Changes

*''Japanese'': [[島津]]久光 ''(Shimazu Hisamitsu)''

*''Japanese'': [[島津]]久光 ''(Shimazu Hisamitsu)''

Shimazu Hisamitsu was the father of the last [[daimyo]] of [[Satsuma han]], the young [[Shimazu Tadayoshi]], who ruled the domain from [[1858]] until [[1868]]. Despite not being the domain's lord himself, as regent for his son, Hisamitsu governed the domain, and acted prominently on the national level, as if he were.

Shimazu Hisamitsu was the father of the last [[daimyo]] of [[Satsuma han]], the young [[Shimazu Tadayoshi]], who ruled the domain from [[1858]] until [[1871]]. Despite not being the domain's lord himself, as regent for his son, Hisamitsu governed the domain, and acted prominently on the national level, as if he were.

In regards to the [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû Kingdom]], which was something of a vassal state under Satsuma's suzerainty, Hisamitsu reversed many of the policies of the previous daimyô, his brother, [[Shimazu Nariakira]]. Among his first actions as regent were to reverse Nariakira's policies aiming to expand trade with Westerners in Ryûkyû. For the next several years, the domain avoided seeking out any new or additional involvements with Westerners, but continued to support Ryûkyû's [[tribute]] trade with China, and worked to expand connections between Satsuma and [[Choshu han|Chôshû]], a domain in Western Honshû with whom Satsuma had no particular history of close relationship. Hisamitsu pursued this aggressively, establishing a trading office in [[Shimonoseki]] and sending two merchant ships laden with Satsuma goods in [[1859]]; the following year, Chôshû sent representatives to Satsuma to negotiate a trade relationship. A lively trade in Satsuma sugar for Chôshû salt and whalebones, among other goods on both sides, quickly developed. Later that same year ([[1860]]), with the aid of the ''[[Nagasaki bugyo|Nagasaki bugyô]]'', Hisamitsu managed to purchase a steamship, the ''England''.<ref>Robert Hellyer, ''Defining Engagement'', Harvard University Press (2009), 186-188.</ref>.

In regards to the [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû Kingdom]], which was something of a vassal state under Satsuma's suzerainty, Hisamitsu reversed many of the policies of the previous daimyô, his brother, [[Shimazu Nariakira]]. Among his first actions as regent were to reverse Nariakira's policies aiming to expand trade with Westerners in Ryûkyû. For the next several years, the domain avoided seeking out any new or additional involvements with Westerners, but continued to support Ryûkyû's [[tribute]] trade with China, and worked to expand connections between Satsuma and [[Choshu han|Chôshû]], a domain in Western Honshû with whom Satsuma had no particular history of close relationship. Hisamitsu pursued this aggressively, establishing a trading office in [[Shimonoseki]] and sending two merchant ships laden with Satsuma goods in [[1859]]; the following year, Chôshû sent representatives to Satsuma to negotiate a trade relationship. A lively trade in Satsuma sugar for Chôshû salt and whalebones, among other goods on both sides, quickly developed. Later that same year ([[1860]]), with the aid of the ''[[Nagasaki bugyo|Nagasaki bugyô]]'', Hisamitsu managed to purchase a steamship, the ''England''.<ref>Robert Hellyer, ''Defining Engagement'', Harvard University Press (2009), 186-188.</ref>.