was the fourth and final ''

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

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 ...

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 A courtesy title is a title that does not have legal significance but rather is used through custom or courtesy, particularly, in the context of nobility, the titles used by children of members of the nobility (cf. substantive title). In some co ...

was '' Shikibu-no-shō'', and his Court rank under 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 ...

was Junior Fifth Rank, Lower Grade.

Biography

Tsugaru Tsugumichi was the son of Tsugaru Yukitomo, from a branch line of the

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, ...

, and was adopted by the 3rd ''daimyō'' of Kuroishi, Tsugaru Tsuguyasu, as official heir due to the lack of a male descendant on Tsuguyasu’s death in 1851. He changed his name at the time from Tsugaru Tomozumi to Tsugaru Tsugumichi. Tsugumichi became ''daimyō'' during the turbulent

Bakumatsu period was the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate ended. Between 1853 and 1867, Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as and changed from a feudal Tokugawa shogunate to the modern empire of the Meiji govern ...

, during which time the

first sided with the pro-imperial forces of

Satchō Alliance The , or was a powerful military alliance between the feudal domains of Satsuma and Chōshū formed in 1866 to combine their efforts to restore Imperial rule and overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan. History The name ''Satchō'' () is ...

, and attacked nearby

Shōnai Domain was a feudal domain in Edo period Japan, located in Dewa Province (modern-day Yamagata Prefecture), Japan. It was centered on Tsuruoka Castle in what is now the city of Tsuruoka in Yamagata Prefecture, and was thus also known as the . It was gov ...

. However, the Tsugaru soon switched course, and briefly joined the

Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei The was a Japanese military-political coalition established and disestablished over the course of several months in early to mid-1868 during the Boshin War. Its flag was either a white interwoven five-pointed star on a black field, or a black i ...

.Eikō Onodera (2005). ''Boshin nanboku sensō to Tōhoku seiken''. Sendai: Kita no mori. p. 140. However, for reasons yet unclear, the Tsugaru backed out of the alliance and re-joined the imperial cause after a few months, participating in several battles in the Imperial cause during the

Boshin War The , sometimes known as the Japanese Revolution or Japanese Civil War, was a civil war in Japan fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and a clique seeking to seize political power in the name of the Imperi ...

, notably that of the

Battle of Noheji The was a minor battle of the Boshin War of the Meiji Restoration in Japan on November 7, 1868. It is considered a part of the larger Aizu campaign. Background On September 20, 1868 the pro-Shōgunate Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei was proclaimed at ...

, and

Battle of Hakodate The was fought in Japan from December 4, 1868 to June 27, 1869, between the remnants of the Tokugawa shogunate army, consolidated into the armed forces of the rebel Ezo Republic, and the armies of the newly formed Imperial government (composed ...

. After the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

, with the

abolition of the han system The in the Empire of Japan and its replacement by a system of prefectures in 1871 was the culmination of the Meiji Restoration begun in 1868, the starting year of the Meiji period. Under the reform, all daimyos (, ''daimyō'', feudal lords) ...

, Tsugumichi was appointed Imperial Governor of Kuroishi from 1869 to 1871, at which time the territory was absorbed into the new

. He relocated to Tokyo, and with the establishment of the ''

kazoku The was the hereditary peerage of the Empire of Japan, which existed between 1869 and 1947. They succeeded the feudal lords () and court nobles (), but were abolished with the 1947 constitution. Kazoku ( 華族) should not be confused with ' ...

'' peerage system in 1882, he was awarded with the title of ''shishaku'' (

viscount A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicial ...

). He became a member of the House of Peers in 1890. In his later years, he was noted for his ''waka'' poems. On his death, he was posthumously granted Third court rank. His grave is at the

Yanaka Cemetery is a large cemetery located north of Ueno in Yanaka 7-chome, Taito, Tokyo, Japan. The Yanaka sector of Taito is one of the few Tokyo neighborhoods in which the old Shitamachi atmosphere can still be felt. The cemetery is famous for its beautif ...

Taitō is a special ward located in Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. In English, it is known as Taitō City. As of May 1, 2015, the ward has an estimated population of 186,276, and a population density of 18,420 persons per km2. The total area is . Thi ...

-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

* ''The content of much of this article was derived from that of the corresponding article on Japanese Wikipedia.''

External links

"Hirosaki-jō"
(February 17, 2008)

(February 17, 2008) {{DEFAULTSORT:Tsugaru Tsugumichi Tozama daimyo Tsugaru clan 1840 births 1903 deaths Kazoku People of the Boshin War People of Meiji-period Japan Members of the House of Peers (Japan)

Biography

See also

References

Further reading

External links