Hikone Castle, Maps

 NaosukeIi and his family. The Ii family, from which he was descended, ruled the fief of Hikone and played an important part in the administration of the shoguns., the military dictators who had in effect ruled Japan since the 12th century. The family owed its prominent position to its standing among the feudal daimyo, the barons who had helped the Tokugawa become shoguns in the early 17th century. When Ii Naosuke was born, the 14th son of Ii Naonaka, his father had already turned over power to his eldest son.
After the father's death, the only son for whom an adoptive family could not be found, Ii devoted himself to his studies at an academy established by his family. As a samurai member of the warrior class, he was schooled in the arts of warfare, as well as in Japan's cultural traditions, and he developed into a strong-willed and independent individual. At 31, He's fortunes suddenly brightened when his brother's son died, and, ironically, as he was the only brother who had not been adopted, he was made heir apparent. When his brother died in 1850, Ii then 35 years old became lord ofHikone and thus acquired a base from which to project him into national politics.

Japan
History Early modern Japan (1550–1850) Unification Azuchi-Momoyama culture Cultural historians often refer to the last few decades of this era as the Azuchi-Momoyama period, taking the name from Oda Nobunaga's massive fortress at Azuchi, overlooking Lake Biwa at Hikone, and Hideyoshi's magnificent edifice in the Momoyama district, southeast of Kyoto. Often abbreviated as, simply, theMomoyama period, it is characterized by gaudy splendor celebrating the ego of the two great rulers. The defining feature of the age is the castles —magnificent structures of stone surrounded by wide moats and topped by graceful ramparts and donjons—that dotted the landscape between the 1580s and1630s. Many of the associated castle towns were the forerunners of Japan's present provincial capitals(e.g., Okayama, Kanazawa, Hiroshima, and Matsuyama).

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