Background
Hirosato Zusho was born on 24 March 1776 into the Kawasaki family of Satsuma in Kyushu but in 1778 became the adopted son of one Zusho Kiyonobu; he is often called Shozaemon.
調所 広郷
Hirosato Zusho was born on 24 March 1776 into the Kawasaki family of Satsuma in Kyushu but in 1778 became the adopted son of one Zusho Kiyonobu; he is often called Shozaemon.
In 1790 he was appointed chabozu for the fief, a post that involved taking charge of the tea ceremony and other duties, and in 1798 he became sado, director of the tea ceremony, for the lord of the fief, Shimazu Shigehide. He held a succession of posts after this until, in 1825, he became sobayonin to Shimazu Nariold, his duties being to act as intermediary between the lord of the fief and the karo (chief retainer). In 1827 he was given an extraordinary promotion by Shigehide and Narioki and put in charge of the finances of the domain, which were in very bad condition, and he held other high offices, in 1833 reaching the rank of karo.
In 1835 he asked the wealthy merchants of Kyoto, Edo, Osaka, and the fief of Satsuma for a very sizeable loan, to be repaid without interest over a period of 250 years, and succeeded in getting it. In addition he raised large sums of money by setting up monopolies operated by the fief on sugar and other Satsuma products and by conducting clandestine trade with the Ryukyu Islands, so that by 1840 he had solved the financial difficulties of the domain. He also made improvements in the military system of the fief, and in general laid the foundation for the important role that Satsuma was to play at the end of the Edo period in overthrowing the shogunate and instituting the Meiji Restoration.
