Background
Shigehide Ogiwara was born in 1658.
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Shigehide Ogiwara
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He began his career as a lower official in the kanjosho (finance office) of the shogunate and gradually worked his way up until in 1696 he became one of the highest officials in the office with a stipend of 3,500 kohl.
He died in 1713, it is said from self-inflicted starvation.
Achievements
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At that time the shogunate was in very dire financial straits, and in an attempt to relieve the situation Shigehide persuaded Shogun Tsunayoshi to allow him to debase the currency and increase the amount in circulation. Lowering the value of the currency brought about a degree of confusion in prices, but the increase in the amount had the effect of hastening the growth of a pure money economy, which previously had been hindered by the lack of sufficient currency. However, it was discovered that there was a certain amount of connivance between him and the officials in charge of minting currency and the lumber merchants, and this and other aspects of the policy aroused widespread criticism. The scholar Arai Hakuseki exposed the improprieties in Shigehide’s fiscal policy, three times submitting memorials to Shogun Ienobu, Tsuna- yoshi’s successor, and in 1712 Shigehide was dismissed from his post.
