Date Munenari

Date Munenari
Date Munenari
Lord of Uwajima
In office 1844–1858
Preceded by	Date Munetada
Succeeded by	Date Mune'e
Personal details
Born	September 1, 1818(1818-09-01) Edo, Japan
Died	December 20, 1892(1892-12-20) (aged 74)
Nationality	Japanese

In this Japanese name, the family name is "Date".

Marquis Date Munenari (伊達 宗城^?, September 1, 1818 – December 20, 1892) was the eighth head of the Uwajima Domain during the Late Tokugawa shogunate and a politician of the early Meiji era.

Early life

Young Date Munenari.

Munenari was born in Edo, the 4th son of the hatamoto Yamaguchi Naokatsu.^[1] Munenari, then known as Kamesaburō 亀三郎, was a candidate for adoption by the heirless 7th generation Uwajima lord Date Munetada because Naokatsu's father was the 5th Uwajima lord, Date Muratoki.^[2] Munenari succeeded to headship in 1844. He was forced to retire 14 years later, in 1858, during the Ansei Purge. The tairō Ii Naosuke ordered Munenari's retirement, and placed him under house arrest.

After the Ansei purge, he returned to prominence in the subsequent years of political maneuvering in Kyoto, as a member of the conciliatory kōbu-gattai (公武合体 union of court and bakufu) party. Late in Bunkyū 3 (1863), as a proponent of kōbu-gattai, he was made a member of the imperial advisory council (sanyō-kaigi 参与会議), together with Matsudaira Katamori and other like-minded lords.^[2]

Post-Meiji restoration

Sino-Japanese Friendship and Trade Treaty, 13 September 1871. The treaty was signed in Tientsin, by Date Munenari and Li Hongzhang.

After the fall of the shogunate in 1868, Munenari took an active role in the new imperial government; Uwajima as a domain was also deeply involved in the military campaign of the Boshin War (1868–1869).

Munenari was a crucial figure in Japan's international relations during the early Meiji period. In 1871, representing the Japanese government, he signed the Sino-Japanese Friendship and Trade Treaty (Nisshin shukō jōki (日清修好条規^?)) with Li Hongzhang, a viceroy of Qing Dynasty China.

Tomb of Date Munenari (right) in Uwajima (宇和島 等覚寺).

Also in 1871, the han system was abolished in Japan, and he was able to fully cut his political ties to Uwajima. In 1881, Munenari entertained King Kalākaua, of the Kingdom of Hawaii, on the first state visit to Japan of an actual head of state in its recorded history.^[3] He was first created a count in the new peerage system, but was later promoted to marquess.

Munenari died at Imado in Tokyo in 1892, at age 75.

Preceded by Date Munetada

Daimyo of Uwajima 1844-1858

Succeeded by Date Mune'e

See also

• Date clan

Notes

1. ^ Date Munenari 伊達宗城. Date Munenari zaikyō nikki. (Tokyo: Nihon shiseki kyōkai 日本史籍協会, 1916), p. 1
2. ^ ^{a b} (Japanese) 幕末維新新選組 伊達宗城
3. ^ http://www.pref.ehime.jp/050keizairoudou/020kokusai/00004319031218/index.files/kunshou-e.pdf

References

• Date Munenari 伊達宗城. Date Munenari zaikyō nikki. Tokyo: Nihon shiseki kyōkai 日本史籍協会, 1916.
• Nihonshi Jiten 日本史辞典. Tokyo: Ōbunsha 旺文社, 2000.
• Much of this article has been compiled from corresponding content on the Japanese Wikipedia.

Further reading

• Date Munenari 伊達宗城. Date Munenari zaikyō nikki. Tokyo: Nihon shiseki kyōkai 日本史籍協会, 1916.
• Hyōdō Ken'ichi 兵頭賢一. Date Munenari Kō-den 伊達宗城公傳. Annotated by Kondō Toshifumi 今藤俊文. Tokyo: Sōsendo shuppan 創泉堂出版, 2005.
• Kusunoki Seiichirō 楠精一郎. Retsuden Nihon kindaishi: Date Munenari kara Kishi Nobusuke made 列伝・日本近代史: 伊達宗城から岸信介まで. Tokyo: Asahi Shinbunsha 朝日新聞社, 2000.
• Miyoshi Masafumi 三好昌文. Bakumatsu ki Uwajima-han no dōkō: Date Munenari wo chūshin ni: Dai ikkan 幕末期宇和島藩の動向: 伊達宗城を中心に: 第一卷. Uwajima: Miyoshi Masafumi 三好昌文, 2001.
• Tokugawa Nariaki, Date Munenari ōfuku shokanshū 徳川斉昭・伊達宗城往復書翰集. Edited by Kawachi Hachirō 河內八郎. Tokyo: Azekura Shobō 校倉書房, 1993.
• Totman, Conrad. The Collapse of the Tokugawa Bakufu, 1862-1868. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1980.

External links

• Find a grave
• Date Munenari bio (in Japanese)

Persondata
Name	Date, Munenari
Alternative names
Short description	Eighth head of the Uwajima Domain
Date of birth	September 1, 1818
Place of birth	Edo, Japan
Date of death	December 20, 1892
Place of death	Imado, Tokyo, Japan