Nakatsu Domain (2/2)Produced Yukichi Fukuzawa

The second lord of the domain, Masaatsu Okudaira, began reforming the domain's administration, encouraging frugality, establishing an administrative office, controlling commerce, and agricultural reform in an attempt to rebuild the domain.
In addition, he established the magistrate system, installed metsuke and guide boxes, and issued Horeki notes.

The third lord of the domain, Masaka Okudaira, generously protected Ryotaku Maeno, a Dutch scholar who translated the Western anatomical text ``Tahel Anatomia'' into Japanese, and encouraged Dutch studies in the domain.

Masao Okudaira, the fourth lord of the domain, took over at a young age, so for a while the chief retainers held the real political power, but after a political struggle, he purged the chief retainers and tried to establish direct government. However, just then the Great Tenmei Famine occurred, and the real power of the domain was once again taken back to the chief retainers.
In this despair, he died at the young age of 24.

The fifth lord of the domain, Masataka Okudaira, was the son-in-law of Masao Okudaira and the second son of Shigego Shimazu, the lord of the Satsuma domain.
Perhaps because Dutch studies were popular in both the Shimazu and Okudaira families, they loved the Netherlands so much that they built a Dutch room in their Edo mansion that was completely made of glass and displayed it with Dutch items that they had bought in Dejima.

He was also fluent in Dutch, and had many years of interaction with the head of a Dutch trading post (kapitan), even having conversations without an interpreter.
He also has contact with Philipp Franz von Siebold, who was deported from the country due to the Siebold Incident, and has met him five times.

After stepping down as the lord of the domain and retiring, he wrote the ``Japanese-Dutch Dictionary,'' commonly known as the ``Nakatsu Dictionary,'' and the ``Bastard Dictionary,'' which greatly contributed to the introduction of Western culture.

Masanobu Okudaira, the 6th lord of the domain, died young at the age of 24, shortly after becoming the lord of the domain, and his successor, Masanori Okudaira, the 7th lord, also died at the age of 30, earlier than the 5th lord.

The 8th lord, Masafuku Okudaira, is the second son of the 6th lord, Masanobu Okudaira, and will succeed the 7th lord after his death.
In 1853, 10 years after becoming the lord of the domain, Perry visited Uraga and urged the opening of the country.
At this time, he was advocating isolation from the country and the removal of foreigners, and there are records of him having a heated confrontation with the fifth lord of the domain, Masataka Okudaira, who was still alive.

Masanobu Okudaira himself was a descendant of the Shimazu family, but since the Okudaira family was a feudal lord, he joined the Shogunate army as a member of the Sabaku faction when the Choshu conquest occurred.
However, in 1868, when the former shogunate army was defeated at the Battle of Toba and Fushimi, they sided with the new Meiji government and dispatched troops to Aizu.

The ninth and last lord of the domain, Masanori Okudaira, became lord of the domain in 1868, the year of the Battle of Toba-Fushimi, when the eighth lord, Masafuku Okudaira, retired.

He was born as the fourth son of Date Muneki, the lord of Uwajima, Iyo Province, and was adopted by the eighth lord, Masafuku Okudaira.
Although he ruled the domain for only a short time, he implemented innovative politics such as introducing an election system within the domain. After abolishing the feudal domain and establishing a prefecture, he was appointed earl, and was recommended by feudal retainers Yukichi Fukuzawa and Shinjiro Obata to study abroad in the United States.
After returning to Japan, he became a member of the Tokyo Prefectural Assembly and also became the mayor of Shiba Ward, Tokyo.
Furthermore, at the recommendation of Yukichi Fukuzawa, he established Nakatsu City School, the successor school of the domain school Shinshukan.
However, he died at just 30 years old from an illness he contracted while traveling to the United States.

Nakatsu domain summary

This time we introduced the history of Nakatsu Castle and Nakatsu Domain.
Although it was a small domain in Oita Prefecture, it produced an outstanding man named Yukichi Fukuzawa.
This can be said to be because the Okudaira family, the feudal lord, was greedy and tolerant of new learning, including Dutch studies.