Tōdō Takakiyo

Tōdō Takakiyo (藤堂高潔, October 19, 1837 – November 18, 1889) was a Japanese daimyo of the Bakumatsu period. He was the 12th and final daimyo of Tsu Domain.

Biography

Takakiyo was born in 1837 as the eldest son of the previous daimyo of Tsu Domain, Tōdō Takayuki; his mother was from the Hashimoto clan. In 1863, he was sent to Kyoto as the nominal head of the domain’s forces sent to help suppress pro-sonnō jōi rebels during the Tenchūgumi Incident. He was awarded with the ceremonial court rank of Captain of the Left Imperial Guards (左近衛権少将) by the grateful Emperor Komei.

At the start of the Boshin War of the Meiji restoration, the samurai of the domain were divided between factions which supported the Shogunate, and those who supported the concept of Kobu gattai; however, sentiment towards to Shogunate was only lukewarm. During the Battle of Toba-Fushimi, forces of Tsu Domain initially supported the Shogunate, but switched sides in the course of the battle, contributing strongly to the defeat of the pro-Shogunate forces. Tsu Domain subsequently contributed forces to other battles of the Boshin War, including the Battle of Hakodate on the side of the new Meiji government. In 1868, Takakiyo was part of the guard to Emperor Meiji in his first pilgrimage to the Ise Grand Shrine.

On June 28 1871, Takayuki officially retired due to ill health, and Takakiyo became domain governor. However, with the abolition of the han system a month later, his position was abolished. His was subsequent granted the kazoku peerage title of hakushaku (count).

He predeceased his father at the age of 53 in 1889.

References

• Himeno, Junichi. Encounters With Foreign Photographers: The Introduction and Spread of Photography in Kyũshũ. In Reflecting Truth: Japanese Photography in the Nineteenth Century (Amsterdam: Hotei Publishing, 2004), 18-29.
• Totman, Conrad (1980). Collapse of the Tokugawa Bakufu. (Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press), pp. 425–429.

External links

• (in Japanese) family information