Hijikata Katsunaga Explained

Hijikata Katsunaga
Native Name:土方 雄永
Office1:20px 12th Daimyō of Komono Domain
Monarch1:Shōgun
Term Start1:1858
Term End1:1869
Predecessor1:Hijikata Katsuyoshi
Successor1:Hijikata Katsuyuki
Office2:Imperial governor of Komono
Monarch2:Emperor Meiji
Term Start2:1869
Term End2:1870
Birth Date:April 22, 1851
Father:Hijikata Katsuyoshi
Spouse:Takeya Masu

was the 12th (and next-to-last) daimyō of Komono Domain in Ise Province (modern-day Mie Prefecture) under the Bakumatsu period Tokugawa shogunate of Japan. His courtesy title was Yamato-no-kami, and his court rank was Junior 5th Rank, Lower Grade.

Biography

Hijikata Katsunaga was the son of then 11th daimyō of Komono, Hijikata Katsuyoshi, and he became daimyō at the age of seven on his father's death. Because of his youth, he was assisted by his great-uncle Hijikata Yoshiyuki. During this period, as with many of the feudal domains of Japan, the samurai were divided between a pro-sonnō jōi faction who favored a restoration of political power to the Emperor of Japan and a stronger foreign policy, and a pro-status quo faction still loyal to the Tokugawa shogunate. On the start of the Boshin War, Hijikata Katsunaga declared the domain for the imperial cause, and contributed to the eastward march of pro-imperial forces to overthrow the Tokugawa. On the abolition of the position of daimyō in 1869, he was appointed imperial governor of Komono. However, he was of weak health since childhood and retired in the fall of 1870 in favor of his adopted son, Hijikata Katsuyuki. The following year, with the abolition of the han system, he relocated to Tokyo. He died May 10, 1884, at the age of 34, and his grave is at the Yanaka Cemetery, in Taitō, Tokyo.

References