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Shimazu Shigehide was the 25th head of the [[Shimazu clan]] and eighth [[Edo period]] lord of [[Satsuma han]], ruling the domain from [[1755]] to [[1787]]. He is known especially for his support for [[Rangaku|Western Studies]], and for his relatively open policies regarding travel and exchanges between Satsuma and other [[provinces]]. Whereas travelers were generally not permitted to enter within the borders of the domain for much of the Edo period, during Shigehide's reign this was relaxed.

Shimazu Shigehide was the 25th head of the [[Shimazu clan]] and eighth [[Edo period]] lord of [[Satsuma han]], ruling the domain from [[1755]] to [[1787]]. He is known especially for his support for [[Rangaku|Western Studies]], and for his relatively open policies regarding travel and exchanges between Satsuma and other [[provinces]]. Whereas travelers were generally not permitted to enter within the borders of the domain for much of the Edo period, during Shigehide's reign this was relaxed.

He was a son of [[Shimazu Shigetoshi]], and succeeded his father as head of the clan and of the domain in 1755, at age ten. Until he reached his majority in [[1760]] (at age 15), [[Shimazu Hisamoto]] served as an unofficial regent for the young ''daimyô''.

He was a son of [[Shimazu Shigetoshi]], and succeeded his father as head of the clan and of the domain in 1755, at age ten. Until he reached his majority in [[1760]] (at age 15), [[Shimazu Hisamoto]] served as an unofficial regent for the young ''daimyô''. Shigehide married in [[1763]], at the age of 18.<ref>Miyagi Eishô 宮城栄昌, ''Ryûkyû shisha no Edo nobori'' 琉球使者の江戸上り, Tokyo: Daiichi Shobô (1982), 199.</ref>

It is said that Shigehide desired to bring more commerce and trade into the domain, and believed that greater merchant activity was essential for a prosperous [[jokamachi|castle town]]; as a result, he relaxed the domain's strict border policies, known as the strictest in the realm, and sometimes even referred to as "the closed country within the [[sakoku|closed country]]."<ref>Gallery labels, [[Reimeikan Museum]], Kagoshima, Sept 2014.</ref> He showed a strong interest in European culture and knowledge, calling upon a number of [[VOC|Dutch]] factors to talk with him at [[Satsuma Edo mansion|his Edo mansion]], including [[Hendrik Doeff]] in [[1806]], [[Johannes Frederik van Overmeer Fisscher]] in [[1822]], and [[Philipp Franz von Siebold]] in [[1826]]. He is also said to have acquired some proficiency in writing in the Dutch language.

It is said that Shigehide desired to bring more commerce and trade into the domain, and believed that greater merchant activity was essential for a prosperous [[jokamachi|castle town]]; as a result, he relaxed the domain's strict border policies, known as the strictest in the realm, and sometimes even referred to as "the closed country within the [[sakoku|closed country]]."<ref>Gallery labels, [[Reimeikan Museum]], Kagoshima, Sept 2014.</ref> He showed a strong interest in European culture and knowledge, calling upon a number of [[VOC|Dutch]] factors to talk with him at [[Satsuma Edo mansion|his Edo mansion]], including [[Hendrik Doeff]] in [[1806]], [[Johannes Frederik van Overmeer Fisscher]] in [[1822]], and [[Philipp Franz von Siebold]] in [[1826]]. He is also said to have acquired some proficiency in writing in the Dutch language.