Akinari Kato - Kato Akinari

Japanese: 加藤明成 - かとう・あきなり

Year of death: 21 January 1661 (20 February 1661)
Year of birth: Bunroku 1 (1592)
A feudal lord in the early Edo period. Lord of Mutsu National Diet Building (Fukushima Prefecture). His father was Yoshiaki and his mother was the daughter of his vassal Horibe Ichiuemon, born in Yamashiro Province (Kyoto Prefecture). He was commonly known as Magojiro. He served as Shikibu Shoyu and chamberlain. In 1615, while his father was away in Edo, he marched to attack Osaka Castle. In 1631, he inherited his father's estate of 400,000 koku in Aizu. In 1631, he accompanied Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu to Kyoto, and in 1632, he carried out major renovations of Aizu Wakamatsu Castle. In the same year, his vassal Hori Suenaga ran away, and Hori complained to the shogunate about Akinari's harsh rule. Twenty years after punishing Hori, Akinari requested the shogunate to return his 400,000 koku in Aizu, citing illness, and was forgiven. His son Akitomo was given 10,000 koku in Yoshinaga, Iwami Province (Shimane Prefecture). He died in Yoshinaga. The direct cause of the return and confiscation of the territory is said to be the Hori Suisuke runaway incident, but it is also thought that the difference in Akinari's ruling style, which increased the plundering of his territory in order to overcome financial difficulties caused by the construction of Edo Castle and the renovation of Aizu-Wakamatsu Castle, was different from the policy of the shogunate, which pursued a policy of subjugating the people, and in the end Akinari was unable to settle the instability in the control of his territory. After his retirement, he took the name Kyui.

(Hasegawa Seiichi)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

没年：寛文1.1.21(1661.2.20)
生年：文禄1(1592)
江戸初期の大名。陸奥国会津藩(福島県)藩主。父は嘉明,母は家臣堀部市右衛門の娘,山城国(京都府)生まれ。通称孫次郎。式部少輔,侍従。元和1(1615)年,父が江戸留守居のため大坂城攻撃に出陣した。寛永8(1631)年,父の遺領会津40万石を継ぐ。11年将軍徳川家光の上洛に供奉し,16年には会津若松城の大改修を行った。この年に家臣堀主水の出奔事件が起こり,堀は幕府に明成の苛政を訴えた。明成は堀を処罰してから,20年,病気を理由に会津40万石の返上を幕府に願い出て許された。子の明友には石見国(島根県)吉永に1万石が与えられた。吉永で死去。領地返上,没収は,直接的には堀主水出奔事件が原因であるとされているが,江戸城普請工事や会津若松城の城郭改修による財政難を打開するため,領内の収奪を強める明成の支配の在り方が,撫民政策をとる幕府の方針に相違したことも関係していると考えられ,結局は領内支配の動揺を明成は収拾できなかった。退隠後,休意と号した。

(長谷川成一)

出典　朝日日本歴史人物事典：（株）朝日新聞出版朝日日本歴史人物事典について　情報

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