Zusho Hirosato
| Zusho Hirosato | |
|---|---|
| Born |
March 24, 1776 Kagoshima, Satsuma Domain, Japan |
| Died | January 13, 1849 Edo, Japan |
| Occupation | Karō of the Satsuma Domain |
Zusho Hirosato (調所 広郷?, March 24, 1776 – January 13, 1849) was a Japanese samurai of the late Edo period, who served as karō of the Satsuma Domain. Also known as Shōzaemon (笑左衛門?).
Zusho was born in the Kagoshima castle town in 1776, the son of Satsuma samurai Kawasaki Motoaki. At age 12 he was adopted by Zusho Kiyonobu; at 22, he was sent to Edo as a tea assistant to the retired lord of Satsuma, Shimazu Shigehide. Shigehide recognized Zusho's talents, and gave him further responsibilities. He was later employed by the Satsuma lord, Shimazu Narioki, serving Narioki as messenger and city magistrate; he was also involved with Satsuma's illicit trade with China and the west, via the Ryukyu Islands. In 1832, he was elevated to karō status; six years later he formally received the rank of karō. As karō, he was involved with finance, agriculture, and military reform.
At the time, the Satsuma domain's budget deficit totaled over 5 million ryō. In order to address this problem, he began a program of administrative and agricultural reforms, and levied a no-interest loan on the merchants of Satsuma, to be repaid over the course of 250 years. This means that the domain had promised to repay the loan from then until 2085; however, with the breakup of the domains in 1872, the Meiji government declared this debt to be invalid. Zusho also increased the level of illicit trade taking place with Qing Dynasty China, via the Ryukyu Islands. Zusho also put a monopoly system in place on the local sugar trade, and increased trade and production levels; by 1840, this had produced a 2,500,000 ryō surplus for the Satsuma budget.
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