was the 4th ''
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 Honsh ...
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 ''
Etchū-no-kami,'' and his
Court rank was Junior Fifth Rank, Lower Grade.
Biography
Tsugaru Nobumasa was the eldest son of
Tsugaru Nobuyoshi
was the 3rd ''daimyō'' of Hirosaki Domain in northern Mutsu Province, Honshū, Japan (modern-day Aomori Prefecture). His courtesy title was '' Tosa-no-kami,'' and his Court rank was Junior Fifth Rank, Lower Grade.
Biography
Tsugaru Nobuyos ...
, 3rd ''
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 and was born at
Hirosaki Castle
is a city located in western Aomori Prefecture, Japan. On 1 April 2020, the city had an estimated population of 168,739 in 71,716 households, and a population density of . The total area of the city is .
Hirosaki developed as a castle town fo ...
. He was 9 when his father died, and his uncle
Tsugaru Nobufusa acted as regent until his coming of age. Of scholarly disposition, he studied in
Edo (modern Tokyo) under the great Confucian scholar
Yamaga Sokō, and
Yoshikawa Koretaru. On assuming power in Hirosaki, he embarked on a large
public works
Public works are a broad category of infrastructure projects, financed and constructed by the government, for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community. They include public buildings ( municipal buildings, sc ...
program, enlarging the
castle town
A castle town is a settlement built adjacent to or surrounding a castle. Castle towns were common in Medieval Europe. Some examples include small towns like Alnwick and Arundel, which are still dominated by their castles. In Western Europe, ...
, developing the forestry industry, developing 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, flood control, and developing
sericulture
Sericulture, or silk farming, is the cultivation of silkworms to produce silk. Although there are several commercial species of silkworms, ''Bombyx mori'' (the caterpillar of the domestic silkmoth) is the most widely used and intensively studie ...
, textiles, silk, and paper as sources of local income. In 1660, he completed the construction of a 4.2 kilometer long dam to create Lake Tsugaru-Fushimi for irrigation purposes. It was the largest dam in Japan at the time. He also invited over 40 cultural figures to settle in Hirosaki to raise its level of culture.
His military forces were called to
Ezo
(also spelled Yezo or Yeso) is the Japanese term historically used to refer to the lands to the north of the Japanese island of Honshu. It included the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, which changed its name from "Ezo" to "Hokkaidō" in 18 ...
by the
Tokugawa bakufu
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 ...
in the suppression of
Shakushain's revolt, an
Ainu uprising against Japanese rule in 1669, and was master-of-ceremonies at the shōgun's pilgrimage to Nikko in 1683.
However, in 1695 a crop failure resulted in famine in the Tsugaru area, and Hirosaki Domain lost 30,000 people. Nobumasa had 5 sons and 26 daughters. He died on December 8, 1710, and his grave is at the Takateru Jinja in
Hirosaki
is a city located in western Aomori Prefecture, Japan. On 1 April 2020, the city had an estimated population of 168,739 in 71,716 households, and a population density of . The total area of the city is .
Hirosaki developed as a castle town fo ...
. Nobumasa was succeeded by his eldest son,
Tsugaru Nobuhisa.
See also
*
Tsugaru clan
The was a Japanese samurai clan who ruled the northwestern half of what is now Aomori Prefecture in the Tōhoku region of Japan under the Edo period Tokugawa shogunate. The Tsugaru were ''daimyō'' of Hirosaki Domain and its semi-subsidiary, ...
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, Nobumasa
Tozama daimyo
1646 births
1710 deaths
Tsugaru clan
People of Edo-period Japan