Tsugaru Nobumasa was the eldest son of
Tsugaru Nobuyoshi, 3rd
daimyō of Hirosaki Domain and was born at
Hirosaki Castle. He was 9 when his father died, and his uncle
Tsugaru Nobufusa acted as regent until his coming of age. Of scholarly disposition, he studied in
Edo (modern Tokyo) under the great Confucian scholar
Yamaga Sokō, and
Yoshikawa Koretaru. On assuming power in Hirosaki, he embarked on a large
public works program, enlarging the
castle town, developing the forestry industry, developing new
paddy fields, flood control, and developing
sericulture, textiles, silk, and paper as sources of local income. In 1660, he completed the construction of a 4.2 kilometer long dam to create Lake Tsugaru-Fushimi for irrigation purposes. It was the largest dam in Japan at the time. He also invited over 40 cultural figures to settle in Hirosaki to raise its level of culture. His military forces were called to
Ezo by the
Tokugawa bakufu in the suppression of
Shakushain's revolt, an
Ainu uprising against Japanese rule in 1669, and was master-of-ceremonies at the shōgun's pilgrimage to Nikko in 1683. However, in 1695 a crop failure resulted in famine in the Tsugaru area, and Hirosaki Domain lost 30,000 people. Nobumasa had 5 sons and 26 daughters. He died on December 8, 1710, and his grave is at the Takateru Jinja in
Hirosaki. Nobumasa was succeeded by his eldest son,
Tsugaru Nobuhisa. ==See also==