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Sugimura Naoki was a high-ranking retainer to the [[So clan|Sô clan]] of [[Tsushima han]] in the 1770s. He is known for implementing a number of reforms and petitions to the [[Tokugawa shogunate|shogunate]] which helped rescue the domain's dire financial situation at that time.
By the mid-18th century, Tsushima was facing severe financial difficulties. This was due in part to the growth of domestic Japanese production of [[ginseng]], which had previously been a highly prized, highly priced, and major portion of Tsushima's imports from Korea. Over the course of the 1740s-1750s, the domain received loans or grants from the shogunate on a number of occasions, but these were not lasting, and in many cases, loans received from merchant houses went un-repaid.
Petitioning the shogunate for aid, Sugimura managed in [[1776]] to secure an agreement to an annual shogunate grant of 12,000 ''[[currency|ryô]]'' to the domain; unlike the loans and grants of the 1740s-1750s which were paid out only a handful of times before being discontinued, this grant continued to be paid out by the shogunate every year until [[1862]]. Sugimura was then permitted by the domain to suggest a number of other cost-saving measures, and effected the shutdown of domain offices in [[Hakata]], [[Kyoto]], and on the island of [[Ikishima|Iki]].
In the aftermath of [[Tanuma Okitsugu]] being ousted from office in [[1786]] and replaced as [[Tairo|Tairô]] by [[Matsudaira Sadanobu]], Sugimura, for his association with Tanuma, also lost his privileged position as advisor or policy-maker within the domain.
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==References==
*Robert Hellyer, ''Defining Engagement'', Harvard University Press (2009), 91-92.
[[Category:Samurai]]
[[Category:Edo Period]]