Iwamura Michitoshi

• Born: 1840/6/10
• Died: 1915/2/20
• Japanese: 岩村通俊 (Iwamura Michitoshi)

Iwamura Michitoshi was the third governor of Okinawa Prefecture.

He was born in Tosa han, and served as governor of Saga and Kagoshima prefectures, and as head of the Board of Audits before becoming governor of Okinawa in 1883.

Iwamura was critical of the reforms effected by his predecessor, Uesugi Mochinori, and supported a series of policies of "preserving old customs" (kyûkan hozon). Uesugi had put pressure on the yukatchu, the traditional aristocracy, accusing them of oppressing the peasantry, and causing many of them to flee to China. Iwamura reversed many of Uesugi's policies on this matter, seeing the yukatchu as experienced bureaucrats who could be valuable members of the prefectural administration. Iwamura saw that the higher-ranking yukatchu continued to receive stipends, and provided economic aid to lower-ranking yukatchu who had not traditionally been entitled to stipends; many who had fled to China returned to Okinawa as a result of Iwamura's policies.

References

• "Iwamura Michitoshi." Okinawa Compact Encyclopedia 沖縄コンパクト事典. Ryukyu Shimpo, 1 March 2003.
• Smits, Gregory. Visions of Ryukyu. University of Hawaii Press, 1999. p147.