Tōdō Takayuki

Tōdō Takayuki (藤堂 高猷, March 11, 1813 – February 9, 1895) was a Japanese daimyō of the late Edo period. He was the 11th daimyō from the Tōdō clan to ruled Tsu Domain in Ise and Iga Provinces. Takayuki's sudden betrayal of the Tokugawa forces at the Battle of Toba–Fushimi was one of the decisive factors which turned the battle in the imperial army's favor.

Biography[]

Takayuki was born in 1813 as the son of the previous daimyō of Tsu Domain, Tōdō Takasawa. His mother was the daughter of the daimyō of Tanakura Domain, Nagai Naonobu. When his father died in December 1824 and he was forced to take up the administration of the domain at the age of 11.

In 1842, the Tokugawa shogunate assigned Tsu Domain with the task for fortifying Ise Grand Shrine against incursions of the Black Ships of the European powers by building coastal artillery batteries. Saitō Satsudō, the head of the domain's academy, incorporated rangaku technology to build modern batteries and attempted to modernize the domain’s military. Tōdō Takayuki also attempted to introduce other forms of western science, including photography, by sponsoring equipment and a laboratory for Ueno Hikoma at the domain’s residence in Edo.^[1]

During the Tenchūgumi Incident in 1863, the domain was called upon to send forces to Kyoto to help suppress the pro-sonnō jōi rebels.

During the Bakumatsu period, the samurai of the domain were divided between factions which supported the Shogunate, and those who supported the concept of Kōbu gattai, however, sentiment towards to shogunate was only lukewarm. During the Battle of Toba–Fushimi at the start of the Boshin War, the forces of Tsu Domain initially supported the shogunate; however, when the battle began to turn in the favor of the Satchō Alliance forces, Tsu Domain quickly changed sides, 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.

On June 28, 1871, Takayuki officially retired, turning over his offices to his eldest son Tōdō Takakiyo. He died in Tokyo at the age of 83 in 1895.

Takayuki is believed by some historians to be the father of the Shinsengumi samurai, Tōdō Heisuke.

References[]

• Himeno, Junichi. "Encounters With Foreign Photographers: The Introduction and Spread of Photography in Kyūshū". 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) Tōdō family information

Notes[]