Nabeshima Naomasa
Encyclopedia
was the 10th and final daimyō
of Saga Domain
in Hizen Province
, Kyūshū
, Japan. His honorary title was Hizen-no-Kami, and he was occasionally referred to as “Prince Hizen” in western accounts during the Bakumatsu period.
Tokugawa Ienari
, and one of his concubines was the 19th daughter of Tokugawa Narimasa
.
On the retirement of his father in 1830, Naomasa was appointed 10th daimyō of Saga at the age of 17. In celebration of his new role and to reinforce the close relations between Saga domain and the Shōgunate, his father-in-law Shōgun Tokugawa Ienari allowed him the use of one character from his name. Thus, "Naomasa" was written (斉正) until the end of the Edo period
.
Naomasa inherited a domain on the verge or bankruptcy, due to high expenses associated with its role in guarding the foreign settlement at nearby Dejima
and due to the profligate spending habits of Naomasa’s father. When Naomasa was appointed daimyō in Edo
and prepared to make a journey back to his domain, a mob of creditors besieged his Edo residence demanding repayment on outstanding debts before he departed from the city.
However, Naomasa’s attempts to reform domain finances were continually blocked by his retired father, whose conservative politics and resistance to innovation were at odds with any new policies he attempted to implement. Naomasa was only able to take full control after the 1835 fire at Saga Castle
.
Using the need to raise funds to reconstruct the castle as a justification, he cut the number of samurai
supported by Saga domain to one-fifth of its previous level, and established a number of industries, including production of weapons, charcoal and tea as domain monopolies. At the same time, he made a strong investment in the domain academy, the to train future leaders of Saga Domain in the latest technologies. Through his contacts at nearby Nagasaki, he imported Armstrong cannon
, far more powerful than anything deployed by the Tokugawa Shogunate
to date, and had the weapons “reverse engineered
” with copies made by Saga armories. He built the first reverberatory furnace
in Japan and invited competent artisans, including swordsmiths and metal casters, from around Japan to migrate to Saga regardless of their social standing. He also sponsored the development of steam engine
s and steam-powered warships.
In 1853, with the arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry to end Japan’s national isolation policy
, he was initially vocal in his support of the Sonnō jōi
faction, and assisted the Tokugawa government in building coastal defense batteries around Edo Bay
. However, he also secretly opened direct negotiations with Great Britain
, and later emerged as a proponent of opening the country to foreign trade. He officially retired from the position of daimyō in 1861.
However, even after retirement, he kept an active hand in the development of Saga Domain, strongly supporting rangaku
studies, especially in the fields of western medicine, weaponry and military tactics. He introduced smallpox
vaccination
into Japan, experimenting first on his own son. In the unsettled Bakumatsu period, Saga emerged as one of the militarily strongest of the Japanese domains, and Naomasa attempted to maintain a policy of neutrality between the moderate Kōbu Gattai faction which wished to reconcile the Tokugawa Shōgunate with the Imperial Court, and the more radical factions supporting either the Emperor or the Shōgun.
During the Boshin War
of the Meiji Restoration
, he joined his forces to the Satchō Alliance
in support of Emperor Meiji
, after the Battle of Toba-Fushimi
and fought against the Tokugawa remnants at the Battle of Ueno
and in the various campaigns in northern Japan against the Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei
.
Naomasa was appointed a councilor to the new Meiji government. With the abolition of the han system
, he surrendered his office and was appointed governor until Saga Domain was absorbed into the new Saga prefecture
in July 1871. Together with Shimazu Yoshitake, he was appointed Commissioner of Colonial Affairs, and tasked with the settlement of Ezo
and other lands in northern Japan.
He died in 1871 at the Saga domain residence in Tokyo
Daimyo
is a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in pre-modern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...
of Saga Domain
Saga Domain
Saga Domain was a han, or feudal domain, in Tokugawa period Japan. Largely contiguous with Hizen Province on Kyūshū, the domain was governed from Saga Castle in the capital city of Saga by the Nabeshima clan of tozama daimyō...
in Hizen Province
Hizen Province
was an old province of Japan in the area of Saga and Nagasaki prefectures. It was sometimes called , with Higo Province. Hizen bordered on the provinces of Chikuzen and Chikugo. The province was included in Saikaidō...
, Kyūshū
Kyushu
is the third largest island of Japan and most southwesterly of its four main islands. Its alternate ancient names include , , and . The historical regional name is referred to Kyushu and its surrounding islands....
, Japan. His honorary title was Hizen-no-Kami, and he was occasionally referred to as “Prince Hizen” in western accounts during the Bakumatsu period.
Biography
Naomasa was born as the 17th son of Nabeshima Narinao, the 9th daimyō of Saga Domain. His mother was a daughter of Ikeda Harumichi. His wife was the 18th daughter of ShōgunShogun
A was one of the hereditary military dictators of Japan from 1192 to 1867. In this period, the shoguns, or their shikken regents , were the de facto rulers of Japan though they were nominally appointed by the emperor...
Tokugawa Ienari
Tokugawa Ienari
Tokugawa Ienari; 徳川 家斉 was the eleventh and longest serving shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan who held office from 1787 to 1837.-First wife:...
, and one of his concubines was the 19th daughter of Tokugawa Narimasa
Tokugawa Narimasa
was a Japanese samurai of the Edo period. The son of Tokugawa Harusada, he succeeded Tokugawa Haruaki as head of the Tayasu branch of the Tokugawa house, which had been without a ruler for some time....
.
On the retirement of his father in 1830, Naomasa was appointed 10th daimyō of Saga at the age of 17. In celebration of his new role and to reinforce the close relations between Saga domain and the Shōgunate, his father-in-law Shōgun Tokugawa Ienari allowed him the use of one character from his name. Thus, "Naomasa" was written (斉正) until the end of the Edo period
Edo period
The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....
.
Naomasa inherited a domain on the verge or bankruptcy, due to high expenses associated with its role in guarding the foreign settlement at nearby Dejima
Dejima
was a small fan-shaped artificial island built in the bay of Nagasaki in 1634. This island, which was formed by digging a canal through a small peninsula, remained as the single place of direct trade and exchange between Japan and the outside world during the Edo period. Dejima was built to...
and due to the profligate spending habits of Naomasa’s father. When Naomasa was appointed daimyō in Edo
Edo
, also romanized as Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of the Japanese capital Tokyo, and was the seat of power for the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868...
and prepared to make a journey back to his domain, a mob of creditors besieged his Edo residence demanding repayment on outstanding debts before he departed from the city.
However, Naomasa’s attempts to reform domain finances were continually blocked by his retired father, whose conservative politics and resistance to innovation were at odds with any new policies he attempted to implement. Naomasa was only able to take full control after the 1835 fire at Saga Castle
Saga Castle
is a Japanese castle located in Saga City, Saga Prefecture, Japan. It is a hiraijirō, a castle built on a plains rather than a hill or mountain, and is surrounded by a wall rather than being built above a stone base. Saga castle was home to the Nabeshima clan, daimyō of Saga Domain...
.
Using the need to raise funds to reconstruct the castle as a justification, he cut the number of samurai
Samurai
is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...
supported by Saga domain to one-fifth of its previous level, and established a number of industries, including production of weapons, charcoal and tea as domain monopolies. At the same time, he made a strong investment in the domain academy, the to train future leaders of Saga Domain in the latest technologies. Through his contacts at nearby Nagasaki, he imported Armstrong cannon
Armstrong Gun
The term Armstrong Gun was primarily used to describe the unique design of the rifled breech-loading field and heavy guns designed by Sir William Armstrong and manufactured in England from 1855 by the Elswick Ordnance Company and the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich...
, far more powerful than anything deployed by the Tokugawa Shogunate
Tokugawa shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...
to date, and had the weapons “reverse engineered
Reverse engineering
Reverse engineering is the process of discovering the technological principles of a device, object, or system through analysis of its structure, function, and operation...
” with copies made by Saga armories. He built the first reverberatory furnace
Reverberatory furnace
A reverberatory furnace is a metallurgical or process furnace that isolates the material being processed from contact with the fuel, but not from contact with combustion gases...
in Japan and invited competent artisans, including swordsmiths and metal casters, from around Japan to migrate to Saga regardless of their social standing. He also sponsored the development of steam engine
Steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...
s and steam-powered warships.
In 1853, with the arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry to end Japan’s national isolation policy
Sakoku
was the foreign relations policy of Japan under which no foreigner could enter nor could any Japanese leave the country on penalty of death. The policy was enacted by the Tokugawa shogunate under Tokugawa Iemitsu through a number of edicts and policies from 1633–39 and remained in effect until...
, he was initially vocal in his support of the Sonnō jōi
Sonno joi
is a Japanese political philosophy and a social movement derived from Neo-Confucianism; it became a political slogan in the 1850s and 1860s in the movement to overthrow the Tokugawa bakufu, during the Bakumatsu period.-Origin:...
faction, and assisted the Tokugawa government in building coastal defense batteries around Edo Bay
Tokyo Bay
is a bay in the southern Kantō region of Japan. Its old name was .-Geography:Tokyo Bay is surrounded by the Bōsō Peninsula to the east and the Miura Peninsula to the west. In a narrow sense, Tokyo Bay is the area north of the straight line formed by the on the Miura Peninsula on one end and on...
. However, he also secretly opened direct negotiations with Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
, and later emerged as a proponent of opening the country to foreign trade. He officially retired from the position of daimyō in 1861.
However, even after retirement, he kept an active hand in the development of Saga Domain, strongly supporting rangaku
Rangaku
Rangaku is a body of knowledge developed by Japan through its contacts with the Dutch enclave of Dejima, which allowed Japan to keep abreast of Western technology and medicine in the period when the country was closed to foreigners, 1641–1853, because of the Tokugawa shogunate’s policy of national...
studies, especially in the fields of western medicine, weaponry and military tactics. He introduced smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
vaccination
Vaccination
Vaccination is the administration of antigenic material to stimulate the immune system of an individual to develop adaptive immunity to a disease. Vaccines can prevent or ameliorate the effects of infection by many pathogens...
into Japan, experimenting first on his own son. In the unsettled Bakumatsu period, Saga emerged as one of the militarily strongest of the Japanese domains, and Naomasa attempted to maintain a policy of neutrality between the moderate Kōbu Gattai faction which wished to reconcile the Tokugawa Shōgunate with the Imperial Court, and the more radical factions supporting either the Emperor or the Shōgun.
During the Boshin War
Boshin War
The was a civil war in Japan, fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and those seeking to return political power to the imperial court....
of the Meiji Restoration
Meiji Restoration
The , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, Reform or Renewal, was a chain of events that restored imperial rule to Japan in 1868...
, he joined his forces to the Satchō Alliance
Satcho Alliance
The ', or Satchō Alliance was a military alliance between the feudal domains of Satsuma and Chōshū formed in 1866 to combine their efforts to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan....
in support of Emperor Meiji
Emperor Meiji
The or was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, reigning from 3 February 1867 until his death...
, after the Battle of Toba-Fushimi
Battle of Toba-Fushimi
The occurred between pro-Imperial and Tokugawa shogunate forces during the Boshin War in Japan. The battle started on 27 January 1868 , when the forces of the Tokugawa shogunate and the allied forces of Chōshū, Satsuma and Tosa domains clashed near Fushimi...
and fought against the Tokugawa remnants at the Battle of Ueno
Battle of Ueno
The Battle of Ueno was a battle of the Boshin War, which occurred on July 4, 1868 , between the troops of the Shōgitai under Shibusawa Seiichirō and Amano Hachirō, and Imperial "Kangun" troops....
and in the various campaigns in northern Japan against the Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei
Ouetsu Reppan Domei
-External links:**...
.
Naomasa was appointed a councilor to the new Meiji government. With the abolition of the han system
Abolition of the han system
The was an act, in 1871, of the new Meiji government of the Empire of Japan to replace the traditional feudal domain system and to introduce centralized government authority . This process marked the culmination of the Meiji Restoration in that all daimyo were required to return their authority...
, he surrendered his office and was appointed governor until Saga Domain was absorbed into the new Saga prefecture
Saga Prefecture
is located in the northwest part of the island of Kyūshū, Japan. It touches both the Sea of Japan and the Ariake Sea. The western part of the prefecture is a region famous for producing ceramics and porcelain, particularly the towns of Karatsu, Imari, and Arita...
in July 1871. Together with Shimazu Yoshitake, he was appointed Commissioner of Colonial Affairs, and tasked with the settlement of Ezo
Ezo
is a Japanese name which historically referred to the lands to the north of Japan. It was used in various senses, sometimes meaning the northern Japanese island of Hokkaidō, and sometimes meaning lands and waters further north in the Sea of Okhotsk, like Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands...
and other lands in northern Japan.
He died in 1871 at the Saga domain residence in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...