Yamauchi Toyomasa

Yamauchi Toyomasa was the fourth Edo period lord of Tosa han. He was the grandson of the second lord, Yamauchi Tadayoshi, and son of the third lord, Yamauchi Tadatoyo.

Toyomasa was known for his extreme expenditures, bringing a sankin kôtai entourage to Edo equal in size to those of domains twice as large. Not only were his annual expenses associated with sankin kôtai and the stay in Edo considerably higher than those of his predecessors, but they more than doubled over the course of only about five years, within his own period of lordship. Whereas his father spent nearly 25,000 koku on his stay in Edo in 1666-1667, Toyomasa spent nearly 38,000 in 1691, and only five to six years later, in 1696-1697, spent over 81,000 koku.

References

• Luke Roberts, Mercantilism in a Japanese Domain: The Merchant Origins of Economic Nationalism in 18th-Century Tosa, Cambridge University Press (1998), 77.