was 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

Hirosaki Domain Hirosaki Castle, the seat of the Hirosaki Domain , also known as , was a '' tozama'' feudal domain of Edo period JapanRavina, Mark. (1998) ''Land and Lordship in Early Modern Japan,'' p. 222 It is located in Mutsu Province, in northern Honshū ...

in northern

Mutsu Province was an old province of Japan in the area of Fukushima, Miyagi, Iwate and Aomori Prefectures and the municipalities of Kazuno and Kosaka in Akita Prefecture. Mutsu Province is also known as or . The term is often used to refer to the comb ...

Honshū , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island separa ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

(modern-day

Aomori Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan in the Tōhoku region. The prefecture's capital, largest city, and namesake is the city of Aomori. Aomori is the northernmost prefecture on Japan's main island, Honshu, and is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the east, ...

). His courtesy title was '' Tosa-no-kami,'' and his Court rank was Junior Fifth Rank, Lower Grade.

Biography

Tsugaru Nobuhisa was the second son of

Tsugaru Nobumasa was the 4th ''daimyō'' of Hirosaki Domain in northern Mutsu Province, Honshū, Japan (modern-day Aomori Prefecture). His courtesy title was '' Etchū-no-kami,'' and his Court rank was Junior Fifth Rank, Lower Grade. Biography Tsugaru Nobu ...

, 4th ''

'' of

. His childhood name was Takechiyo, and his original adult name was Tsugaru Nobushige. He resided in Edo during the first half of his life, and visited Hirosaki the first time only on his father's death. On his accession to the lordship at the age of 43, he proclaimed seven days of mourning, followed by elaborate ceremonies enshrining his father at the

Shinto shrine A is a structure whose main purpose is to house ("enshrine") one or more ''kami'', the deities of the Shinto religion. Overview Structurally, a Shinto shrine typically comprises several buildings. The '' honden''Also called (本殿, meani ...

of Takateru Jinja in Hirosaki. Nobuhisa was a noted swordsman, having studied under the '' Ono-ha Ittō-ryu'' school while residing in Edo. He also studied

Japanese calligraphy also called is a form of calligraphy, or artistic writing, of the Japanese language. Written Japanese was originally based on Chinese characters only, but the advent of the hiragana and katakana Japanese syllabaries resulted in intrin ...

and

Japanese painting is one of the oldest and most highly refined of the Japanese visual arts, encompassing a wide variety of genres and styles. As with the history of Japanese arts in general, the long history of Japanese painting exhibits synthesis and competitio ...

under masters of the

Kanō school The is one of the most famous schools of Japanese painting. The Kanō school of painting was the dominant style of painting from the late 15th century until the Meiji period which began in 1868, by which time the school had divided into many di ...

, and sponsored the lacquer artist Ogawa Haritsu to develop the craft as an industry for Tsugaru Domain. After becoming ''daimyō'' of Hirosaki, in addition to continuing development of new

paddy field A paddy field is a flooded field (agriculture), field of arable land used for growing Aquatic plant, semiaquatic crops, most notably rice and taro. It originates from the Neolithic rice-farming cultures of the Yangtze River basin in sout ...

s and irrigation works as started by his father and grandfather, he also commissioned art works and a history of the Tsugaru clan. He also successfully prosecuted a boundary dispute with the Tsugaru clan’s arch-rivals, the

Nanbu clan The was a Japanese samurai clan who ruled most of northeastern Honshū in the Tōhoku region of Japan for over 700 years, from the Kamakura period through the Meiji Restoration of 1868. The Nanbu claimed descent from the Seiwa Genji of Kai Pr ...

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, ...

, with the

Tokugawa shogunate 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 ...

ruling completely in the Tsugaru clan's favor. This issue would resurface again in 107 years with the attempt in 1821 by Nanbu

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 ...

to assassinate the Tsugaru ''daimyō'' in the "Sōma Daisaku Incident. Against this background, Hirosaki Domain had serious financial issues. Inclement weather and repeated

eruptions Several types of volcanic eruptions—during which lava, tephra (ash, lapilli, volcanic bombs and volcanic blocks), and assorted gases are expelled from a volcanic vent or fissure—have been distinguished by volcanologists. These are often ...

Mount Iwaki is a stratovolcano located in western Aomori Prefecture, Tohoku, Japan. It is also referred to as and less frequently, due to its similar shape to Mount Fuji. With a summit elevation of and a prominence of it is the highest mountain in Ao ...

resulted in repeated crop failures. The Domain cut the stipends for its retainers and raised taxes repeatedly to unsustainable levels, imposed stringent sumptuary laws, and finally was forced to send many of its lower level retainers away. On the other hand, Nobuhisa surrounded himself with sycophants at his Edo residence and continued to live a life of profligate luxury. Word of this reached the ears of ''

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 Yoshimune was the eighth ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, ruling from 1716 until his abdication in 1745. He was the son of Tokugawa Mitsusada, the grandson of Tokugawa Yorinobu, and the great-grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Lineage Yoshimune ...

, and influenced the sections of the

Kyōhō Reforms The were an array of economic and cultural policies introduced by the Tokugawa shogunate between 1722–1730 during the Edo period to improve its political and social status. These reforms were instigated by the eighth Tokugawa ''shōgun'' of Ja ...

emphasizing the need for frugality. On May 16, 1731, Nobuhisa retired in favor of his grandson Nobuaki, then aged 13, and continued to rule behind-the-scenes. However, Nobuaki died in 1744, and Nobuhisa arranged to have his great-grandson Nobuyasu (age 6) appointed ''daimyō''. Nobuhisa continued to rule behind-the-scenes until his death on March 10, 1746. Nobuhisa had 5 sons and 6 daughters. His grave is at the clan temple of Shinryō-in (a subsidiary of

Kan'ei-ji (also spelled Kan'eiji or Kaneiji) is a Tendai Buddhist temple in Tokyo, Japan, founded in 1625 during the Kan'ei era by Tenkai, in an attempt to emulate the powerful religious center Enryaku-ji, in Kyoto. The main object of worship is .Nihon Re ...

) in Taitō-ku,

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 ...

References

"Hirosaki-jō"
(17 Feb. 2008)

(17 Feb. 2008) * ''The content of much of this article was derived from that of the corresponding article on Japanese Wikipedia.'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Tsugaru, Nobuhisa Tozama daimyo Tsugaru clan 1669 births 1746 deaths People of Edo-period Japan

Biography

See also

References