was the 10th ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominal ...

'' 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, Honshū, Japan (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 eas ...

). His courtesy title was '' Dewa-no-kami'', to which was later added title ''Jujū'', and his court rank was Junior Fourth Rank, Lower Grade.

Biography

Tsugaru Nobuyuki was the younger son of

Tsugaru Yasuchika was the 9th ''daimyō'' of Hirosaki Domain in northern Mutsu Province, Honshū, Japan (modern-day Aomori Prefecture). His courtesy title, initially Dewa-no-kami, was later raised to ''Saikyo Daiyu'' and ''Jujū'', and his Court rank was Juni ...

, the 9th ''daimyō'' of Hirosaki Domain. Yasuchika was originally a ''

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.'' Howev ...

'' ruling a 4000 '' koku'' fief at Kuroishi before he was adopted into the main Tsugaru clan line to become ''daimyō'' of Hirosaki. At that time, he turned Kuroishi over to his eldest son, and later elevated the holding to

Kuroishi Domain was a '' tozama'' feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan. It is located in northwestern Mutsu Province, Honshū. Its territory included 2000 ''koku'' in the area around present-day city of Kuroishi, 1000 ''koku'' in pr ...

. Yasuchika initially attempted to continue implementation many of the reforms initiated from the time of Tsugaru Nobuakira to restore prosperity to the disaster-prone domain, but faced stubborn opposition due to vested interests and extensive corruption issues with his retainers. Nobuyuki was appointed heir to Hirosaki, and was received by ''

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 Kamak ...

Tokugawa Ienari Tokugawa Ienari ( ja, 徳川家斉, November 18, 1773 – March 22, 1841) was the eleventh and longest-serving ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan who held office from 1787 to 1837.Hall, John Whitney ''et al.'' (1991) ''Early Modern J ...

in formal audience in 1811. He made his first visit to Hirosaki in 1812. Yasuchika enjoyed good relations 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 ...

and in 1811 was successful in arranging an extremely favorable marriage for Nobuyuki to the daughter of

Konoe Motosaki , son of Tsunehiro, was a '' kugyō'' or Japanese court noble of the Edo period (1603–1868). He did not hold regent positions kampaku and sessho. His consort was a daughter of Tokugawa Munechika, ninth head of Owari Domain; with her he had a ...

, of the Kyoto court nobility. The bride died two years later, and Yasuchika then arranged a new marriage for Nobuyuki with the sixth daughter of

Tokugawa Narimasa was a Japanese samurai of the Edo period. The son of Tokugawa Harusada, head of the Hitotsubashi-Tokugawa house, he succeeded Tokugawa Haruaki as head of the Tayasu branch of the Tokugawa house, which had been without a ruler for some time. Hi ...

, head of the Tayasu-branch of the

Tokugawa clan The is a Japanese dynasty that was formerly a powerful ''daimyō'' family. They nominally descended from Emperor Seiwa (850–880) and were a branch of the Minamoto clan (Seiwa Genji) through the Matsudaira clan. The early history of this clan r ...

and sister of the Shogun. She also died in 1820, and a third marriage was then arranged between Nobuyuki and the ninth daughter of Tokugawa Narimasa in 1822. The financial outlay to the Court and to the Shogunate in exchange for these marriages was tremendous, amounting to many hundreds of thousands of ''

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 Jap ...

''. Increased taxation led to peasant uprisings. In 1821 samurai of 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 P ...

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, ...

attempted to assassinate Yasuchika during the Sōma Daisaku Incident, and in 1825 Yasuchika retired, and turned the domain over to Nobuyuki. Yasuchika continued to rule behind the scenes from the clan's Edo residence, and lacking a personal power base or the respect of his senior retainers, Nobuyuki was reduced to an ineffectual figurehead, and was derided as the of Tsugaru. Rumors were spread of his laziness, lack of mental acuity, drunkenness, inappropriate behavior and lasciviousness during ''

sankin-kōtai ''Sankin-kōtai'' ( ja, 参覲交代/参覲交替, now commonly written as ja, 参勤交代/参勤交替, lit=alternate attendance, label=none) was a policy of the Tokugawa shogunate during most of the Edo period of Japanese history.Jansen, M ...

'' journeys to Edo. The shogunate was also outraged by reports that, despite the domain's desperate financial situation, Nobuyuki was spending profligately on entertainments such as parades, firework displays, festivals and moon-viewing parties, and that he had taken a commoner (the daughter of an Edo oil merchant) as his

concubine Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between a man and a woman in which the couple does not want, or cannot enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar but mutually exclusive. Concubi ...

. Nobuyuki was forced into retirement in 1839, and the domain was turned over to an outsider, the 7th son of

Matsudaira Nobuakira The was a Japanese samurai clan that descended from the Minamoto clan. It originated in and took its name from Matsudaira village, in Mikawa Province (modern-day Aichi Prefecture). During the Sengoku period, the chieftain of the main line of t ...

, lord of

Yoshida Domain was a Japanese feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in Mikawa Province located in eastern Mikawa Province (modern-day eastern Aichi Prefecture), Japan. It was centered on Yoshida Castle in what is now the cit ...

Mikawa Province was an old province in the area that today forms the eastern half of Aichi Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Mikawa''" in . Its abbreviated form name was . Mikawa bordered on Owari, Mino, Shinano, and Tōtōmi Provinces. Mi ...

and a ''

rōjū The , usually translated as ''Elder'', was one of the highest-ranking government posts under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan. The term refers either to individual Elders, or to the Council of Elders as a whole; under the first two ''shō ...

'', who was adopted into the Tsugaru clan as Tsugaru Yukitsugu. Nobuyuki lived on to 1862, and died at the age of 63. 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 Buddhism, 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 ...

) in Taitō-ku,

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

References

*Koyasu Nobushige (1880). ''Buke kazoku meiyoden'' 武家家族名誉伝 Volume 1. Tokyo: Koyasu Nobushige. (Accessed fro
National Diet Library
17 July 2008) * Kurotaki, Jūjirō (1984). ''Tsugaru-han no hanzai to keibatsu'' 津軽藩の犯罪と刑罰. Hirosaki: Hoppō shinsha. * Narita, Suegorō (1975). ''Tsugaru Tamenobu: shidan'' 津軽為信: 史談. Aomori: Tōō Nippōsha. * Tsugaru Tsuguakira Kō Den kankōkai (1976). ''Tsugaru Tsuguakira kō-den'' 津輕承昭公傳. Tokyo: Rekishi Toshosha * ''The content of much of this article was derived from that of the corresponding article on Japanese Wikipedia.''

External links

(17 February 2008)

(17 February 2008) {{DEFAULTSORT:Tsugaru, Nobuyuki Tozama daimyo Tsugaru clan 1800 births 1862 deaths People of Edo-period Japan

Biography

See also

References

External links