Kuze Hirotami
Encyclopedia
also known as , was a late-18th century Nagasaki bugyō
Nagasaki bugyo
were officials of the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo period Japan. Appointments to this prominent office were usually fudai daimyō, but this was amongst the senior administrative posts open to those who were not daimyō...

or governor of Nagasaki port, located on southwestern shore of 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....

 island in the Japanese archipelago
Japanese Archipelago
The , which forms the country of Japan, extends roughly from northeast to southwest along the northeastern coast of the Eurasia mainland, washing upon the northwestern shores of the Pacific Ocean...

. Kuze was one of the Nagasaki bugyō between 1775 and 1784.

As Nagasaki bugyō, Kuze was paired with another shogunate official, each alternately exchanging places in Edo and Nagasaki. For example, the diaries maintained by Dutch East Indies Company (VOC) merchants during this period record that as Tsuchiya Morinao (Tsuchiya Suruga-no-kami) is arriving in Nagasaki to take up his duties as Nagasaki bugō on September 27, 1783, Kuze is preparing to leave en route to Edo; and they both will swap locations the following autumn. The VOC accounts describe Kuze as a good governor.

Kuze is a close relation of one of the Osaka
Osaka
is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...

 shoshidai in this period, Kuze Hiroakira.

In 1783, Kuze was also one of four Shogunal finance administrators or kanjō-bugyō (勘定奉行), along with Akai Tadamasa, Kurihara Morisada, and Matsumoto Hidemochi. Tanuma Okitsugu
Tanuma Okitsugu
' was a rōjū of the Tokugawa shogunate who introduced monetary reform. He was also a daimyo, and ruled the Sagara han. He used the title Tonomo-no-kami....

 was Kuze's patron.

The oldest surviving letter from Kutsuki Masatsuna
Kutsuki Masatsuna
, also known as Kutsuki Oki-no kami Minamoto-no Masatsuna, was a hereditary Japanese daimyo of Oki and Ōmi with holdings in Tamba and Fukuchiyama. His warrior clan was amongst the hereditary vassals of the Tokugawa family in the Edo period...

 to Isaac Titsingh
Isaac Titsingh
Isaac Titsingh FRS was a Dutch surgeon, scholar, merchant-trader and ambassador.During a long career in East Asia, Titsingh was a senior official of the Dutch East India Company . He represented the European trading company in exclusive official contact with Tokugawa Japan...

 dates from 1789; and this letter mentions prominent mutual friends such as Kuze and Shimazu Shigehide, who was the father-in-law of the eleventh Tokugawa
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...

 Shogun 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:...

.

See also

  • bugyō
    Bugyo
    ', often translated as "commissioner" or "magistrate" or "governor," was a title assigned to government officers in pre-modern Japan; other terms would be added to the title to describe more specifically a given commissioner's tasks or jurisdiction....

  • Machi-bugyō
    Machi-bugyo
    were officials of the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo period Japan. Appointments to this prominent office were usually fudai daimyō, but this was amongst the senior administrative posts open to those who were not daimyō...

  • Historiographical Institute of the University of Tokyo -- Dagregisters Project, 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...

    .



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