I Kimitsune (15th)

• Japanese: 伊　喜美恒 (I Kimitsune)

I Kimitsune was the 15th head of the I lineage. He was the third in the family to be named Kimitsune, after his father and grandfather.

Kimitsune was born into a family of "island elites" (shima shizoku), wealthy local officials on Amami Ôshima. They were related to the Ijûin clan, top-ranking retainers to the Shimazu clan lords of Satsuma han (Kagoshima). In the time of Kimitsune's grandfather (I Kimitsune, 13th head of the family), the family held some 100 chô of farmland in the Tekebu area of Amami, and had some 360 yanchu in their service.

During the three years when Saigô Takamori lived in exile on Amami Ôshima (in 1859-1862), Kimitsune is said to have developed a close, brotherly relationship with him. Takamori was in his 30s at that time; Kimitsune was in his 20s, and Kimitsune's younger brother Kimiyuki 喜美行 (adopted from the Ki 基 family) was in his teens. Saigô later became something of a godparent to Kimitsune's eldest daughter, playing a role in selecting her name, Hitsuchiyo.

In 1870, as the effects of the Meiji Restoration began to be felt in the Amami Islands, Kimitsune released his family's yanchu from his service, distributing plots of farmland to each of them to own and cultivate for themselves.

In January 1885, he was elected to the Kagoshima prefectural legislature.

References

• 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), 22.

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