Yamauchi Toyoshige , also known as , was a Japanese ''

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 ...

'' in the

Shikoku is the smallest of the List of islands of Japan#Main islands, four main islands of Japan. It is long and between at its widest. It has a population of 3.8 million, the least populated of Japan's four main islands. It is south of Honshu ...

region 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 ...

. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)
"Yamauchi Toyoshige"
in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 1045. He was usually referred to as Lord Yōdō in Western accounts.

Career

Yamauchi was the 15th head of the

Tosa Domain The was a Han (Japan), feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, controlling all of Tosa Province in what is now Kōchi Prefecture on the island of Shikoku. It was centered around Kōchi Castle, and was ruled throughout its ...

. He opposed the

treaties A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between sovereign states and/or international organizations that is governed by international law. A treaty may also be known as an international agreement, protocol, covenant, convention ...

of the ''

Ansei was a after '' Kaei'' and before ''Man'en''. This period spanned the years from November 1854 through March 1860. The reigning emperor was . Change of era * November 27, 1854 (): The new era name of ''Ansei'' (meaning "tranquil government ...

'' era. In 1859, he was forced to retire. In 1862 he was appointed sanyo (参与). After the assassination of his

favourite A favourite was the intimate companion of a ruler or other important person. In Post-classical Europe, post-classical and Early modern Europe, early-modern Europe, among other times and places, the term was used of individuals delegated signifi ...

Yoshida Tōyō in 1862, he ordered an investigation into the local anti-foreigner samurai groups, suspecting them of terrorism. These efforts culminated in the arrest and subsequent suicide of political rogue Takechi Hanpeita, who ordered the hitokiri

Okada Izō was a Japanese samurai of the late Edo period, feared as one of the four most notable assassins of the Bakumatsu period. He was a member of (Tosa Imperialism party, a loyalist clique of Tosa) in his hometown, Tosa Domain. Izō and Tanaka Sh ...

, in 1865. In 1867 he advised Shōgun

Tokugawa Yoshinobu Kazoku, Prince was the 15th and last ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan. He was part of a movement which aimed to reform the aging shogunate, but was ultimately unsuccessful. He resigned his position as shogun in late 1867, while ai ...

to carry out '' Taisei Houkan'' (大政奉還), the return of power to the

Emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

, which he carried out later that year. In 1871, Yamauchi was appointed governor of the new Kochi Prefecture.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yamanouchi, Toyoshige Daimyo 1827 births 1872 deaths Boshin War People from Tosa Domain People of the Boshin War People of the Meiji era Meiji Restoration Deified Japanese men

Career

See also

References