Mogami Yoshitoshi

Mogami Yoshitoshi (Japanese: 最上 義俊 もがみ よしとし[*], Keichō 10 (1605) – Kan'ei 8, 11th month, 22nd day (13 January 1632)) was a daimyō of Japan during the Edo period, the third lord of the Yamagata Domain, and later became lord of the Omori Domain. His common name was GenGorō (源五郎), and his childhood name was Ienobu (家信).

Life

In Keichō 10 (1605), he was born as the eldest son of Mogami Iechika, the second lord of the Yamagata Domain. In Genna 3 (1617), his father Iechika suddenly died of illness, and Yoshitoshi took office as the third lord. However, because Yoshitoshi was considered to lack the abilities required of a domain lord, he provoked opposition from his retainers. Some of these retainers believed that Yamanobe Yoshitada, Yoshitoshi's uncle, was the appropriate person to hold the position of domain lord. Angered by this, Yoshitoshi petitioned the shogunate, claiming that his father's sudden death had been caused by his uncle Yoshitada poisoning him. However, the shogunate's investigation revealed that the plan to enthrone Yoshitada was not an organized one, that Iechika's death was from natural causes, and that Yoshitoshi's governance was in chaos. The shogunate, considering the alliance between the Mogami clan that had continued since the time of Tokugawa Ieyasu, sought to mediate between Yoshitoshi and his retainers, but in the end the reconciliation between the two sides failed. Consequently, on 21 August, Genna 8 (1622), Yoshitoshi had his domain confiscated. Stripped of his 570,000-koku domain in Yamagata, Yoshitoshi was granted a 10,000-koku fief in Ōmi Omori Domain as a feudal lord, but he died on 22 November, Kan'ei 8, at the age of 27. His eldest son, Yoshitomo, succeeded the household headship, but because he was young, 5,000 koku was confiscated from him, and thereafter the Mogami family continued its lineage as rather than as daimyō.