- Shimazu Hisamitsu
Prince nihongo|Shimazu Hisamitsu|島津久光| (
November 28 ,1817 –December 6 ,1887 ), also known as nihongo|Shimazu Saburō|島津三郎, was a Japanesesamurai of the lateEdo period . The younger brother ofShimazu Nariakira , Hisamitsu served as regent for his underage son Tadayoshi (島津忠義), who became the 12th and last lord. Hisamitsu was instrumental in the efforts of the southern Satsuma, Chōshū, and Tosa clans to bring down theTokugawa Shogunate . Hisamitsu held the court title of "Ōsumi no Kami" 大隈守. In the Meiji Era, he was created prince in the Meiji-era "kazoku " nobility.Biography
Hisamitsu was born in
Kagoshima Castle in 1817, the son ofShimazu Narioki , the 10th lord of the Satsuma domain; Hisamitsu's name at birth was Kanenoshin; his mother was Yura, Narioki's concubine. He was briefly adopted by the Tanegashima family as an heir, but was returned to the Shimazu family while still a child. At age eight, he was adopted into the Shigetomi-Shimazu, a branch family of the main Shimazu house. Kanenoshin, now named Matajirō, came of age in 1828, and took the adult name nihongo|Tadayuki|忠教. At age 22, following his marriage to the daughter of the previous Shigetomi lord, Tadakimi, he inherited family headship. He was supported as a candidate for succession to the main Shimazu house during the nihongo|Oyura Disturbance|お由羅騒動|Oyura sōdō. His half-brother Nariakira won the dispute and succeeded their father as lord of Satsuma; however, following Nariakira's death in 1858, Tadayuki's young son Mochihisa (later known as nihongo|Shimazu Tadayoshi|島津忠義) was chosen as the next lord of Satsuma. After Narioki's death the following year, Tadayuki was left in a position of primacy in Satsuma, due to his status as the lord's father. Tadayuki returned to the main Shimazu house in 1861, and it was then that he changed his name to Hisamitsu.In 1862, Hisamitsu went to Kyoto, and took part in the increasingly Kyoto-centered politics of the 1860s; he was a part of the "kōbu-gattai" political faction. It was during Hisamitsu's return from a stay in
Edo that a group of his retainers attacked a riding party of Englishmen, precipitating theNamamugi Incident . Hisamitsu remained at the core of the kōbu-gattai movement in Kyoto, until Satsuma's secret alliance with men of theChōshū Domain . He supported the Satsuma domain's military actions in theBoshin War , and retired soon after theMeiji Restoration . In the Meiji era, he was given the rank of prince (nihongo|kōshaku|公爵). Hisamitsu died in 1887, at age 70; he is buried inKagoshima Prefecture .Published Works
*"Shimazu Hisamitsu rireki" 島津久光履歴.
*"Shimazu Hisamitsu-kō jikki" 島津久光公実紀 (1977). Tokyo: Tokyo Daigaku Shuppankai 東京大学出版会. (published posthumously)Notes
References
Further reading
*Kanbashi Norimasa 芳即正 (2002). "Shimazu Hisamitsu to Meiji ishin: Hisamitsu wa naze, tōbaku wo ketsui shita ka" 島津久光と明治維新 : 久光はなぜ, 討幕を決意したか. Tokyo: Shin Jinbutsu Ōraisha 新人物往来社.
ee also
*
Shimazu family
*Namamugi Incident
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