Tsugaru Tsugumichi

Tsugaru Tsugumichi 津軽承叙
Born	September 24, 1840
Died	December 7, 1903 (aged 63)
Nationality	Japanese
Occupation	Daimyō of Kuroishi Domain (1851-1869)

Tsugaru Tsugumichi (津軽 承叙, September 24, 1840 – December 7, 1903) was the fourth and final daimyō of Kuroishi Domain in northern Mutsu Province, Honshū, Japan (modern-day Aomori Prefecture). His courtesy title was Shikibu-no-shō.

Biography

Tsugaru Tsugumichi was the son of Tsugaru Nobuyuki, the 10th daimyō of Hirosaki Domain.

Tsugumichi married the daughter of the 3rd daimyō of Kuroishi, Tsugaru Tsuguyasu, and was adopted as official heir due to the lack of a male descendant on Tsuguyasu’s death in 1851. Tsugumichi became daimyō during the turbulent Bakumatsu period, during which time the Tsugaru clan ^[1] first sided with the pro-imperial forces of Satchō Alliance, and attacked nearby Shōnai Domain.^[2][3] However, the Tsugaru soon switched course, and briefly joined the Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei.^[4] 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, notably that of the Battle of Noheji, and Battle of Hakodate.^[2] After the Meiji Restoration, with the abolition of the han system, Tsugumichi was appointed Imperial Governor of Kuroishi from 1869 to 1871, at which time the territory was absorbed into the new Aomori Prefecture. With the establishment of the kazoku peerage system in 1882, he was awarded with the title of shishaku (viscount), and became a member of the House of Peers in 1890. In his later years, he was noted for his waka poems. His grave is at the Yanaka Cemetery in Taitō-ku, Tokyo.

See also

• Tsugaru clan

References

• (Japanese) "Hirosaki-jō" (17 February 2008)
• (Japanese) "Tsugaru-han" on Edo 300 HTML (17 February 2008)
• Koyasu Nobushige (1880). Buke kazoku meiyoden 武家家族名誉伝 Volume 1. Tokyo: Koyasu Nobushige. (Accessed from 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.

Notes

1. Koyasu Nobushige (1880), Buke kazoku meiyoden vol. 1 (Tokyo: Koyasu Nobushige), p. 25. (Accessed from National Diet Library, 17 July 2008)
2. McClellan, p. 175.
3. Mark Ravina (1999), Land and Lordship in Early Modern Japan (California: Stanford University Press), pp. 152-153.
4. Onodera, p. 140.