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Created page with "*''Japanese'': 蜂須賀重喜 ''(Hachisuka Shigeyoshi)'' Hachisuka Shigeyoshi was the tenth lord of Tokushima han. He was born the fourth son of [[Satake Yoshimich..."
*''Japanese'': [[蜂須賀]]重喜 ''(Hachisuka Shigeyoshi)''
Hachisuka Shigeyoshi was the tenth lord of [[Tokushima han]].
He was born the fourth son of [[Satake Yoshimichi]], lord of [[Akita shinden han]], and was adopted into the [[Hachisuka clan]] in [[1754]]/6, when the ''daimyô'' [[Hachisuka Yoshihisa]] fell severely ill. He succeeded Yoshihisa later that year.
By the 1750s, Tokushima politics were controlled by a cabal of powerful families – the Inada, Kashima, Yamada, Hasegawa, and Ikeda – and the Hachisuka ''daimyô'' was relatively weak. These were the only families eligible to be ''karô'', and the ''karô'' were the only ones eligible for the posts of executor (''shiokiyaku'') or Edo executor, the two most powerful positions in the domain.
Many of the ''[[churo|chûrô]]'' in Tokushima, middling officials below the rank of the ''karô'', saw the accession of Shigeyoshi as an opportunity to seek the new ''daimyô’s'' alliance against the power of these five ''karô'' families. Shigeyoshi chose, however, to restructure the domain leadership entirely, restructuring retainer [[stipends]], and creating more opportunities for lower or middle-ranking retainers, such as the ''chûrô'', to hold the highest-ranking positions, including executor. Both ''karô'' and ''chûrô'' rebelled against this, however, seeing it as an affront and a threat to their patrimonial claims to certain positions. In [[1759]]/3/2, Shigeyoshi was able to get the ''chûrô'' to rally behind him, however, by threatening to resign, and ordering one of the problematic ''karô'', [[Yamada Oribe]], dismissed and placed under house arrest. Yamada continued to cause problems, however, conspiring to appeal to the shogunate to have Shigeyoshi replaced by [[Hachisuka Shigetaka]], a grandson of [[Hachisuka Tsunanori]], the fifth lord of the domain. Shigeyoshi consolidated his power, dividing the ''karô'', ordering Yamada to commit ''[[seppuku]]'', and having two others, Kashima and Hasegawa, placed under arrest.
Finally, Shigeyoshi put his reforms into practice, beginning in [[1761]]. His reorganization of the stipends was known as ''yakuseki yakudaka''. He lowered the stipends of the highest-ranking retainers, raised the stipends of the lower-ranking ones, and ordered a cadastral survey of the 14,000 ''[[koku]]'' lands of [[Inada Kurobei]], a [[subinfeudation|sub-enfeoffed]] retainer whose lands, by patrimonial authority, could have been argued to have been immune to such intervention. Many of those who opposed him were imprisoned.
The offended ''karô'' still had their victory in the end, though. When Shigeyoshi arrived in [[Edo]] on [[1769]]/10/22, he was presented by the shogunate with an indictment of his conduct. On 1769/10/30, he was ordered to resign his position, in favor of his son [[Hachisuka Haruaki]]. As Haruaki was only 12 years old, the ''karô'' clique now returned to effective power, with [[Hasegawa Omi|Hasegawa Ômi]] in the lead.
{{stub}}
==References==
*[[Mark Ravina]], ''Land and Lordship in Early Modern Japan'', Stanford University Press (1999), 176-179.
[[Category:Edo Period]]
[[Category:Samurai]]
Hachisuka Shigeyoshi was the tenth lord of [[Tokushima han]].
He was born the fourth son of [[Satake Yoshimichi]], lord of [[Akita shinden han]], and was adopted into the [[Hachisuka clan]] in [[1754]]/6, when the ''daimyô'' [[Hachisuka Yoshihisa]] fell severely ill. He succeeded Yoshihisa later that year.
By the 1750s, Tokushima politics were controlled by a cabal of powerful families – the Inada, Kashima, Yamada, Hasegawa, and Ikeda – and the Hachisuka ''daimyô'' was relatively weak. These were the only families eligible to be ''karô'', and the ''karô'' were the only ones eligible for the posts of executor (''shiokiyaku'') or Edo executor, the two most powerful positions in the domain.
Many of the ''[[churo|chûrô]]'' in Tokushima, middling officials below the rank of the ''karô'', saw the accession of Shigeyoshi as an opportunity to seek the new ''daimyô’s'' alliance against the power of these five ''karô'' families. Shigeyoshi chose, however, to restructure the domain leadership entirely, restructuring retainer [[stipends]], and creating more opportunities for lower or middle-ranking retainers, such as the ''chûrô'', to hold the highest-ranking positions, including executor. Both ''karô'' and ''chûrô'' rebelled against this, however, seeing it as an affront and a threat to their patrimonial claims to certain positions. In [[1759]]/3/2, Shigeyoshi was able to get the ''chûrô'' to rally behind him, however, by threatening to resign, and ordering one of the problematic ''karô'', [[Yamada Oribe]], dismissed and placed under house arrest. Yamada continued to cause problems, however, conspiring to appeal to the shogunate to have Shigeyoshi replaced by [[Hachisuka Shigetaka]], a grandson of [[Hachisuka Tsunanori]], the fifth lord of the domain. Shigeyoshi consolidated his power, dividing the ''karô'', ordering Yamada to commit ''[[seppuku]]'', and having two others, Kashima and Hasegawa, placed under arrest.
Finally, Shigeyoshi put his reforms into practice, beginning in [[1761]]. His reorganization of the stipends was known as ''yakuseki yakudaka''. He lowered the stipends of the highest-ranking retainers, raised the stipends of the lower-ranking ones, and ordered a cadastral survey of the 14,000 ''[[koku]]'' lands of [[Inada Kurobei]], a [[subinfeudation|sub-enfeoffed]] retainer whose lands, by patrimonial authority, could have been argued to have been immune to such intervention. Many of those who opposed him were imprisoned.
The offended ''karô'' still had their victory in the end, though. When Shigeyoshi arrived in [[Edo]] on [[1769]]/10/22, he was presented by the shogunate with an indictment of his conduct. On 1769/10/30, he was ordered to resign his position, in favor of his son [[Hachisuka Haruaki]]. As Haruaki was only 12 years old, the ''karô'' clique now returned to effective power, with [[Hasegawa Omi|Hasegawa Ômi]] in the lead.
{{stub}}
==References==
*[[Mark Ravina]], ''Land and Lordship in Early Modern Japan'', Stanford University Press (1999), 176-179.
[[Category:Edo Period]]
[[Category:Samurai]]