I Kimitsune (13th)
I Kimitsune was an Amami Islands official who served as yohito for at least two different areas on Amami Ôshima and made formal visits to Kagoshima castle on at least two occasions, in 1838 and 1839.
Adopted into the Ijûin clan of Shimazu clan karô (House Elders),[1] he was originally known as Ijûin Kimitsune but was obliged to shorten his family name to I when he was assigned to Amami, in accordance with Satsuma han policy that the family names of island elites (shima shizoku) could only be one kanji in length.[1] This policy helped construct or strengthen ideas of difference between islanders and "mainland" Japanese.
Lineage
Kimitsune is considered the 13th successive head of his lineage. His son and grandson (14th and 15th family heads, respectively) were also known as Kimitsune.[2] A cemetery that includes their graves and those of several close relatives, located in the Tekebu area of Kasari Town on Amami Ôshima, has been officially designated as a historical site by Amami City.[3]
The I / Ijûin line claims descent from the earliest kings of Okinawa (Shunten, Shunbajunki, and Gihon), and through them to Minamoto no Tametomo, who according to legend found his way to Okinawa after being exiled to Izu Ôshima in 1165 and, with the daughter of a local lord (anji), fathered Shunten. While traditional accounts on Okinawa say that Gihon died somewhere near the northern end of Okinawa Island after being driven out by Eiso (who seized power from him in a coup), local traditions in the Amami Islands allege that Gihon survived and fled to the Amamis; the I family connects to this later set of legends, claiming that one of Gihon's descendants was a "prince" called Amami ufunushi (阿麻美大主, lit. "lord" or "great ruler" of Amami), and that one of his descendants in turn was Kishitô ueekata 喜志統親方, who is counted as the first head of this Ijûin / I lineage. Most of the first ten heads of the family, like Kishitô, are known only by a Ryukyuan title such as ueekata or satunushi, or by a simple given name such as Umuituku or Umuinabi - names commonly held by Ryukyuans as childhood names before coming to be known by a more distinct individual name in adulthood. It is unclear when the name Ijûin or I came to be used by the family, as the Ryukyuan names of the early generations of family heads, as well as their burial in the Amami Islands, would seem to suggest a different origin than the idea of a member of the Ijûin samurai family relocating to Amami and being obliged to change his name to simply I.
A painting depicting Kimitsune's 1839 audience with Shimazu Narioki at Kagoshima castle, as well as other materials related to the family's history, remain in the possession today of the 18th head of the family, Ijûin Kanehiro (b. 1930). A reproduction of the painting is on permanent display at the Amami Museum in the Naze area of Amami Ôshima.
Kimitsune was first cousins with Shimazu Bungo Hisataka, an influential karô of the 1830s-50s. Kimitsune's mother, the eldest daughter of a member of the "main" Shimazu family lineage, had married into the Ijûin clan, while her younger sister married into the Shimazu Bungo lineage; Hisataka was a son of this younger sister.[1]
Heads of the I lineage[4]
- Kishitô ueekata 喜志統 親方
- Samatô ueekata 三摩統 親方
- Umuituku satunushi 思徳 里主
- Samatô satunushi 三摩統 里之子
- Tarukane satunushi 垂金 里主
- Okuchi (or Okitomo?) 奥智
- Umuituku 思徳
- Umuinabi 思鍋
- Kiyose 喜世瀬
- (name unclear) 男子
- Kimihara (or Kimiharu or Kimibaru?) 喜美原
- Kimio 喜美雄
- Kimitsune 喜美恒
- Kimitsune 喜美恒
- Kimitsune 喜美恒
- Kanechika 兼親
- Mitsuo 光雄
- Kanehiro 兼宏
Life & Career
Kimitsune, then serving as yohito for the Akakina area, was called up to Kagoshima castle along with Naze yohito Jinra[5] and others in 1838 in connection with poor sugar harvests and a lack of sufficient sugar and other goods to make the regular payments (offerings) to the Shimazu.[2]
The following year, Kimitsune, now serving as yohito for the Naze area, traveled to Kagoshima again, where he was received in audience along with a number of other Amami Islands officials, in celebration of a joyous event for Shimazu Narioki, lord of Satsuma.[2]
According to Kimitsune's descendant Ijûin Kanehiro, around this time the family had roughly 100 chô of farmland in the Tekebu area, and some 360 yanchu in their service. They owned more than thirty takakura grain storage structures.
Kimitsune died in 1851 at the age of 61.[6]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Notes by Ijûin Kanehiro (n.d.), unpublished.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Hayashi Sokio 林蘇喜男, Yohito I Kimitsune ni tsuite 「与人・伊喜美恒について」, Heisei 14 nen Hayashi Sokio zassan 5 平成十四年 林蘇喜男雑纂 5 (2002), 19.
- ↑ Plaques on-site, Tekebu I family cemetery (手花部の墓石（伊家の墓地）), Kasari, Amami Ôshima.
- ↑ From Hayashi, p20.
- ↑ 甚良, reading uncertain.
- ↑ Hayashi, 21.
