split up and became a Hanamaki Kyūjin (upper class retainers). Before Tsunetsuna became Kyūjin, Tsunetsuna served

Nanbu Masanao Nanbu may refer to: Places * Nanbu, Aomori, Japan * Nanbu, Tottori, Japan * Nanbu, Yamanashi, Japan * Nanbu County, Sichuan Province, China * Nanbu Domain, a feudal domain in northeastern Japan People with the surname *, Japanese samurai and ''d ...

. After Tsunetsuna's death, Tsunetsuna's second son Sadaaki (貞紹, popular name was Denzō(伝蔵)) inherited. After Sadaaki, Yoshiaki (義紹, popular names were Kyūsuke(九助), Densuke(伝助), and Heizo(平蔵)) inherited. After Yoshiaki's death, Yoshiaki's nephew (Yoshiaki's brother Tsunekatsu(常佸)'s son) Tsunemochi (常以) inherited. After Tsunemochi's death, Tsunemochi's brother Tsunetoki (常言, popular name was Denzō(伝蔵)) inherited. After Tsunetoki, Tsuneyoshi (常贇, popular name was Densuke(伝助)) inherited. Tsuneyoshi was Tsutō's grandfather. Tsuneyoshi married Tsutō's grandmother Oei (おゑい, daughter of Ōta Hidenori (太田秀典) of Hanamaki). Tsuneyoshi Died in 1803. Tsutō's father was Koretami (維民, Inheritance to the reign of

.). Nitobe Tsutō's sons were Tsunenori (常訓, Jūjirō) and

Ōta Tokitoshi Ōta Tokitoshi (太田時敏, 16 January 1839 – 20 January 1915) was a samurai of Morioka and a Sanbongi Shinden Goyogakari (new rice field affairs official in Sanbongi) of the late Edo period. He was Nitobe Inazō's uncle. He was named Renhachi ...

. Tsutō's grandsons were Shichirō (七郎) and Inanosuke (稲之助, Inazō).

References

Citations

Works cited

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nitobe Tsuto People from Iwate Prefecture 1793 births 1871 deaths