Background
Tadazumi Iki was born in 1818. He came of a family that had been head retainers of the Okayama Clan (under Lord Ikeda) for generations with an ancestral fief of 3,300 koku.
- Photos
- Works
- Photos
- Works
Tadazumi Iki
Edit Profile伊木忠澄
also known as
Wakasa
Career
Tadazumi Iki served Yoshimasa, Shigemasa and Akimasa Ikeda and improved the military system with the introduction of modern rifles and guns. When Commodore Perry landed at Uraga he was entrusted with the defence of strategic points (1853). Later accompanied Shigemasa, the son-in-law of Yoshimasa, to Kyoto where he kept close contact with other loyalists (1863). The following year when the Shogunate decided to attack the Choshu clan with Yoshikatsu Tokugawa as commander-inchief, he influenced his clan lord against such a step and to the contrary suggested that a compromise be made and at the same time he sent a mission to Prince Arisugawa-no-miya and Shigetomi Ohara in Kyoto asking them also to use their good offices to avert a civil war. The Choshu clan were very grateful to him for his efforts to avoid war and entrusted many of their soldiers under him for training. Many loyalists such as Ryoma Sakamoto, Shintaro Nakaoka and others who had fallen foul of the Shogunate sought refuge with him and he gladly housed them not caring for the consequences. During the Meiji Restoration he organized an army of his clan retainers and successfully defended Kyoto (1868). Later he was asked by Takayoshi Kido to join the Government but he declined, preferring to maintain law and order in his clan.
